I was at a panel yesterday in LA discussing media, and where it’s going.

There was a big discussion about Google TV, setup boxes in general, and the living room. I got to tell you – I don’t know.

If I think that the notion of open-operating-system on the TV, offering apps, connecting the web to the TV is amazing. absolutely yes. even for us at @taboola it’s really exciting to outreach our discovery and video recommendations to the big screen.

About all the rest (how to do it, boxes, cables, new-sony-tvs). I don’t know.

When changing industries upside down, I don’t believe it can be by merely adding a new feature, a notch, a slot someone just forgot to check out. It has to be substantial change. Simple, but big. Obvious, but not that easy to do. A real change. Disruptive.

You can learn a lot from the advertising industry. People like to do what they know to do. There is a reason advertisers love pre-rolls – they understand it, it’s simple, they have been doing it for 30 years. Offer them a new targeting system, new beautiful dashboard, a whole lot of analytics, faster, sexier, better. they’re not sure. why? People like to do what they know to do.

Why bring up the sells guy? It’s really hard to convince people to get to know a new product, make them believe they think they need it, go to the shop (yes, even if it’s “best buy”), get the wallet out, buy it – and then – go home, and figure how (the hell) to make it work. People like to do what they know to do.

So I love the notion of simple standard operating system for TV. I think that’s a huge global vision. If I can consume content on my TV in a similar way I do on my Mac, and then at my lady’s house as if I was at home using the same interface – that’s amazing. Really. Amazing.

Will my mother buy a box into her living room to make it happen? I’m not sure.

Will she buy a new Sony TV (connected to the web) to make it happen? Maybe. Maybe in a few years when she considers changing TV.

I think the closest opportunity I see to getting into my living room, is actually through the Blue Ray DVDs, those are very cheap, small, and people could consider buy one more frequently. Unfortunately, that’s not fast enough to change the entire world.

i was very impressed with David Schlacht, exec @ DirectTV who i shared the panel with. he is the guy who said — “it is not a tech problem, and its not another box that is needed. we need a new working business model that makes everybody win”. and i agree. it’s always great see an innovative spirit, that’s up with the latest tech on the street, working in a large corporation. if David was to be replicated across DirectTV sister companies, we’d (tech companies) be in a better shape.

So let’s say you have the best operating system for TV, really good interface, how do you do it? how do you change the way people around the world consume content on their tv

I don’t know. Do you?