-

What is a .tv domain name?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXl90QF1V2U

 Let people know that you have video! Every day, millions of Internet users search the Internet for videos. A .TV lets them know that your site has it. Internet video host Amber Mac (of webnation.tv, commandn.tv and www.twit.tv fame) explains exactly what a .TV domain is and how it can help you get more visitors to your site.

-

-

-

What can I do with a .tv domain?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fZI_EEtqG4

If you have a play button on your site, a .TV is for you. A .TV domain is ideal for any website that features a video experience -- it doesn’t matter if it’s a personal or professional. Amber also lets you in on a secret, choosing .TV can help you get a better domain name.

-

Who is using .TV? Erin Blaskie

www.youtube.com/watch?v=56_hWhmJwb4

Erin Blaskie Lifestreamer www.erinblaskie.tv www.askerinlive.tv “…I dont think I would have been able to get sponsors for my video podcasts if it wasnt a .TV…”

-

Who is using .TV? Dave Webb

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMZH2GwwXZ0

Who is using .TV? Dave Webb Editor of IT World Canada www.itworldcanada.tv “…the .TV domain became an important part of our strategy when we realized it wasn’t just about words and pictures and links…we had to be in the multimedia space…”

-

Who is using .TV? Amber MacArthur

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLV69klwARQ

Who is using .TV? Amber MacArthur TV Host www.webnation.tv www.commandn.tv www.twit.tv/natn “When I see that someone has a .TV domain name, it really says to me that they’re serious about video production online…”

-

Stuart Isett for The New York Times - Gerald Ortega watches TV shows on his computer, using his iPhone as a remote control to search for programs on the Web.

THERE are certain timeless truths about people who don’t own a television, chief among them that they love to tell you they don’t own a television.

These days, they are still out there, but they have rivals in the realm of zealotry: people who do watch television — sometimes plenty of it — but don’t own a cable box.

Those who belong to this crowd are only too happy to remind you that they can watch most of what you watch, but don’t pay $60 a month or more for the privilege. They will explain gleefully how they (legally, for the most part) circumvent the cable companies. And they are becoming more voluble, as cable bills rise and technology improves.

“I tell everybody at my workplace about it all the time,” said Sundance McClure, a Web developer from Lakeside, Calif., who canceled his cable service nine months ago when the cost inched toward $100 a month.

Whenever colleagues talk about what they watch on TV, he said, “I always tell them, ‘Yeah, well, you know, we don’t have to pay for any of that.’ ”

Whether this makes Mr. McClure popular at the office does not seem to be the point. He gains pleasure from watching hours of television a day with the help of PlayOn, a $40 software download that aggregates Internet content and streams it to his Xbox 360, a game console attached to his TV.

It’s impossible to quantify how many people have ditched their cable service, and the cable providers are eager to paint them as a minority fringe. But with devices like Xbox and Apple TV and software like Boxee making it easy to stream Internet content to a television, mention the phenomenon in just about any gathering, and someone is likely to pipe up about his or her way of watching cable free. And, yes, by and large they do enjoy making other people jealous.

-

-

Ed Zurga for The New York Times - Lauren Reinhold and Kent Clasen check Netflix offerings with their children, Jules, 2, and Miles, 8.

“The two questions I get asked most often are, one, ‘Do you really save that kind of money?’ and two, ‘Can you really see everything that you want?’ ” said Gerald Ortega, who has been proudly documenting his divorce from cable since July 2008 on his blog, Replace Television. “And the answer to both of those is yes.”

And no. Though you shouldn’t expect a cable-cord cutter to volunteer this information, a monthly bill is not the only thing you must do without. Because they command hefty advertising rates, few sporting events are streamed live. Premium channels like HBO and Showtime also keep their original programming behind a pay wall, since they rely largely on subscriber revenue. So a rabid football or “True Blood” fan who decides to dump cable had better have some very hospitable neighbors (preferably, ones with a premium package).

There are various and baffling reasons that some shows are available online and some are not (it has everything to do with contracts and money and nothing to do with technology). A show’s Web site will usually indicate whether episodes are available online or on DVD.

Charles Redell, a magazine reporter in Seattle, learned this the hard way when he invited friends over last year for an annual book swap on what turned out to be Super Bowl Sunday. Suddenly he wasn’t bragging about how he uses DVDs and Hulu.com to watch “Dexter” and “The Office” on his laptop.

