The early reviews of Google Fiber are in from Kansas City and one of the most attractive features of the service seems to be how it makes Netflix irresistible. The buffering annoyances that consumers take for granted vanish as Google Fiber feeds movies and shows instantly to eager Silicon Prairie dwellers. What’s more, the recently launched Google Fiber TV app offers video on demand for iPad. This direction is fascinating because of the hottest trend in US consumer behavior: broadcast television audience collapse.

TV show audiences have been falling for a long time, but recently the decline has turned into a plunge. According to Goldman Sachs, ratings in the 18-49 year demo dropped by a hideous 17% last winter, the steepest drop ever. “American Idol” is losing nearly 25% of its audience in a year. Most of the big new shows have been disasters and old staples like “Survivor” and “Dancing with Stars” are in free fall.

Everyone has long known that the broadcast dinosaurs are in trouble but it is only now becoming clear just how rapidly they are losing their grip on consumers in the United States. This coincides with rapid growth of time spent on mobile apps: American iPhone owners now waste two hours per day on apps and annualized growth of daily engagement still tops 30%. But it also opens up completely new vistas for Netflix, Amazon, Google and Apple when it comes to video distribution.

It now looks like American demand for video on demand is far bigger than was estimated just a year ago. The accelerating erosion of broadcast television frees up consumer time and hits ad revenue of CBS, Fox and their peers. This in turn will limit their ability to create big-budget shows that has been their last line of defense. That cycle is starting to turn just as challengers with serious money to burn are pushing into content creation.

Netflix had a hit with its $100 million “House of Cards” series that debuted during the quarter when Netflix beat Wall Street consensus handily. The buzz around “Arrested Development” is deafening and will likely raise the profile of Netflix original programming considerably. It is only a matter of time before deep-pocketed Google and/or Amazon take the plunge and start shoveling big bucks into television production. Amazon is already previewing a dozen pilots it has produced, trying to gauge which ones to take into full production.

Google Fiber and its ilk may be the final straw that will break the back of broadcast television. Once high-speed video downloading becomes widely available, instant access to VOD services will make them even more appealing. What Netflix showed with “House of Cards” is that it’s possible to take a B-list star, create a high concept show around him and reap tons of media coverage. Soon enough we will see Alicia Silverstone and Jeff Goldblum starring in an Amazon show discovering the rebirth of a Bal-Ammon cult in SARS-ravaged Fargo.

What makes this possible is the complete paralysis of the broadcast dinos. All the majors are frozen in terror, repeating old behavioral patterns that turned self-destructive years ago. NBC spent the annual defense budget of Mauritius to promote “Ready for Love,” a tired Bachelor clone. ABC is going to build its autumn slate on “Scandal”, “Revenge” and “Betrayal,” as well as a hasty spin-off of its fading “Once Upon a Time” franchise. ABC also handed Robin Williams a comeback vehicle. Sensing desperation, audiences are tuning out in disgust.

Google is well-positioned to turn Google Fiber into the core technology enabling instant VOD access; Netflix is pioneering the new production/distribution logic; Amazon is sneakily exploiting its Prime service to slip video consumption to its customer base. The big question mark here is Apple. Why isn’t Apple being more aggressive in attacking the dying broadcasting giants? Is it so wrapped up with its smartphone and tablet challenges that it does not have the time? Or is there some grand design being developed in secret that will stun the world in few months?

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As part of many announcements at Google’s I/O Conference this week, Google announced that they would now be integrating video chat within Google Hangouts across platforms and devices. Well, unless you use AT&T. AT&T’s LTE network is being hailed as the fastest LTE network currently available, yet Slash Gear is the first to report that when users try to make a video chat call on the AT&T network using Google’s new Hangout upgrade, they’re told “you must be on a Wi-Fi network to join a video call.”

AT&T’s blockade is a mirror image of the fracas AT&T caused when they decided to arbitrarily block Apple’s Factime last year. AT&T offered a few nonsensical excuses, but it soon became clear that by only blocking unlimited users from using the functionality, their goal was to drive customers on grandfathered unlimited plans to their new, more expensive metered plans. Consumer groups like Free Press and Public Knowledge filed complaints, the FCC promised action, and…nothing happened.

Fast forward to this week, when AT&T decided it would be a good idea to make the same mistake all over again. The company issued a very AT&T-like statement to the press this afternoon that doesn’t actually explain anything, but tries to suggest this is all somehow the OS and device makers faults:

All AT&T Mobility customers can use any video chat app over cellular that is not pre-loaded on their device, but which they download from the Internet. For video chat apps that come pre-loaded on devices, we offer all OS and device makers the ability for those apps to work over cellular for our customers who are on Mobile Share, Tiered and soon Unlimited plan customers who have LTE devices. It’s up to each OS and device makers to enable their systems to allow pre-loaded video chat apps to work over cellular for our customers on those plans

That “not preloaded” language is important, since AT&T is previously on record stating they believe that current wireless network neutrality rules don’t cover situations where an application comes pre-loaded on a device. You could argue that Hangout technically isn’t pre-loaded because you have to download it via the Google Play store, but at this point it seems like AT&T is simply making things up while they wait for the FCC’s neutrality rules to be overturned by Verizon.

In the end, AT&T is abusing their role as network gatekeeper and blocking app functionality to force unlimited users on to costlier tiered plans. Not unlike the way Verizon Wireless is blocking Google Wallet for the benefit of their own ISIS mobile payment platforms. In both instances companies are fending off net neutrality violation accusations using faux-technical justifications for anti-competitive behavior. Given such obvious flaunting of the rules, surely the FCC will step in to protect consumers any second now, right?

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Google just pulled out a Samsung Galaxy S4 on the Google I/O stage, but it’s not like any S4 you’ve ever seen: It runs stock Android, is a completely unlocked device that comes with an unlocked bootloader, and Google’s promising prompt system updates as well. The device runs on both T-Mobile and AT&T’s LTE networks and comes with 16GB of storage. The handset will go on sale, directly from Google, for $649 this June 26th.

Basically, it’s a Nexus device, and while Google didn’t give it an official name, the company wasn’t shy about describing the “Nexus user experience” on tap. When The Verge reviewed the Galaxy S4 last month, The Verge found it one of the most compelling Android smartphones they’ve ever seen, if not as physically solid as the HTC One or a gigantic improvement over the Galaxy S III. It’s also not nearly as inexpensive as the Nexus 4, which doesn’t come with LTE but retails for only $299 fully unlocked. Another temporary caveat with this Nexus device might be that it comes with Android 4.2, even though The Verge is expecting Android 4.3 later today.

Google didn’t have a lot more to say about the new Galaxy S4, but you can follow along with The Verge’s Google I/O Live Blog for the latest updates.

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If you noticed that Verizon was silent while other US carriers provided their launch schedules for the Galaxy S 4, you’re not alone — it was the only real holdout among the big four networks. As it turns out, the company was just continuing a small tradition of being fashionably late with influential phones. Big Red now says its version of the Samsung flagship will appear sometime in May, skipping past the first wave of GS 4 releases later in April. An exact date? Pricing? Capacities? Those are coming at an unspecified point “soon,” although that may not be soon enough for subscribers who have to own the latest and greatest.

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