Recently, BT (erstwhile British Telecom) announced "BT Vision" - an IP based service which plans to provide video-&-audio-on-demand services, live concerts, DVR services & VoIP initially. And progress to instant messaging, chat & video telephony on your TV set !

What Next?
In the beginning, there was the VCR - which permitted you to record TV programs & watch them later. Over a period, these were replaced by Digital Video Recorders (the most famous being TiVo).

The next major development permitted you to relay TV signals over the Internet - across cities & even continents. Then, users could download video content over the Internet. And came web-sites with streaming video. So what's next?

TV Adapts To The Internet
The next round of developments are now apparent. With the burgeoning Internet bandwidths, it is becoming increasingly feasible to download large video files over the Net. Not surprising that video sharing sites have become the current rage, second only to "Social Networking" sites.

In fact, the broadband factor has had such a drastic effect on Time Warner's perception of its struggling Internet division AOL - that it changed its stance from selling AOL to converting it a video server. And recently reconfirmed its positioning of AOL as a content provider - instead of a provider of Internet services.

On another related front, TV News channels have been evolving in their own way. Recently launched news channels as well as legacy news channels have been steadily adapting their format & content to suit today's viewers. Starting with content type, duration and going on to web-site formats & video-on-demand services.

It is interesting to note that an increasing number of TV Channels who are combining their news rooms & web resources into a common pool.

This is what we can expect from the next generation of digital television services:
Live Television
Satellite TV via cable. And streaming Television via broadband.

On-demand Library
Movies, TV programming, music, recorded events - you name it and you can view it! Some of it free. And some for a price.

Online Program Recording
Server storage will let you store many hours of programming - for viewing later. (Just like video servers.)

Re-runs
Service provider will make available previous day's primetime shows for viewing.

Broadband
Naturally, Internet access will be a part of the offerings.

Webmail
Email services could also be bundled.

Telephony
Voice, mostly VoIP, SMS/MMS and data will be a part of the services.

Communication
Finally there will be instant messaging, video telephony through your TV set!

TV Set As Centre of Household
The next generation of television service provider will bundle telecom as well as broadband. Or telecom cos. will carry television signals to the household.

Whatever be the case, the television's role is set to graduate from entertainment centre to message + entertainment centre.