“A couple of our friends are really into football, and we had no idea it was on,” he said. Fortunately, before any friendships were severed, an Internet search turned up a live, illegal feed of the game from China on Justin.TV, a video streaming site.

Nonsubscribers may also find themselves playing catch-up when news breaks. Although there are plenty of places to find the latest news online, it’s hard to find the sort of narrated news program that people expect when they turn on the television. “The election last November was a bit of a nail biter,” said Mr. Ortega, the blogger, “and Michael Jackson’s death kind of came out of nowhere.”

But it’s precisely this off-the-grid lifestyle that some people find so alluring. Lauren Reinhold, a stay-at-home mother in Lawrence, Kan., canceled her cable service largely to reduce the amount of advertising her children saw. She started a Facebook group for cord cutters to share tips and cheer one another on.

“We’re kind of pioneers,” she said. “The easy thing to do is to have cable, so you’ve got to do things a little bit differently and be a little bit tech-savvy.”

Social media can actually pose a problem for people without cable: because they must wait for shows to be available on the Web or DVD, they sometimes must avoid sites like Twitter and Facebook, which are minefields of episode spoilers.

“For certain things, like the ‘Mad Men’ finale, I just had to stay offline completely till I was able to watch it,” said Laura Barganier, a 24-year-old publicist on the Upper East Side who has gone without cable since January 2008. Still, she never misses an episode of “Gossip Girl” and has lately gotten into MTV’s “Jersey Shore,” both of which she watches on her computer anytime after the shows first appear on television.

Cable executives say they are not worried. Setting up a cable-free life is still too daunting for most people, since most of the work-arounds involve a lot more than just grabbing the remote (assuming you can find it under the sofa cushions).

“We don’t consider it a threat to our business,” said Maureen Huff, a spokeswoman for Time Warner Cable. “Being able to watch TV on the Internet is not new.”

Without question, the cost of watching television is going up: The average household cable bill in the United States hit $64 a month in 2009, up from $47.50 in 2004, according to Leichtman Research Group, which specializes in media research.

Even so, most cord cutters are “really just a bizarre breed of people, usually in New York or San Francisco, who don’t watch a lot of television in the first place,” said Bruce Leichtman, the president of the New Hampshire-based group.

The numbers back him up. The multichannel video industry, which includes cable and satellite providers, added 1.7 million new subscribers in the last three quarters of 2009 — not exactly boom times for discretionary income among Americans.

Some cord cutters think of themselves as taking power away from cable companies, much the way people without land lines have upended the telecommunications industry. But Alan Wurtzel, the president of research at NBC Universal, rejects the analogy.

“You can do everything you need to with a cellphone,” he said. “But the fact is you can’t duplicate a conventional television experience online.”

Mr. Ortega concedes that the life is not for everyone. “As an American, you grow very accustomed to sitting on the sofa and grabbing the remote and just flipping through channels,” he said. “And you can’t really do that when you’re Net-based.”

For some people, life without cable proves too difficult. Baratunde Thurston, a comedian and editor at The Onion, got rid of his cable service in 2008 to save money but resubscribed after he started hosting “Popular Science’s Future Of” on the Science Channel — a show that is not available online.

“I literally got cable again to watch myself on television,” he said, adding, “I feel like I’ve let the movement down.”

Is 3D television the next big thing in consumer tech? Splashy, flashy, and (virtually) in your face, 3D TV is getting a mega-promotional boost by its backers, including Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony, all of whom hope you’ll be so bowled over by 3D’s visual splendor that you won’t mind paying a few thousand bucks for the 3D-at-home experience.

Well, 3D is pretty cool, I must admit. But its charm is limited to certain types of programming, and the unresolved problem of pricey, non-standardized 3D glasses will turn off a lot of potential buyers. And that’s why 3D TV will take a back seat to Web services in the HDTV features war.

-

-

Web TV Arrives

Televisions with built-in Internet connections, typically an Ethernet port and/or Wi-Fi, are becoming increasingly common as manufacturers roll out their 2010 models. These HDTVs, such as LG’s Web-ready lineup priced from $1,300 to $2,700, make it easy to access a rapidly expanding universe of Internet-based services, including movie-streaming services like Netflix and Vudu, as well as TV widgets that bring online content such as news, weather, traffic, stock quotes, and social networks (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) to the living room.

