TV's New Parallel Universe

[SOURCE: BusinessWeek, AUTHOR: Tom Lowry]
Broadband is opening the floodgates for a new kind of TV show -- only not on TV but online. In just the past few months some of the biggest TV names have announced new broadband channels, from MTV Networks to Comedy Central to ABC News. If you thought the 400 cable channels focusing on everything from golf to anime were already cutting niches thin, broadband TV is going a step further. With improved speeds and video quality online, not to mention broadband's growing reach (estimated conservatively to be in 40 million U.S. homes by year end), TV executives are rushing to connect with younger audiences that are less and less riveted to traditional TV. Getting a foothold on the Internet, especially if it creates buzz, is also a way to recapture ad dollars that have migrated away from the 30-second TV spot. On the Web, ads can be positioned strategically next to programming and measured with greater accuracy. Broadband may also allow executives, bound by the costs and the creative parameters of big-time TV, to take more chances. TV execs will need that kind of freedom as they go up against a slew of upstarts that are creating their own channels. And why not? The barriers to entry are incredibly low vs. TV. Essentially, if you have a $300 video camera and the software to create a site, you're in business.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_46/b3959104.htm
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2005/tc20051107_203886.htm