• New York Times, Monday, May 15, 2006 11:45 AM

While some TV networks have finally begun making downloadable versions of popular programs available online, don't exact a quick or comprehensive convergence of the two mediums, writes Richard Siklos in the New York Times. "Even though no one seems to be making much money yet on these ventures and there are still chewy legal and rights issues to sort out, there is palpable excitement--a sense that the TV and movie industries are going to head off the pirates and file-sharing teens by making their products widely available online in legal ways," he says. But "it's not as close as all of that activity suggests." For reasons ranging from bandwidth limitations to consumer reluctance to abandon a cable buffet with hundreds of channels in favor of an a la carte approach to technical complexities, he says, "watching TV programs delivered by the Internet on regular TV looks like it will remain tantalizingly out of reach for all but the most enthusiastic gadget junkies for some time."

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