Summary: We will soon be replacing our TVs more often than our PCs as the television advances towards becoming a simple and functional living room PC. The maker of this new hi-tech TV could be one of many companies, and it could certainly NOT be Microsoft.

And at the center of this transformation is the internet.

Mark Cuban recently said that we’ll soon be replacing our TV’s more often than we replace our PCs. I’d have to agree with Mark on this. The evolution of the living room is putting more pressure on the TV set to be able to do more.

CBS has decided to really take the bull by the horns and bring a lot of its content onto the internet including full TV shows (think CSI, Survivor and Late Show with David Letterman) as well as numerous sporting events including championship boxing.

Its new online TV service is called “Interactive Audience Network” and is really giving the finger to YouTube.

Who needs YouTube

This is one of the biggest pushes to bring traditional TV content online we’ve seen to date.

CBS has agreed distribution deals for all this TV content with a number of online platforms, but guess what, no YouTube.

It’s not so long away before the internet and the TV become almost the same thing. We’ll surf the web on our TV, while also subscribing to internet TV shows, buying video downloads, and watching TV broadcast over a broadband connection.

However, there is still a long way to go with TV technology, and internet technology, still somewhat incompatible with each other. There are two major issues:

• Using a TV needs to be simple and somewhat passive, whereas currently internet TV and the internet in general is a bit more complicated and somewhat active.
• The quality of internet TV is limited and not very scalable at this time.

Companies innovating with internet and TV convergence:

TiVo

TiVo is really at the forefront of creating a fluid TV experience and it has already started integrating a number of online features including video downloads, remote scheduling, and TiVoCast for watching online video blogs. Not to mention some of the other things that TiVo has in the works.

SlingMedia

SlingMedia saw innovation in allowing people to take their living room TV and DVR recordings anywhere by broadcasting them over a private channel on the internet using a Slingbox. You can see here that the company already has a good reputation for delivering a solid product with many people saying the Slingbox is worth purchasing.

The company is also developing devices which will bring the PC to the TV, such as the SlingCatcher which will allow you to view whatever is on your PCs screen on your TV over a home network.

Apple

Apple is quickly becoming one of the leading retailers of movie and TV downloads with a large number of videos available in the Apple iTunes store.

The Apple TV, expected to be released anytime soon, will link the iTunes store to the television set allowing people to seamlessly watch itunes downloads on their TV set. While the Apple TV does not have overly impressive specs or features, it does feature Apple’s renowned ease of use (see video).

Microsoft

When it comes to internet television Microsoft is very busy and has a lot up its sleeve. It is already rolling out an IPTV platform in a number of territories, and is merging the TV and PC into one with its Media Center PCs and connecting it all together with media extenders.

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