It's even issued a warning to companies that think they can start distributing mainstream TV shows and movies on a global scale at broadcast quality over the public Internet, Reuters says. "The Web infrastructure, and even Google's (infrastructure) doesn't scale. It's not going to offer the quality of service that consumers expect," Vincent Dureau, Google's head of TV technology, said at the Cable Europe Congress.

Google instead offered to work together with cable operators to combine its technology for searching for video and TV footage and its tailored advertising with the cable networks' high-quality delivery of shows. For now, broadband Internet delivery to homes and small businesses is one of the most lucrative segments for cable TV operators, but heavy investments in infrastructure are needed to meet the rapid rise of Internet file-swapping and video downloads.

The data involved in one hour of video can equal the total in one year's worth of emails, according to Reuters. "Most of the IP (Internet protocol or data) traffic is peer-to-peer (file swapping), and most of that is video. Every year we have to invest substantially just to maintain the user experience. In fact it has actually decreased," said Spanish cable operator ONO Chief Executive Richard Alden. "People (Internet service providers) don't like to talk about (the fact) that just to stand still, they have to invest. But you cannot keep investing at the same clip."

Research group Gartner estimates that 60 percent of the Internet traffic that is uploaded from computers is peer-to-peer traffic, mostly from consumers swapping films and TV shows through select user groups and BitTorrent. Cable operators are set to return to capital investments of a modest 10 to 12 percent of revenues, but they can be forced to spend much more due to outside pressures from increased Internet consumption and from rival telecoms operators that upgrade their broadband Internet packages to fiber optic super speeds, Reuters notes.

The Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA), of which Apple is a member, formed an IPTV workgroup in 2005. The goals of the workgroup are to monitor developing standards or specifications for deploying an IPTV system, to create an interoperability conformance program for IPTV and to promote solutions that pass conformance testing. (IPTV is also referred to as IPTV, TV over IP, TV over DSL, or Broadband TV).

AT&T rolled out its IPTV service in June 2006 in San Antonio, the company’s home base. The service offers 200 channels, DVR capability and other features, is priced competitively with rival cable offerings, and is, of course, bundled with high-speed data and telephony service. The company plans to extend its offering. Microsoft is providing the software, and Alcatel is acting as a systems integrator for the undertaking, insuring quality of service.

Microsoft itself is a believer in IPTV. A couple of years ago, in touting Microsoft TV, the Big M said: "Consumers will see cool new features -- imagine four live pictures on a screen at once -- instant channel changes and more options for on-demand video rentals, including high-definition content. Microsoft TV also merges phone services, so incoming messages, e-mail and caller ID can be displayed on users' television screens. Microsoft hopes its Internet protocol television system (IPTV) will also be used in India, China and other developing countries, where it could provide education and government services as well as entertainment via the television."

Most of the material I've run across touting the promising future of Internet television is at least a year old, so Google may be onto something. On the other hand, IPTV may flourish as a developing technology that will allow consumers with a high speed internet connection (DSL , Cable, etc.) to receive a television signal over the Internet, not from Cable or Satellite. A set top box will decode the IP video and convert it to a standard TV signal.

There are doubtless substantial technological barriers to overcome. The question is whether it's worth the time and money involved. And some companies definitely think so. Anytime, an Asia-Pacific video-on-demand channel, [url=http://www.telecomasia.net/article.php?id_article=3220]has predicted[/url] that a "substantial" business in Thailand as soon as this year. Despite a slow start, Peter Lorimer, Anytime vice president of marketing and communications, said the company has realized many in Thailand are looking to launch an IPTV service.