The real question in our myth fact analysis is, in my mind, when all this will happen. And history has shown that technology, though available, takes much longer to become adopted by the masses. Although personal computer penetration is high, remember they have been available for almost 20 years. Distributors must still spend billions of dollars in order for high speed internet to be available to all Canadians and it will take many years to achieve. Even the Web TV of which I speak is many years off in terms of significant penetration because of the two way connectivity needed and the massive investment needed to allow the cable pipe, and the switches, to manage all the data flow of every home sending messages back and forth.
Web TV does exist in the U.S. now but in an almost negligible number of homes.
And the consumer has something to say about this as well. Most Canadians have a price sensitivity - they simply are not going to keep ordering all these new services and bells and whistles ad infinitum. And, of course, I could not speak to you without mentioning TiVo. We always need something to fear - a bogeyman. While the rest of the world fretted about the Soviet Union, we in the television industry had VCRs, which were going to end prime time viewing.