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Is it 75% faster than it was on Friday?

Weren't we told that our 2Mbps plans would automatically be upgraded to 3.5Mbps?

I wonder when this will happen -- I'm still crawling along here with no perceptible change to my data download speeds but hey, miracles can happen.

And one such miracle is a legitimate TV download service right here in NZ.

According to a report published in Stuff today (see headlines below), Sky TV and Telecom (two of my favourite monopolies) are getting into bed in order to spawn just such a service.

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Yes, the convergence of Sky's move to a digital platform and Telecom's promise to roll out ADSL2 later this year means that at least some of your favourite pay-TV programming might eventually be available through your broadband connection.

Telecom has hinted at its intention to enter the IP broadcast marketplace previously but this is a pretty definitive announcement.

It's not just Sky Digital content that will be available however. Telecom says it's going to be operating an "open content sourcing model" -- which I presume is market-speak for "we'll broadcast anything that'll make us a bean."

I can't help but wonder whether the use of the words "open" and "source" in the same phrase isn't an attempt to capitalise on the buzz that's surrounded "open source software" in recent times -- these marketing people are cunning you know.

Sky has also announced that it's ramping up its moves towards an HDTV (high definition) platform for content.

I guess that Sky's new satellites must have a snot-load more bandwidth than the present one because last time I watched, they were already squeezing bitrates to the bare minimum in order to squeeze all those channels in. Any attempt to broadcast HDTV over these existing links would be virtually impossible.

What's more, with Telecom charging an arm, a leg and two kidneys for broadband data, using its DSL network to distribute even standard resolution video material could make it more expensive than just buying a DVD copy.

However, these announcements do clearly signal that, just as I predicted, the Net faces the horrible prospect of becoming "another form of TV".

Those who have Sky TV have probably already been astonished on numerous occasions to find that, despite having all those channels at their fingertips, there's nothing worth watching. The choice is often between a range of tired old movies, endless repeats on the documentary channels, or some foreign sports match in which you have no interest.

Imagine what it'll be like when you've got ten times the amount of crappy, outdated, "seen-it" content through the Net.

Still, if Telecom is going to have to make all this bandwidth available for Sky TV and others, at least it ought to bring the price of real IP traffic down -- right?

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Those who have already made enquiries about sponsoring Aardvark should hear back from me this week - and anyone else who might like to do so should drop me a line ASAP.

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