• Reuters, Monday, November 28, 2005 10:49 AM

At a conference in France, Internet media executives said they are finding it difficult to come up with a viable business model for broadband video on demand, which is the ability to download a movie or TV program via the Web. As in the U.S., Internet TV is a potential goldmine for European telecom and media companies, but squabbling about revenue models is hindering progress. Vivendi Universal Chief Executive Jean-Bernard Levy notes that telecoms and media companies are actually in direct competition with one another over video on demand. France was one of the first countries in Europe to adopt Internet TV in 2002, but progress since then has been slight at best due to heavy competition. Internet TV companies have been operating at losses for years due to competition and have been unable to purchase the rights to quality content. Meanwhile, media companies have stayed away due to piracy concerns. Analysts say media companies, telecoms, and Internet firms need to find a formula, otherwise they run the risk of letting another firm come in to corner a market that has been slow to react to the digital age, like Apple has done with the music industry.

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