Digital Dish

I read two New York Times articles today about Web television, both of which were well written and informative, citing a lot of the key people, including a few this TV/Internet blogger considers pioneers with the right mindset.

It was exciting to read both stories. It means the path the Internet was designed to take dozens of years ago is actually starting to materialize in the market.

But also, in reading both articles, I couldn’t help but get the sense that they stemmed more from research and interviews than a real sense or understanding of the Web TV market. One article left out two big elements in the webisode/professional content market, while the other didn’t match the things heard or seen among networks regarding the Web. Neither referenced anything related to the development of IP-ready television sets or what the Internet is designed to do in relation to television distribution. One of them should have.

It’s not a failure on the part of either publication or any journalists or bloggers. Web TV is new, the Internet as a platform is new, and it is going to take time for everybody in business to adapt and adjust to it. It’s complicated stuff.

Very few articles track the capacity of devices that integrate with the Internet overall, or where users are in terms of adopting specific concepts. Even fewer share insights about what the Web is designed to do, or the fact that it’s here to replace specific communications distribution platforms—and how that’s going to affect businesses like television, mobile and music.

However, these are as important (if not more so) to the future landscape as what companies like Stage 9 and EQAL are doing. Until everybody understands where the Web is and where it’s heading next, it will continue to be hard to make sense (and money) in the market.

Also, it needs the devices to support it and the users to be ready and educated to use it.

It’s our job, business people, to learn this, make our moves accordingly and, ultimately, teach the masses to do it.

To get a really good understanding of what the Web is and what it will do, look to the telecommunications business. These are the real players underneath it all, the engineers and media that track the development and migration of the great Internet communications network. Talk with industry analysts and go beyond the media and blogosphere to find people talking about the topics.

From there, it all will make a lot more sense, I promise.