Even better, a Web-enabled TV can save you money. Do you need a Roku Digital Video Player if your TV is Internet-ready? A Blu-ray player? I’m guessing “no” to both. Vudu already offers 1080p movie streaming–provided your broadband connection is fast enought–and competing video services will soon follow. (Note: Not all Web-enabled TVs support Vudu, and I suspect many more will now that Wal-Mart has bought the company.) Bottom line: Web-connected TVs allow you to avoid additional set-top boxes, movie players, and shiny discs.

Glitches Abound

Internet-ready TVs are still in their infancy, and they’re far from perfect. I’ve tested a few set-top boxes and Blu-ray players, and found them a bit flaky at times. They might, for instance, drop a Wi-Fi connection in the middle of movie and not be able to reconnect without a reboot. And in residences where the broadband router is far from the living room–perhaps in an upstairs home office–users may find it difficult to bring the Web to the TV.

Over time, however, these glitches will be resolved, and the Internet-TV relationship will bloom. So the next time you’re shopping for a new HDTV, remember that Web connectivity is far more important than eye-popping 3D graphics.

Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter (@jbertolucci ) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com .

-

This video features Michael, Justin and Caleb from Justin.tv. If you’ve heard of “lifecasting”, you’ve probably heard of Justin.tv. Initially started as a 24/7 live streaming view into co-founder Justin Kan’s life, currently Justin.tv’s 1,800+ channels are viewed by millions of people daily. From their site:

“Live video can help you motivate a crowd to tell their friends what’s happening, follow you on Twitter, buy a product, donate to a cause or get up out of their chairs and take action. Justin.tv is built from the ground up to support any audience, whether it’s 5 people or 50,000. One new live video starts each second, and users watch more than 300 million videos every month.”

Watch this expert’s story on how Justin.tv was created, the importance of online video and the branding power of .tv.

-

http://www.viddler.com/explore/watchdottv/videos/12/

Corps would boost adoption by training people in low-adoption areas

The FCC wants to create a digital literacy corps to help boost broadband adoption by training people in low-adoption areas, which include rural and low income communities, and at the same time boost the skills of those doing the training. It also wants the government to consider using spectrum to create a free or low-cost broadband service. Those were??among the key takeaways from a Knight Commission Digital Inclusion Summit in Washington, where FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and other commissioners unveiled yet another piece of the broadband plan in what has become an ongoing road show of recommended proposals. Driving the FCC’s focus on adoption are the almost 40 million Americans that haven’t adopted broadband.

-

-

 The FCC will also team with the Knight Foundation on the Knight/FCC “Apps for Inclusion” Challenge, a contest that will offer cash ($100,000 from Knight Foundation) to software developers who can provide easier online access to government information, including tracking voting records. That is another element in digital inclusion, says Knight. Alberto Ibarg’?en, president of the Knight Foundation, called Genachowski the foundation’s “hero of the day.” Genachowski said that rural, minority, low-income, seniors, the disabled and tribal communities have fallen behind in broadband, and the cost of digital exclusion is “high and growing higher every day.” Other inclusion proposals include creating an “online skills” portal with free lessons and digital education, though of course that will require broadband availability. The FCC will also recommend public funding for the National Telecommunications & Information Administration to support public-private partnerships for outreach and education and targeted support for senior citizens. As the FCC said last week in talking about expanding the Universal Service Fund, another proposal for adoption by underserved communities is using its lifeline and link-up service subsidies.?? Those had previously been focused on wirelines but the commission is considering using them for broadband and some spectrum for a free or low-cost broadband service.

Editor’s note: Cisco made headlines today announcing a next generation router that will revolutionize the internet by increasing downloads to unheard of speeds.  The Cisco press release makes the following claims about the CRS-3 router:

It enables the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress to be downloaded in just over one second; every man, woman and child in China to make a video call, simultaneously; and every motion picture ever created to be streamed in less than four minutes.

Tech Ticker interviewed Kelly Ahuja, Cisco Senior Vice President and General Manager Service Provider Routing Technology Group about the new product this afternoon.  He answered all our questions but one: When will consumers be able to take advantage of this new high speed internet? Perhaps that’s because that part of the equation is up to our internet service providers. Until they upgrade it might as well all be a dream.

Below is Kara Swisher’s take on the new product. 

Provided by All Things D, March 9, 2010:

Cisco today announced a new version of its key routing system, which the networking giant said has a dozen times the traffic capacity of competitors and three times as much as the company’s previous version.

Cisco’s CEO John Chambers said the CRS-3 Carrier Routing System is aimed at the huge growth in video on the Internet, a trend that has also caused slowdowns.

