The Web: Internet TV ready for prime time

CHICAGO, March 9 (UPI) -- Newton Minnow once famously called television a "vast wasteland." Referring to the mix of action-adventure programming, situation comedies, variety shows, quiz shows and cheap movies, Minnow, who at the time was chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, also told TV executives he was not convinced that viewers' "taste is as low as some of you assume."One rightly wonders what Minnow, who was speaking of the nascent TV business in 1961, would think of the fare being offered by today's Internet protocol television, also known as IPTV. A flurry of deals in the past two months suggests that major phone and cable TV companies are taking IPTV seriously and are promising new services, much in the same way they embraced Internet telephony a year or so ago. The problem for viewers, however, is most programming from regular TV and cable is not available on IPTV and, in many cases, the new medium offers only cheap adult entertainment. Despite the dearth of content -- a new wasteland, Minnow might say -- executives told UPI's The Web that IPTV is getting ready for prime time, whether anyone wants it or not."There is a lot of noise in the marketplace," said Kenny Van Zant, executive vice president of marketing at Motive Inc. in Austin, Texas, a firm that works with IPTV networks. "Vendors are clamoring to get into this space. The time is right. The technology is viable. Now is the time to get going with trials -- and that's happening in Europe, the United States and Asia." By Gene Koprowski