The Internet will never replace TV!

Neither one will replace the other, ultimately they'll be one and the same, Video quality on the web will go up and up (take a look at the apple HD stuff on a decent connection) and there will be no difference.

I think the article misses the point to some degree. Streaming video is not going to be the answer, so it doesn't belong in the discussion. HD Video is completely doable over the internet. People are already doing it. Leo Laporte is making his show Mac Break available for download in 1080p.

The trick is bit torrent. The viewers have proven that they are more than happy to kick in bandwidth to help the process. Everybody wins. With something as popular as a network program there should be plenty of people available to seed.

What needs to happen is a software program that makes most of the geekery involved in torrents invisible to the user. So, you have your IPTV program, Democracy is a good start, and you subscribe to your programs. While you sleep or work your computer has all the time it needs to pull down that fat file for your later viewing pleasure.

He is right in regards to live events like sports. The immediacy of the event will trump the convenience of the internet. For regular series though, it doesn't really change scheduling. The network just has to make the torrent hot the day of, and then by the time you get home it is waiting for you to watch, pause, and rewind as you see fit. It may even help out that east coast/west coast delay.

The technology and infrastructure to do this is already in place. Of course, the sand in the vaseline is that one of the cooks in the kitchen is might get a DRM bug up his ass. That could make the whole thing such a pain to use that it hinders adoption.

The point isn't that the web will replace TV, it's that commercial television with it's locked in times will be replaced by something else where you can pick what show and when you want to watch it, commercial free.

The main thing holding technology like that back is that the quality of the video isn't on par with DVD video yet. Once we cross that threshold, you'll start to see lower and lower audience numbers tune in.

Sorry, not on this topic, but is there ANY WAY you guys can get rid of that ad that loads on the TVSQUAD home page with the big picture of Bush??? It's for yourgiftcards.com or something. It's a revolting sight every time I come to the TVSquad home page, and it's been there for WEEKS ON END. I try to limit my doses of that face to small bits from "The Daily Show", where I think of him as their equivalent of Larry "Bud" Melman. (Hey, 2 TV references!)
Pretty please???