When worlds collide

What happens when the worlds of TV and the Internet collide?

I don’t know, but I think we’re about to find out.

Yesterday – the first work day of 2006 – the major business newspapers exploded with feature stories on the unfolding drama…

From the Financial Times: “Demand Grows for ‘on-demand’ television

From the New York Times: “Provider of Movies on Cable Looks to PCs and Video Players”

From the Wall Street Journal: “Watching the Web on TV”

Equally as illuminating, CBS took out a full page, four color ad to trumpet the following…

“Brand New. Announcing a brand-new, content rich, broadcasting, narrowcasting,webcasting, publishing, production, syndication, interactive, out-of-home, away-from-home, in-home, world-class entertainment coporation. CBS corporation.”

It’s enough to make you dizzy.

The last time we had a buzz like this (1994), things were different:

1. There was massive institutional skepticism and ignorance about the Internet

2. Advertisers, publishers, TV networks, music companies and movie studios were fat, smug and happy with the offline status quo

3. The world population of ‘Internet-interested’ folks totaled maybe a few hundred thousand and most of them were techies.

But here’s the really big thing that made things different 12 years ago…

In 1994, no one had a clue how to monetize Internet traffic.

How exactly will people get their video in the months and years to come?

I recommend everyone interested in the answer to this question pay close attention to this year’s Consumer Electronics Show which kicks off tomorrow.

Here’s one way to follow it (on Internet video of course):

http://www.technologyevangelist.com/ce

– Ken McCarthy

P.S. For over 25 years I’ve been sharing the simple but powerful things that matter in business with my clients.

If you’d like direction for your business that will work today, tomorrow and twenty years from now, visit us at the System Club.