For a long, dreamlike week now, I've been watching the future of television.
It started when I bought a device called AppleTV, a $230 mini-computer that plugs into your television and connects, wirelessly, to Apple's popular iTunes service.
Through this, you can buy or rent an array of television shows and movies, many in high-definition, from $2 to about $20.
But I also loaded AppleTV with a software program called Boxee (something Apple does not authorize, but does not block, either). Boxee lets you browse, though AppleTV's wireless connection, Hulu.com, CBS.com, ABC.com, MTV.com and any number of sites that make television shows and movies available for free online.
On my 42-inch TV, without having to get up from my couch, I have watched music videos by Jay-Z, old episodes of "Miami Vice," viral videos from the UK, "Ghostbusters," the latest "24," Warner Bros. cartoons, a special on the origins of the universe .ñ.ñ. the list goes on and on. It's enough to quit my job and gain 50 pounds.
Rarely am I what the industry calls an "early adopter," but in this case I'm a pioneer. Over the past year, two parallel tracks have developed in the world of television. One is the cable and satellite services, which offer "on demand" television shows and movies, sometimes for free, but often for a fee. These are primarily new shows; "Wall-E," for instance, or the last two months of "CSI."
On the other side are Internet sites such as Hulu.com, a site run by NBC and Fox, which advertised during the Super Bowl. Hulu and others let you select from a seemingly unlimited library of shows, everything from the original "Star Trek" to "Barney Miller," with about one to four commercial breaks each.
Neither side, however, is eager for a partnership. The networks get all the advertising revenue from online shows; why share it? Cable and satellite companies, meanwhile, have a good business going with on demand; why would they give it away?
From a consumer point of view, of course, it's a pain. While Web sites may espouse the wonders of watching shows on your laptop, most people prefer to watch another way - on their big television, in a comfy chair.
It took a little bit of expertise and a lot of patience for me to bring the two worlds together. Boxee is in the testing phase, and the quality of online shows often isn't very good. When will things be easier - and better - for the mass market?
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