The Flip.
The best thing on, one press.
One button puts on the best live game you can actually watch, across the cable box and every app you pay for. It asks during the Knicks and takes over in the gaps. This one isn't a company, and this page won't pretend it is. It's the build you already called sick, and one afternoon proves it.
The demo we'd film
Mockup of a real night: Thursday, Dec 18, 2025, from Claude's replay of ESPN play-by-play.
- 9:17 PM. You're on Thursday Night Football on Prime. A card says the Knicks are down 3 at Indiana with 3:59 left, on MSG.
- One press. The Sony switches to the cable input, the IR blaster tunes MSG, and you see Brunson's step-back three with 5.6 seconds left. Knicks win, 114–113.
- One more press and you're back on Prime, which goes to overtime. Seahawks win, 38–37.
- You never opened a menu.
The problem
The solution
- Know what's close: ESPN's public scoreboard, checked every minute and filtered by your rule (your round-3 lean: basketball and football, any close game late, with the Knicks always first).
- Get there: Sony's IP control for inputs and app launches (Home Assistant docs), a $26 Broadlink IR blaster to tune the cable box (docs), and deep links into Prime and Peacock live games [unverified].
- Ask or drive: one card over the picture [unverified on HDMI input], one remapped button. It asks during your team's games and moves on its own in an "Endings" mode, which was your round-2 pick.
- What it never does: click inside a streaming app. It switches inputs, sends IR, and opens deep links, all surfaces you control as the owner.
Why now
Everything except "land in the live game" is already documented and works today. Your reactions over three rounds were strongest for exactly this: "sick" for a RedZone for everything you pay for. And it builds the same pieces Tracks and Mom's TV need: an app you control on the TV, a now-playing reader, an overlay, deep links.
Who wants it
You and Brett, first and maybe only. Beyond that, every multi-service sports household feels this, but Google TV's Sports page, Gemini (March 2026), ESPN multiview, YouTube TV multiview and NFL RedZone each cover part of it. No one has measured demand for switching between cable and apps based on which game is close, and I wouldn't raise money to find out.
How it makes money
It doesn't, and that's the honest answer.
If it ever became a business, it would be a feature that Google, a cable operator, or a TV maker ships. Claude's "license it to TV makers" runs into partners who won't let their apps be operated without consent, and a cable box that shrinks every year. The return here is your Thursday nights and a working lab for the other two pitches.
Competition
| Product | What it does | Gap |
|---|---|---|
| Google TV Sports page / Gemini | Where a game is on; live scores | No cable box; tells you instead of taking you there |
| ESPN multiview, YouTube TV multiview | Several games on one screen | Only inside that one service |
| NFL RedZone | A human whip-around | One league, one channel |
| DIRECTV GameMaster, EverPass, Spectrum TV Control Pro | Screen control for bars | For businesses, bundled with the rights |
The unfair advantage
It's tuned to two people and one cable box. Google won't touch the cable box, and no one else knows that you'd leave TNF for a close Knicks game but not for hockey.
Risks, and what you'd have to believe
| You'd have to believe | If it's wrong |
|---|---|
| Deep links land inside the live game, not on the app's home screen [unverified] | Cable-only Flip, plus a two-press route for apps |
| A card can draw over the HDMI cable input on your Sony [unverified] | Cards only over apps; a $46 shelf scoreboard carries the rest (Claude's round 3) |
| The score feed beats the stream delay by enough | Nudges arrive a play late. Tune the threshold earlier. |
| Cutting between games is enough, since DRM blocks two pictures in software | A picture-in-picture box for nights with cable plus an app |
The weekend proof
Claude's 30-minute test with your laptop. Turn on Sony IP control, then check three things: a card draws over the cable input, Prime and Peacock land inside a live game, and which remote buttons can be taken over. Then run the Flip on Tuesday's opener (Knicks vs. 76ers, 7:00, NBC, per Claude's schedule).
Pass
Cable to an app and back in under 5 seconds, landing in the live game and not a menu, on a real Knicks night.
Fail
It lands on menus more than once in five tries. Ship the cable-only version, plus the idle-screen stage for fun.
90 days, which is the season
Test
The 30-minute test, the IR blaster, the Flip on one button.
v1
Close-game nudges using your rule, the Knicks pregame card, Endings mode.
Live with it
Log every press. The only metric that matters: do you two reach for it without thinking?
Thirty minutes and $26.
- Time: 30 minutes with your laptop on the same Wi-Fi as the Sony.
- Three answers: your Sony's model (Settings → System → About), Mac or Windows, and whether you have NBA League Pass.
- Money: a $26 IR blaster so the Flip can tune MSG itself.
- Decision: just "yes, build it for us." No company decision needed.