The fusion of online and pure IPTV continues apace as vendors push to be the owner of the hub to provide rich media and next generation services to the home. The integration of online and traditional broadcast video is still in the infant stage. But the emergence of devices and platforms which distribute both is blending the "over the top" and IPTV world together in a way that is quickly making the demarcation part of a different era. This back-end convergence is also expected to play out in the business arena as the media companies finally let go their traditional models and embrace a world where they no longer control the key distribution points. Then the play becomes to have a unified production and delivery infrastructure which can deploy video content to whatever device--TV, PC, PDA--wherever and whenever the consumer wants it. -Tom