Pankaj Patel, SVP and GM for the service provider business, claimed the system could in just a few minutes deliver all the movies ever made or allow everyone in China to make a video phone call at once.

It had better. The consumption of video online is growing like crazy and a constant bottleneck is likely without some relief.

“Video brings the Internet to life,” said Chambers. “You are moving from a messaging platform to a video platform.”

Along with Chambers and Patel, AT&T (T) Labs CEO and President Keith Cambron was on the call discussing deployment trials the telecom giant has been doing with the CRS-3. CRS-3 (pictured here) will be available within the calendar year, said the Cisco execs on a press and analyst call this morning.

Cisco had said weeks ago that it was making “a significant announcement that will forever change the Internet and its impact on consumers, businesses and governments.”

-

-

Significant? We’ll see, of course. For sure, it was a highly hyped announcement by Chambers. But due to the speculation about what Cisco was unveiling, its stock hit a 52-week high yesterday. It dropped slightly this morning after the call.

Many others are getting into the high-speed act on the Web. Google (GOOG) said recently that it is planning on building a superfast broadband service. In addition, the Federal Communications Commission is set to unveil its own ambitious plan to improve high-speed Internet access across the United States.

Cisco has gotten deep into the video business of late, both in pushing its networking gear and in acquiring a video device maker like Pure Digital, the company behind my beloved Flip digital camera.

It is also working on innovative holographic and television-based home telepresence technologies.

‘Usage is up,’ Jeff Bewkes tells media conference

Jeff Bewkes (Getty)

NEW YORK — Time Warner chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes on Tuesday explained in more detail why he is bullish on his conglomerate’s growth prospects as a pure content company in the digital age.

Speaking at the Credit Suisse Global Media & Communications Convergence Conference in Palm Beach, Fla., he said digital not only offers better access and offers for consumers, but also attractive economics for media companies that device makers and others can’t erode.

-

-

Speaking at the Credit Suisse Global Media & Communications Convergence Conference in Palm Beach, Fla., he said digital not only offers better access and offers for consumers, but also attractive economics for media companies. And device makers and others can’t erode content economics without the consent of media firms.

No one has the power to force content makers “into a less advantageous business model,” he told the conference.

Plus, media consumption is on the rise.

“Usage is up in all our businesses,” Bewkes said, citing that TV viewing is up early 10% over the past five years and magazine readership 6%. He didn’t say what data he was referring to.

Similarly, while home video revenue was down in 2009, boxoffice and home entertainment transactions were up 4%, Bewkes told the conference in his appearance that was webcast.

He reiterated that TW’s blockbuster films and TV hits are benefiting in the digital age. “The biggest hits, the biggest brands are used more than ever,” he said. “Big brands help consumers sort through the clutter.”

The digital age turns “a big hit into a monstrous hit,” he added.

As far as industry economics go, piracy could affect them negatively, Bewkes acknowledged. But a decade after the troubles of the music industry came to the surface, film and TV are “holding up very well,” Bewkes said.

His explanation: “plenty of attractive commercial alternatives” that allow consumers to buy or rent DVDs, as well as access films and TV shows via VOD, electronic sell-through and other ways.

Bewkes once again didn’t comment on a possible acquisition of MGM in detail beyond saying that TW doesn’t need to make any deals and that it will simply buy opportunistically when it can ensure financial returns.

Because Google hasn’t extended its reach into enough areas of our lives, the company is now testing its TV search in various capacities. Looking to leverage its Android operating system and search technologies in set-top boxes and other television devices, TV search allows users to look for both online and broadcast content. Although the technology still has some maturing to do, it certainly points to the increasing convergence of the various screens through which we view content.

According to the Wall Street Journal,

Previous efforts to access Internet programming on TV sets have failed to catch on, partly because they required consumers to purchase extra hardware. By working directly with an operator like Dish and its hardware, Google could avoid the such issues. Unlike earlier efforts, Google’s service isn’t just about accessing Web content. It is also a search service that is integrated with the operator’s programming.

-

-

So is this a good thing? Given how much time young people especially spend watching videos on YouTube and Hulu (whether through syndication deals or as original content), it makes sense that this sort of web-based content should be available on the screen of their choosing. Android-based smartphone? You got it. Web browser? Done. TV? You bet. My kids will watch YouTube videos on the Wii if they want to look at something bigger than a laptop; a computer will be going into our entertainment center soon to make online content more accessible and stream HD content from Netflix and the Web. If anyone would like to shove this all in one box and bundle it with service, feel free.

