Four months ago, HBO released a new mobile app called HBO GO. Since then, it has achieved nearly four million downloads. The app provides free unlimited access for HBO subscribers to over 1,400 episodes. HBO’s mobile streaming move is a natural and progressive step towards proactively building value for its brand with subscribers.

HBO is reacting to a consumer trend. They’ve seen that viewers are increasingly turning connected devices like computers, smartphones, and tablets into televisions. It’s part of a movement that will transform the television industry.

The distribution model of TV is shifting.

Couch potatoes have become more interactive. They don’t just want to watch. They want to get involved. They want to interact and customize their streams.

New technologies are coming about that mashup what we know as everyday TV with interactive control to enable personalized/customized programming feeds.

Count Apple, Microsoft, and Google among the companies moving in this direction. Look at http://www.google.com/tv/ or http://www.microsoft.com/mediaroom/ or http://www.apple.com/appletv/ for a glimpse at the future. Yahoo is in the game too with http://connectedtv.yahoo.com/.

Long-time television manufacturers like LG and Panasonic are also getting into the connected TV business. Panasonic’s Viera Cast service makes it possible to stream content, including YouTube videos and Picasa web photo albums into Viera HDTV’s and Blu-Ray disc players.

Even Wal Mart has a connected TV service called VuDu.com, which allows viewers to rent movies online with their computer, PlayStation3, Blue-Ray player, or connected HD TV. Learn more about it here.

Bloomberg reports that the market for internet-capable TVs will evolve fast in 2012 and 2013. They point to analyst reports that anticipate as many as 87.6 million internet-capable TVs by 2013—that’s 6x as many as today.

Video stream customization and mobility are key to television’s evolution.

Learn more about the shift. For a big-picture perspective on the distribution shift of television, view this infographic.