Broadband will increasingly take up a more central role in the future of home entertainment as television and internet converge, it has been claimed.
Television could soon be indistinguishable from broadband as people begin receiving programmes over the internet, according to the executive editor of Techwatch.co.uk.
Brian Turner explained that the amalgamation of television and internet has "been on the cards" since the earlier part of the 2000s, but was held back by the state of technology. For instance, broadband speeds were far too slow to deal with the high amount of information required for live streaming.
However, "as such barriers are overcome it's inevitable that the internet will play a more central role in home entertainment", Mr Turner claimed. Broadband speeds have increased markedly in recent years.
"Nowadays, IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) services are becoming much more mainstream, and home video entertainment systems repeatedly try and leverage the internet for a wider service offering," Mr Turner added.
The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 all offer online "catch-up" services which allow consumers to watch programmes screened over the internet. Additionally, the popularity of YouTube - now owned by Google - has continued.
Some 23.7 million Brits watched online content via a Google site in 2008, with 99 percent of the viewers using YouTube. The figure was a 14 percent increase compared to 2007 totals.
