Question is though, commercial and public broadcast television is free with only a TV required while from my understanding internet tv you pay for your connection and content on an ongoing basis. For that reason i see traditional television in the box seat for a while yet.
Sure, there will be a long period of overlap/transition. But it has already started, the early adopters and the younger generations are already consuming their media online. And I suspect at some point the pressure for ever more wireless bandwidth for mobile Internet usage will eventually consume most other uses of the limited wireless spectrum.
That'll push out broadcast television and radio in the traditional sense. The traditional television networks may still exist as may the traditional radio stations, but the delivery mechanism will be the Internet. Via high bandwidth wired connections for the most part with short range wireless filling in the connection gaps in the home and longer range wireless for access on the move.
Whether you have to pay for your Internet connection will depend on your circumstances. You have to think of this like we think of the plain old telephone today. A voice service is seen as a necessity as much as paying for water and electricity and so much so that the government makes sure that even those who can't pay (eg. Pensioners) can still get a basic fixed service. That $10 a month basic voice service that you or the government pay Telstra for today is the basic Internet connection of the future. And eventually even the most basic connection will provide enough bandwidth to stream HD video flawlessly.
Finally whether you pay directly for the content will be entirely up to you. There'll be all sorts of content models. You can watch ABC News 24 on the net today without subscription. Of course it still costs you your 8 cents a day in taxes but you don't have to pay a subscription to view it. There's no reason that will change simply because the delivery mechanism has moved from broadcast to Internet streaming.
Likewise there'll be advertiser supported content services like Hulu and there's nothing to stop traditional broadcasters continuing to support their service thru advertising even though it is streamed instead of broadcast. You still pay for these free channels, even in the broadcast world of today. You pay for it in the cost of goods and services that are inflated by the cost of advertising. But regardless, there'll be streamed content every bit as free as the broadcast content today.
Of course if you want to pay for premium content then you can, just as you can today. If you want Fox Sports or HBO today then you have to pay for it over and above your basic access to the pay television platform. In an Internet streaming world, you will of course still have to pay for those premium services over and above your Internet access cost.
Leigh
