The future of television is of course going to be digital and HD, but it is also going to be watched strictly from the computer screen or a television which now are interchangeable. Computer users have the ability to watch an episode of say “The Office” on a wide screen HDTV, stop it and click to read the news in another window at an instant. That new wave of television going digital and television being watched over the web is proving Bill Gates prediction correct.

Sites like Hulu.com are pushing television over the web to new heights. Hulu.com, a joint venture between NBC and News Corp allows a portal to free streaming television shows and movies. While being able to watch these television shows the user can view them in HD players much like the videos on abc.com. Although most of the video is ad based, they are only around 15 seconds long. This is alot better than going to sites created by individuals offering “free” content but really overing you viruses.

This is another move that pushes most television channels to put its content online and allowing the user control of which shows he or she would like to watch rather than going by the channel listing. The idea of HDTV uses the ideas of tipping point where it takes the right small amount of individuals to begin an epidemic such as NBC, CBS, and sites like Hulu. This along with the push by the government to force everyone to use digital television is creating the wave of free ad-supported television or movies via the internet.

Many aspects in class could be analyzed in this new market for examples auctions will come into place when more and more advertising bid for time slots during the streaming movies or television episodes. Game theory could also be analyzed where those players whose chose to take risks and join this new market are benefiting from it more than late comers would. Now more individuals who feel that entering the online television market is there best strategy at this point where they will benefit the most. Also much like the pay-per click idea of search engines sites like Hulu are receiving revenue from advertisers through traffic or the embedding of the clips by users onto their personal web pages which expands that advertisers potential customer base by allowing more viewing.