At the moment there are two major companies touting IPTV around, AT&T and Verizon with their cable tv products U-Verse and FIOS respectively. But these systems fail to really pull the plug from cable, and utilize the IP protocol that could revolutionize television.

IPTV could be more useful, using a system like Akamai, and a fibre backbone for the network to provide streaming HD content over the internet. Allowing a much better VOD system. Content that was available for replay the second the show finishes.

VOD content streamed means simultaneous streams of ads running, so advertising isn't dependent on the single stream like most cable or satellite channels are restricted to.

Interactive advertising, by pressing a button during an Ad would make the ad more useful, letting you know the closest store, or restaurant the ad was showing using Google maps or the like. This make ads more useful for the viewer, and

Educators could use it to gain access to a database full of teaching materials, and get thousands of videos, photos, and music at their finger tips to use for class.

This would lower the costs of VOD boxes, due to the fact that hard drives won't be needed to store media when recording a show. Just select the episode from the list of shows from that season or previous seasons and start watching.

Allow school lecture capture to be available for streaming, making these a good home study aid to review over what was talked about in class.

All in all, a system like this, putting more dependence on the network instead of the copper cable lines we have used for so long, could free us from our simplistic means of television and give our televisions a new purpose, movies, music, photos, school, anything that can be streamed can be viewed. Traffic along your driving route? pull them up through your local stations cable IPTV homepage. Same for the latest weather, and any alerts.

Television moving into HD was not a major breakthrough, it was an upscaling. What has to be done is take that concept and embrace the technologies and methods we use online.

this brings revenue back to production, and television, while allowing for more content, and smaller community stations to have just as large a footprint as major stations. Live internet video streams of live events won't be limited to computer screens, and ad revenue will be based on how many people are watching your video at the same time, not how many people are watching your single channel.

What I am suggesting is an overhaul of ISP's, and a new face in the cable/satellite industry.

If cable and satellite wish to remain, this could accentuate their services with extra services per channel. Including over the air content.

This service and hardware would push media and content into a whole new realm, and make television presence cheaper and easier for everyone, on all devices. Content available on computers, mobile, and television.