• Bloomberg, Thursday, June 17, 2010 11:48 PM

Over the next few months, Sony Corp. and its competitors will introduce a new generation of Web-connected televisions and services that will stream movies, TV shows, and music over the Internet and onto those sets. The idea is to make it easier for consumers to bypass cable and effectively create their own personal TV channels. That may sound a lot like what many people are doing by tapping into YouTube, Hulu, and other entertainment Web sites.

What's different is that Sony and the other manufacturers are hoping to go after ad dollars as well as subscription revenue and pay-per-view fees. Instead of using computers and mobile devices for their daily dose of free television, viewers would pay Sony or another company to watch on much more expensive equipment. Online video revenue may rise to $800 million by 2014 from $180 million this year, according to researcher Parks Associates. Grabbing a share of that revenue is the goal of TV manufacturers.

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