Overseas, these Companies are delivering an array of content for consumers who have Internet enabled TV's, set top boxes, Blu ray players and PC's.
In Europe, Google last night rolled out new Channel 4 programs via their YouTube service, and in the USA Sony announced a new Netflix movie streaming service for their Bravia LCD TV's none of these services will be available in Australia.
Yesterday Telstra snubbed the bulk of Australians by rolling out a 100MBs fibre broadband network in Melbourne with the rest of Australia forced to put up with speeds that rarely get past 24 MBs.
They also announced a new set top box with 200GB of storage and IP connectivity. However the big problem is content with both movie and music Companies refusing to allow their content to be delivered in Australia because of deals with the likes of Blockbuster, Video Ezy and free to air TV networks.
The Internet content that is being promoted by Telstra BigPond and TiVo with their Blockbuster relationship is content that has already appeared in movie cinemas and DVD rental stores.
Denying Australian consumers content does not make sense, as TV broadcasters in Europe and the USA have content rights similar to Australian TV stations.
There are also large networks of DVD rental stores and kiosks which are now under threat as downloaded Internet content starts to take off. Recent research shows that the US market has grown 39% during the past two quarters with several organisations now delivering thousands of movies, video's, TV shows and music services.
None of these services are legally available in Australia. Last night Netflix officially expanded its streaming capabilities to Sony Bravia TVs and Blu-ray DVD players.
