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  Coming soon to TV land: The Internet, actually  Published: January 8, 2006, 12:35 PM PST LAS VEGAS--What would a world with television coming through the Internet be like? Instead of tuning into programs preset and determined by the broadcast network or cable or satellite TV provider, viewers would be able to search the Internet and choose from hundreds of thousands of programs sent to them from high-speed connections. At the International Consumer Electronics Show here this week, a future dominated by Internet Protocol TV, or IPTV, seemed possible, maybe even inevitable. Giants like Yahoo and Google turned their attentions to offering new Internet programming. Hardware companies like Intel introduced chips and platforms that can push videos sent via an Internet connection to living room screens. And Microsoft looked for alliances that would allow its software to dominate living rooms as well as the home office. "At one level it's clear that the dam has broken," said Paul Otellini, chief executive of Intel. "There's an inevitable move to use the Internet as a distribution medium, and that's not going to stop." The rapid emergence of the consumer electronics and computer companies as Internet video providers is certain to challenge the control of the cable, telephone and satellite companies, which seek to dominate the distribution of digital content to the home. Competition has intensified as more consumers have upgraded to digital televisions. Indeed, the easy availability of on-demand content over the Internet is certain to accelerate consumer expectations that they will have more control over digital video content, both to watch programs when they want as well as to move video programs to different types of displays in different rooms of the home. "Appointment-based television is dead," said William Randolph Hearst III, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm. "The cable industry is really in danger of becoming commoditized." Hearst sits on the board of Akimbo, a provider of an Internet service that permits users to download video content via the Internet to a set-top box digital video player. This week, Akimbo announced its first mainstream content deal to enable its customers to download Hollywood movies for later viewing on their televisions. In the battle for the living room, cable, satellite, and increasingly, phone companies are trying to defend their turf by offering more choice through an array of content in video-on-demand programs. But fending off the Internet's openness will be a struggle, one that the online companies themselves lost years ago. At the onset of the dot-com era, large online service companies like AOL, Compuserve and MSN tried to lock customers into electronic walled gardens of digital information. But it quickly became apparent that no single company could compete with the vast variety of information and entertainment sources provided on the Web. The same phenomenon may well overtake traditional TV providers. Potentially, IPTV could replace the 100- or 500-channel world of the cable and satellite companies with millions of hybrid combinations that increasingly blend video, text from the Web, and even video-game-style interactivity. Though still new, IPTV is already commercially available in limited areas both in the United States and internationally. To date, the new digital Internet content is hard to find and of uneven quality. Moreover, the consumer electronics industry is still struggling to complete copy protection agreements with Hollywood and other content providers. But the advantage of IPTV is that it can potentially be deployed at lower cost than current cable television systems and can offer consumers features like the ability to record several programs simultaneously without having to add costly additional tuners. (And IPTV can potentially record many streams if bandwidth is available.) A prototype of one feature of the Microsoft IPTV service, known in the industry as a matrix channel, allows several baseball games to be viewed simultaneously along with textual information like player statistics. Internet search is also likely to play a defining role in shaping IPTV, according to executives attending the consumer electronics show. Both Yahoo and Google announced plans to distribute video at the show, and Yahoo showed a new application intended to be used with a high-definition television to ease the search for video content, stream digital video and permit users to keep their personal information and files in sync whether they are viewing a PC, TV or mobile phone. TalkBack Sql Jan 8, 2006, 1:24 PM PST Daily spotlight  Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime. And that irritates CNET News.com's Declan McCullagh.  Two teams of skydivers create canopy formations using record numbers of people, including three aerospace engineers.  From the conference rooms to the show floor, keynotes and parties, here's everything you need to know about the Consumer Electronics Show.  AT CES, Yahoo CEO Terry Semel outlines the Internet giant's strategy. His big announcement: Yahoo Go, for mobile phones and any networked TV.  The Sands Convention Center at CES was home to various companies and emerging-technology companies showing off their wares.  High-end flat-panel televisions, personal video recorders, camcorders, consoles and more.  Concept cars range from a high-speed Bugatti to a three-wheeler from VW and a snowboarder's dream from Suzuki.  Larry Sanger explains his ambition to build a reliable source of freely accessible, publicly created information on the Web.  <![CDATA[&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://not-a-real-namespace/http://my.jkn.com/go?e=4251435&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;p=WMHZMRTKDYIOTQR&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;f=54374357&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;l=http%3a%2f%2fad%2edoubleclick%2enet%2fclick%253Bh%3dv5|3368|3|0|%252a|s%253B24480836%253B1%2d0%253B0%253B12321882%253B4307%2d300|250%253B13713522|13731418|1%253B%253B%257Esscs%253D%253fhttp%3a%2f%2fseeker%2edice%2ecom%2fseeker%2eepl%3frel_code%3d1102%26op%3d2"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;IMG SRC="http://not-a-real-namespace/http://m2.2mdn.net/982522/Dice_Codesalaryasp_300x250b.gif" BORDER=0&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/A&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;]]>
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