Everyone has something to say about Apple, especially about the prospects for what could be its next big thing: a television.

In a recent magazine story, I laid out the prospects for what some people are calling the iTV, as well as the considerable challenges Apple faces in bringing it to market. I couldn’t include all the insights I got from smart people in tech and media, so in a series of posts, I’m sharing some of their thoughts to shed a little more light on what Apple can and can’t do in television.

While Apple remains apparently stymied in its attempt to remake the television business, makers of TV add-on devices are slowly and quietly worming their way toward a new world of television. I talked with executives from TiVo, the digital video recorder pioneer, and Roku, one of the most popular TV show and movie streaming devices, and came away wonderingthough I’m not yet convincedif their slow and steady approach might give them a leg up on companies such as Apple that seem to want to change the basic underpinnings of the TV business.

Roku CEO Anthony Wood, for one, thinks that the more content moves to Internet delivery, the more companies such as his are in a position to control TV distribution. That claim may sound a bit much to Comcast and Time Warner, and even to the likes of Netflix and Hulu that are the prime reason people buy a Roku streaming device.

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