Of course, now Google can target ads based on your television-viewing habits and embed ads in both web and TV content. However, with the advent of TiVo and the death of commercials, it was only a matter of time before advertisers found ways to sell ads through which you couldn’t fast forward. Although this represents one more big muddy splash of my digital footprint, I have to say that I’d much prefer to type in a query and get search results in familiar Google form (with both web and satellite content integrated) than make my way through 200 channels of DirecTV programming guide. As with most things Google, this will probably end up being so convenient, we won’t sweat it. Google already knows that you searched for the times that Mork and Mindy was being repeated on Nick at Night this afternoon anyway. You’ll be seeing ads for rainbow suspenders in your Gmail tomorrow.

This technology is still struggling to emerge and the promises of convergence echoing from the last decade haven’t been fully realized. However, with the merging of Moblin and Maemo, the increasing integration of Google’s search and media services with traditional media, and the explosion of the smartphone market, this may finally be the decade when the lines between traditional and new media don’t just blur. I have a feeling they’re going to disappear entirely.

ABC

Whether you’re a Cablevision subscriber who’s just lost your access to ABC or you simply like watching TV online, there are ways to follow the 2010 Oscars live (and free!) without cable television. We’ll update this posts are more links become available.

Livestream and the Associated Press have partnered on a widget that features live streaming coverage of the red carpet (though not the ceremony itself). You can access or embed it at Livestream or on Facebook.

A larger player — not the widget — is available for viewing at the Livestream Academy Awards page.

Keep an eye on YouTube‘s Oscars channel, sure to be busy on Sunday night.

-

-

There’s always ABC‘s Oscars site, which, given the network’s investment in the broadcast, probably won’t stream the actual ceremony live, but should update frequently with official clips and interviews.

Hulu has gathered its Oscars content in an awards season section that looks to provide live updates and E!’s red carpet coverage.

You might think that Ustream would be all over the Oscars, but there is no current link to this year’s ceremony (the available link is to the 2009 Oscars). Still, it’s probable that the page won’t be available until shortly before the show, so check back here on Sunday night to see if streaming Oscars 2010 coverage is up.

Twitter isn’t a substitute for watching the show itself, but no doubt there’ll be an insane number of tweets using #oscars. Oscars producer Adam Shankman himself has a Twitter account (@adamshankman), and we expect him to post an tidbit or two, though we certainly hope he’ll be a little too busy to tweet.

Got an iPhone? The official Oscars app will let you follow along when you’re not at home. Just keep your iPhone discreetly under the table if you’re at, say, Sunday-night dinner with the in-laws.

Explore more options at PC World’s Online Oscar Night Survival Guide and Technically Personal’s online guide.

And of course, your friendly Moviefone staff will be working tirelessly to provide you with real-time red carpet photos, snark on the best dressed and worst dressed celebs of the night, an up-to-the-minute Oscar winners list, video clips and photo highlights from the show — so bookmark our comprehensive Oscars 2010 coverage and you won’t miss a thing.

Yahoo's TV Widgets, available on some Sony, Samsung, LG and Vizio sets, bring the Internet to viewers who might want to use social networking programs like Facebook or keep track of activities on certain sites, like eBay, without leaving the TV program they're watching.

We want Internet access pretty much everywhere we are, even if where we are is on the couch, remote control in hand, in front of the TV.

TV manufacturers, cable and satellite providers are working to grant our wishes — and to make sure they stay in business, as viewership continues to flag and more of us turn our eyeballs to our computers to watch shows on Web.

-

-

“The entire TV industry has figured out that they need to have some of the more popular interactive features that you get on your computer come to your TV — especially for things like social networking and having tidbits of information available,” said Gerry Kaufhold, principal analyst for In-Stat research.

Among some recent examples of the efforts to join the Internet and the TV:

• Samsung’s LED 7000 and 8000 models of high-definition televisions will have embedded Skype software so that Skype users can make video and voice calls through the TVs. Those sets should be available by mid-year in the United States.
• Cable companies and other pay-TV providers may use software that would provide Internet access via set-top boxes. No new TV would be needed, and the customer’s remote control could essentially act as a mouse.
• Verizon FiOS TV added Facebook and Twitter to its service, so that customers can use the social networking sites to share comments, displayed on the TV screen, about the shows they’re watching as they watch them. Also, “If your friends post recent photographs from their family trip, for example, you can see them on your 60-inch screen, which is a lot more exciting than seeing them on a PC,” said Kaufhold.
• Yahoo’s TV “widgets” for on-screen Internet access to popular Web sites, weather, sports and news are incorporated into some sets sold by Samsung, Sony, LG and Vizio, among others.
• TiVo announced a new digital video recorder this week, the Premiere, that will more closely integrate TV shows and Internet content. A search for an actor, for instance, brings up his or her movies that are coming up on TV or available for rental or purchase through Amazon.com, as well as related YouTube videos.

