Manhattan Interactive: City to broadcast public access over the internet

This New York Times article states that NYC TV clips - over 500 of them - can now be found on the internet through the city's website, www.nyc.gov. Dozens of clips will be added weekly, said Bloomberg, which can be searched by neighborhood or category, such as shopping, parks or food.

Users can also email video clips in, making this medium a sort of Interactive TV.

Al Gore, who recently won an Emmy for his work, has created Current TV, an independent media company that first went on air in August of 2005. The network features short programs, called "pods", of which about 30% are created by viewers.

This sort of interactive television again highlights the power of Web 2.0. As I've said in previous posts, user driven content is no fad, but the direction media is headed. Furthermore, as a 'mobilephile', I'm inclined to believe that the convergence of the standard web experience and the mobile web experience is happening faster than most realize. With applications like Current TV, or any IPTV for that matter, users will have even more reasons to go mobile.

Twenty years ago, very few thought it would be necessary to have a telephone with you at all times. Very few thought you'd need a personal computer. The internet was exclusively used for data exchange between researchers and scientists. A lot has changed since then - all three of those have converged, and are still doing so. It's quite exciting to witness these developments.