It will happen as sure as day follows night. Because the broadcast industry has absolutely no choice in the matter. All of broadcasting's competitors are going or have gone digital. Analog is over. Delay is simply not an option.
Resistance is futile.
So I think the important questions that remain are how fast it will happen, and who will be the pioneers among the broadcast industry who, like Bill Paley, will invent the new business model for this medium. I believe that the same innovative spirit that transformed broadcasting in the beginning of the last century will again transform broadcasting at the beginning of this century. Look around this convention this year and you see that the spirit of Bill Paley lives on in today's innovators who are building new business models for the digital age. People like Michael Lambert, the CEO of iBlast, who recently formed a partnership with traditional media outlets to bring digital content to television. And Joseph Horowitz of Geocast who has joined forces with Hearst-Argyle and Belo.