The Internet is a great medium for niche content that doesn't have a mass audience or other characteristics that make it fit nicely in the (movie industry's) current business model.

It's not elegant, it's not perfect, but it's a step.

a lot of factors argue in the campaign's favor.

You start with the educational purpose, but with any technology, teens will find other uses for it than the main one. Almost all of them do things that we never get around to. Even the graphing calculators for math come with their own games, and the kids will discover them.

A la carte is one place on the continuum between the old broadcast model of three networks and the extreme of everything on demand. It will find a business model.

The broadcasters were initially slow to sign up, but now they are on board with it. Now the problem is with the consumer electronics industry. Polk and Boston Acoustics have HD receivers in the market, but they are not yet available in volume. There was precious little over the last holiday season in the retail market.

Satellite radio in the U.S. started in the automotive aftermarket, which provided them with a huge sampling opportunity. Then they go for more widespread consumer reach through retail. But the main goal is to get into the automotive original equipment market.

DirecTV is doing more marketing and it's been quiet for a while. Consumers will buy as high in the line as they can afford. DirecTV will stop marketing the TiVo box and drive new subscribers to its model. And it's the fourth quarter, when people buy electronics for the holidays.

What consumers of online video tell us is it's still just too hard.

People aren't clamoring for the next generation of DVD. It's too complicated, too expensive, and they don't see the benefits.