But Cuban is the first to admit that no one has yet figured out the business of distributing audiovisual media over the Internet. The only thing to be sure of, he said, is that things will look very different in two or four years. He warned that the biggest players on the field today might not even exist in two years' time. RealNetworks Inc., for example, which makes the industry-leading RealMedia streaming media platform, could be bought by a larger company. Streaming media will be too important for RealNetworks to remain independent, Cuban insisted.
Distribution is everything.
Network television stations as we know them will disappear, he claimed, although local TV stations will thrive by reselling the downstream bandwidth available on the HDTV spectrum. But Cuban said he's not worried by the competition. 2000 ZD Inc. All rights reserved. ZD Inc. Editorial items appearing in ZDNet that were originally published in the US edition of eWEEK are the copyright property of Ziff Davis Media Inc. or its suppliers. Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.