• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, July 27, 2007

Be a video contrarian. Stir up controversy, and make new friends. This is what we have Mark Cuban for.

Here's the latest: The Internet is dead, he says, speaking at a panel at the Cable Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) Summit in Washington. Who knew?

His position is twofold: First, there isn't enough interesting or new content for the Web. Second, the Internet data "pipes" aren't big enough to handle all the future content. 

He has a point. For years, many Internet operators have warned about the impending server and broadband crunch. New Internet video providers, such as Joost, believe that as well. To take care of some of this, Joost uses the computer power of all its each users.

Cuban says the future is actually TV itself -- especially coming with video-on-demand (VOD) that has grown over the last several years. Of course, those in the old TV industry have been waiting for VOD to grow for years -- waiting for the networks to come on board with their high-profile programs.

Finally, it's happens over the last two years. Initially, it was pay per episode deals on iTunes, then free ad-supported deals on network Websites. At the same time, nets also offered recent airings of their shows and library product on VOD services.

Cuban says TV, what he calls the "intranet," is also more localized -- something the Internet still hasn't taken advantage of. 

But Cuban also says there are "no restrictions" with the TV pipes. No restrictions? TV? Cable? Perhaps he doesn't know the industry I do.

But that may be today's picture of the business. What Cuban could be talking about is TV's future, perhaps 10, 15,or 20 years from now. Then TV might give you all the stuff the Internet does -- with less bandwidth problems.

Still, I'd rather watch video on the big screen -- only using the small screen when I have to. Cellphone videos? Please. I'm not a fly. Give me information on the TV screen, with some sort of keyboard. I'll guess that'll get me through the day.

It's good being a contrarian. Like Cuban, I want to make more friends with traditional TV. Maybe pay-per-view will make a comeback.