I want my Internet TV. But I'll have to enjoy what's there now and wait for the rest to show up over the next couple years. In addition to the technological adoption time, there are also legal/contractual barriers to Internet TV. Today's intellectual property laws and existing long-term production contracts don't work well with the Internet as a distribution system. Contracts with content creators and actors hinder the broad distribution of existing productions. For example, Chris Anderson points out in The Long Tail that the very popular sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati was unable to go to DVD release until just recently because of how many content participants were involved in each episode. Producers, writers, actors, and directors get a cut of revenue from a production, including when it's in syndication. In the case of WKRP, there were many popular songs playing in the background of each episode--often the music was tied into the premise. Each song had to be cleared for use. The artists, producers, and labels that owned each song had to get a piece of the pie, too. In order to go to DVD, the studio had to re-negotiate new contracts for every song in every episode. In fact, as it turns out, in order to go to DVD they remastered the show to remove many of the old songs and replace them with generic music.

If going to DVD was so difficult, how much more difficult will it be for shows like WKRP to go online?

Additionally, there is a big brouhaha developing between Hollywood studios and the Writers' Guild over new proposals to standard contracts. One issue in contention is what the revenue sharing agreements will be when content goes online. Of course there's also the big fight between Viacom and YouTube over pirated video (like The Jeffersons clip) hosted on YouTube.

This is a serious matter. I believe in the rights of content owners. If they can't be protected, then advertising revenue is threatened. No ad revenue means no budgets for writers and actors and no new TV for the Internet. And as entertaining as watching a border collie rip apart a giant pumpkin on YouTube may be, I, for one, am not ready to trade excellent shows like 24, Lost, and Heroes for it (border collie lovers may disagree with me--pumpkin lovers though, are in my corner).


Right now, today, you can sign up for Joost, Veoh, or go to any of the networks' websites and watch their most popular shows on your computer. If you're a gadgety person, you can even hook up your laptop to your television and and watch Internet TV on your regular TV--Veoh even works with a remote control. Steve O'Hear has an excellent post that lists eight of the top Internet TV sites and a review of each of their services on the Last100 blog. It's called 8 Internet TV apps in 8 weeks.

I'm happy to have an alternative to my DVR for watching TV. But for now you'll only find the most recent episodes of the most popular shows, and you'll have to sit through some very untargeted ads. But soon, as video scanning technology, brand protection features, personal profile matching technology, and contractual arrangements mature, we can look forward to a growing list of online video and television content to enjoy. And I'll finally be able to bring my DirecTV dish to the dump for good.