• CNET News.com, Friday, April 20, 2007 10:30 AM

As News Corp., NBC, Viacom and others send prime-tie content to the Internet, local TV affiliates are wondering whether they're the next business to be left behind by the Internet revolution. NBC and News Corp. plan to distribute prime-time content across a large network of major Internet publishers. CBS made a similar announcement last week. Viacom's MTV is building interactive Web sites and whole virtual worlds out of its popular TV shows, and consumers are spending more time with social networks and online video sharing sites like YouTube. Moreover, it's an on-demand future, as the big telecoms, Apple, Joost, YouTube, Sling Media and others, change the way people watch television.

As Richard Jones, a station manager who oversees a local Fox affiliate in San Diego, says many are worried that shows seen on the Web will affect ratings. Network affiliates have faced competition from cable companies for years, but the Web presents a different kind of challenge: TV stations, indeed, broadcast as we know it, may no longer be necessary thanks to wide-ranging wireless technologies like WiMax.

However, it's not all bleak for local broadcasters: The industry grew 8% last year, and as TV exec Steve Carlston points out, broadcasters have to switch to digital signals in March 2009, and local affiliates may find a market for the spectrum they own but don't use.

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