Don't look now, but Netflix
Just as Google started putting Google-branded search buttons on semi-smartphones from Motorola
Where Netflix is one-upping its role model is in the breadth of the offering. Google landed a tiny handful of deals, which helped the company build mobile partnerships ahead of the Android invasion it was cooking up at the time. Netflix gets these buttons on remotes for Blu-ray players, connected TV sets, and some media-hub set-top boxes from a murderer's row of brand-name manufacturers. Sony
The only major brands I didn't see in the Netflix announcement were low-cost leader Vizio and European giant Philips
This will put the Netflix brand front and center, right in the face of consumers who have somehow managed to miss out on the digital TV trend altogether. Link this with an easily accessible free-trial promotion, perhaps available right on your new TV screen in a few clicks of the remote, and I think we have a serious growth booster on our hands.
Make sure to send a fruit basket to Mountain View for the idea, Netflix. Great minds apparently do think alike.