The end of broadcast?

In the early days of the World Wide Web—just a few years ago—companies dreamed of sending content to millions of computer screens around the planet. PointCast and the similar start-ups that pioneered this idea applied "push" technology—they pushed content onto the user’s screen rather than waiting for the user to pull it from the server. But this technology failed to deliver what those users really wanted: digital-quality video and audio, on demand, over the Internet.

Although the push business model may be dead, the goal of delivering high-quality video over the Internet lives on in the form of "media streaming," a hybrid that combines traditional broadcasting with the Net’s on-demand environment (see sidebar "The state of the art"). Companies that deploy the streaming technology are using it to leapfrog old-guard broadcast and cable companies, which have been reluctant to bring interactivity to TV. In so doing, the attackers are stealing the broadcasters’ dearest treasure: the audience.
What, me worry?

A sure indicator that a company feels threatened is the filing of a lawsuit. That is what CBS, Disney, Fox, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, and others did in January 2000, when they joined in...