• by Masha Geller , April 10, 2003

When it comes to broadband, the debate of whether consumers actually WANT to watch TV on the Web will continue to rage, but that's not stopping the growth of high-speed penetration. eMarketer today released their new Broadband Worldwide report, which says that broadband - high-speed Internet via cable or DSL - will be in over one-fifth (22%) of US homes this year, rising to one-third (32.2%) by 2005. eMarketer says that overall Internet penetration is 59% of US households at present.

eMarketer projects broadband households worldwide will grow from 57 million in 2002 to 154 million households in 2005, posting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 39%. "If that isn't a big enough audience to sustain an innovative online content sector, I don't know what is," says eMarketer Senior Analyst Ben Macklin.

"We're going to see home users take advantage of applications that move beyond the PC and Web browsers," Macklin says. "Microsoft's Xbox game system is a good example. It uses a high-speed connection to combine entertainment with communication among its users. Meanwhile, AOL has committed $35 million to a branding campaign for broadband, and it is finally focusing on delivering the content that can drive broadband subscriptions."

This past week alone brought a wave of announcements in broadband. ABC unveiled ABC News Live, a 24-hour Internet feed of raw news video. Major League Baseball announced MLB.TV. It will Webcast 1,000 games this year, marking it the league's biggest online venture ever. Microsoft began a service that lets users with broadband send live video to each other at rates as high as 15 frames per second, which approaches TV quality.

Broadband is becoming trendy and experts are saying that the demand for broadband programming could reinvigorate media companies and drive demand for tech products that help users better access broadband.