Synopsis: The rise of video on the Internet created a new challenge for television producers,
and they eventually responded by making programs available on their own Web sites
as well as on sites operated by independent distributors. Now, distributors are sending
Internet content back to the television, but television watching of Internet content will
come with special consumer capabilities, including the active ability to access and
control the content watched on the once denounced passive “boob tube.”
New services will allow consumers to watch Internet video on their televisions.
These new systems require special hardware and even some luck in connecting devices
in one part of the house. Eventually, this hardware will go away, and customers will
be free to watch on their TVs whatever comes over the Internet and will also be able to
stream or download additional content from special distribution Web sites. This will
complete the integration of television, with its larger picture and higher resolution, into
the Internet digital environment, with its expanded access to a world of content and its
enhanced control of how that content is used.