What is Internet TV and How to View It

As the name aptly suggests, Internet TV is the delivery of streaming or real-time audio and video television programs over the Web. It is different from video sites that deliver downloadable video content because Internet TV sites stream content in real-time. Which means a person sitting in Mexico can stream an episode of Oprah which a housewife in India can watch live over her Internet TV as and when it is being broadcast.

 

Different Ways of Watching Internet TV

Internet TV can be viewed in many different ways. One of the most common ways of watching it is on a laptop or a computer. All it requires is a sound card and a high resolution graphics card with a net connection, obviously. Internet TV can also be viewed on your regular TV. This requires a PC to be hooked up with it. A set top box will also suffice if it is able to receive Internet TV broadcasts. High-end cellular phones and mobiles might also display Internet TV shows but at a lower resolution than a regular TV or a PC. This means that the picture quality on a mobile might not be as good as the one on a PC or an ordinary TV.

 

Almost anyone with high speed Internet access can watch Internet TV. There are several sites on the net that offer a wide variety of content throughout the day for all cross sections of society via Internet TV.

Why is Internet TV so Phenomenally Popular?

People often wonder why Internet TV has become wildly popular these days. Studies have shown that Internet TV will quickly replace the regular TV as the medium of choice in the next few years. The surprising and the phenomenal popularity of Internet TV is due to a number of reasons described briefly below -

• To begin, Internet access speeds have burgeoned beyond imagination. This has allowed streaming video and audio on Internet TV to become easily accessible to a large number of viewers.
• In fact, the inherent database of PC savvy users has multiplied at a rapid pace across the world. Therefore, the number of people who view Internet TV has also correspondingly increased.
• The costs of net access have also plummeted and bandwidth has become cheaper and more affordable for middle class users across the world
• In addition to this, the cost of a PC has fallen over the years in all economies and countries. As always, computers and technology keep becoming more and more affordable with every passing moment
• The technology which makes Internet TV feasible for the common man has not only become cheaper, it has also become better and more powerful.

 It is therefore not a surprise that Internet TV is fast replacing the offline or the non-Internet TV these days. It is only a matter of time before the fraternity of Internet TV stops broadcasting the content shown on regular TV. The real boom will come when Internet TV starts developing its own customized content for its own set of target audiences across the planet.

The Birth and Evolution of Internet TV

Did you know that the birth of Internet TV can be traced back more than 100 years ago? Incredibly enough, back in 1900, a man called Nikola Tesla had a vision in which he predicted that radio frequency could be used to show people moving images and pictures. This, he predicted, would make information valuable as well democratic.

The First Ancestor of Internet TV
His vision came true almost half a century later in 1939 when TV was broadcasted on radio channels. The 12 VHF channel on radio was primarily used to show TV or moving images which was the predecessor of Internet TV as we know it today.

The Next Stage of Internet TV
It took almost 30 years for the next stage of evolution which resulted in Internet TV. Cable TV was born in 1965 in the US but it took a few years longer to reach other countries around the planet. Cable TV allowed viewers to select more channels with better picture quality. However, in a shorter span of only 15 years, satellite TV was beamed to the common man’s personal TVs in 1980. The real revolution occurred a mere decade and a half later when Internet TV became feasible in 1995.

Internet TV as We Know It
In a real departure from its predecessors, Internet TV allows broadcasters to select the content being shown to viewers. Century-old concept of time slots, prime time, channels, etc was turned on its head with the arrival of Internet TV.