Release: Summer

There's a media convergence going on, and you don't need a meteorologist to know which way the wind is blowing. It's become clear that the Web is emerging as the world's premier media for distribution. It's cheap, easy to maintain, and hyped to the hilt. So it was pretty much inevitable that television would find its way to the infobahn.

Internet Live, a new program about and for the Net, stretches the paradigm ­ and Net bandwidth ­ to its limits, combining broadcast TV with live netcasts using Cu-SeeMe, Streamworks, and VDOlive video-streaming software.

Developed by Broadcast Production Group, Internet Live will wrap the infobahn in separate segments, including IBiz, IFeatures, INews, IPlanet, IPower (for power users), ILash, and Just the FAQ's. Your total connection to Internet Live can be found on IGuide, a listing that keeps you on top of both the broadcast and netcast schedules.

Internet Live is designed to bring the Internet to newbies, while retaining enough of an insider's view to keep seasoned netters interested. Bill Cleary, founder of CKS Partners, will lead the charge in IBiz. Glee Harrah Cady, author of Mastering the Internet, will host Just the FAQ's, an opinionated Q & A session that ­ because of the show's digital infrastructure ­ can take emails and other submissions up to air time.

This is Internet Live's most promising feature. By integrating the Net with TV in real time, the program has the ability to bring viewers into the production process and allow them to influence the direction a segment might follow.

But a larger question surrounds the current crop of video-streaming software. If TV is making inroads on the Net, a stable, approved multicasting protocol must be put in place to deal with the bandwidth. Right now, there is none. The MBone, remember, is just an experiment.

So if business is driving the cart, we'd better put up some signposts or this whole crazy ride is going to end up in rush-hour gridlock ­ or worse, a 400-million packet pileup.

­ Tim Barkow

Internet Live: www.internetlive.com/. Broadcast Production Group: +1 (408) 559 6300.