“This is a whole new chapter in TiVo’s evolution,” CEO Tom Rogers said in an Associated Press interview. “We’re moving toward ‘Get anything you want whenever you want it.’ ”

That’s the mantra in much of the tech world now, and part of what makes devices like Apple’s soon-to-be-released iPad tablet, as well as netbooks and smartphones, so appealing.

Intel, for example, makes not only chips for computers, but a line of “media processors,” or “systems on a chip” to help “bring the Internet experience to the TV.” Intel’s Digital Home Group has done research worldwide to find out what consumers what in their TVs.

“They want gaming, of course, Internet connectivity and applications — what that means is they can get access to photos and videos and movies on demand, in addition to simple things like stocks and weather — all from the television without necessarily leaving the television screen,” Cory Booth, an Intel “user experience” researcher, told Tube Filter News in a recent interview.

Intel’s media processor is being used in the Netherlands by Metrological Media Innovations, said Kaufhold, who has seen it demonstrated.

“If you’re watching a Formula One race on traditional broadcast TV, for example, cameras are placed outside the racetrack, showing the cars coming and going,” he said. “But with an Internet connection, you can, in the corner of the screen, pop up a live shot of your favorite driver, from his helmet camera. It all lines up on your TV screen with a remote control, so you don’t have to have a mouse or keyboard to do this.”

‘Apps’ for the TV
While 3-D TV is on the push list by manufacturers this year for consumers, Internet-connected TV may have just as much, if not more, interest.

“We are indeed seeing about 15 percent of TVs now being sold coming with Internet connectivity,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for The NPD Group research firm.

“However, consumers still need to go to the effort of connecting them — which can require buying more accessories — and take advantage of the ‘apps,’ which can require a subscription,” such as for a movie-downloading service like Netflix.

Samsung recently announced “Samsung Apps,” akin to Apple’s App Store, but for the company’s line of Internet-connected HDTVs, Blu-ray players and home theater systems. Content partners include Accedo Broadband, AccuWeather.com, The Associated Press, Blockbuster, Fashion TV, Netflix, Picasa, Pandora, Rovi, Travel Channel, Twitter, USA Today and Vudu.

“Samsung’s goal over the past two years has been to really push the envelope in terms of consumer experience with connected TV, and 2010 is no different,” said Kevin Kyungshik Lee of Samsung Electronics, in a statement.

“While an app paradigm has its roots on the PC and is in vogue among smartphones, both of these platforms represent ‘lean in’ experiences, where the consumer is actively engaged and interacting,” Rubin said.

“TV, on the other hand, has always been more of a passive medium so it is unclear if the ‘app’ metaphor will work as well there, as opposed to lightweight ‘widgets’ that don’t obstruct the video or ‘channels’ that simply represent a wider array of programming choices delivered via broadband.”

Leichtman Research Group, Inc. says 24 percent of U.S. households have a TV that’s connected to the Internet, according to a recent survey it did of 1,250 households.

Those connections “vary from connecting through a video game system, a Blu-ray player, or the TV set itself,” the research group said. “While Internet connectivity has become a common built-in feature in many products, consumers are just beginning to use this feature to watch video from the Internet.

About one in five of the households have a vide game system that is connected to the Internet; 8 percent have an Internet-connected TV set, and 6 percent have a Blu-ray player with an Internet connection.

Internet via the cable box
If TVs with built-in Internet connectivity aren’t appealing to consumers, a software program that lets cable providers deliver the Internet via set-top box may be. On tap is a standard, called EBIF — Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format — that could make that possible.

“It’s just being rolled out,” said Kaufhold. “By the end of 2010, there will probably be 20 million cable households that have these little interactive cable widgets on their screens.

“So without having to do anything, you’ll have these functions pop up on your screen, which brings you back to your TV and to your remote control. It’s a way to use the technology of the Internet to bring you back to your TV set.

“All of the pay TV services are finding ways to bring these interactive features to you, and in some respects that helps them defend their turf against people using their PCs for everything,” he said.

The Associated Press also contributed to this report.