Cut this out of The Huffington Post

Steve Rosenbaum

Posted January 17, 2009 | 09:12 PM (EST)

But all of this is somewhat besides the point. The real sea change is that the web is - for the first time - a real alternative to cable and broadcast TV from a content perspective. With the migration of the prime-time schedule from local affiliates to services like Hulu, home viewers can watch 'The Office' via the net. ABC, powered by the crystal clear video of Move Networks, offers its prime-time schedule on its website as well. And the emergence of web-exclusive content from studios like Revision 3, and Mevio, and MyDamn Channel all provide viewers with new (and in many cases better) video choices as they look for content.

So - why now? 2009 is moment in time when consumers are restless. And with good reason. NBC is shifting from dramas at 10pm to Jay Leno behind a desk. HBO is hitless - 'The Soprano's' seem so very long ago. And while cable has a handful of hits (Mad Men, Damages) David Pogue in the New York Times points out, you can get the full seasons on Netflix as part of their $9 all you can eat download and DVD offering.

I've said for a long time, the biggest and most powerful untapped resource in the future of web entertainment is the huge expense most American families currently put toward the 'free' television they get. By that I mean the bundled set of offerings that are called cable tv. You pay for 1,000 channels, and watch maybe 10 of them. If you're getting broadband, cable, and some premium channels you're probably paying over $100 a month. That's $1,200 year. Now, if you canceled your cable - just kept broadband - that would drop your bill to $480 a year. Leaving $720 a year that could be parsed out to VOD, Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, or any of the other services that are sure to be better capable of working with you on a micropayment basis to sell you just what you want.