Buffering till the cows come home

When it comes to entertainment, high speed internet is opening many new doors – but less than half the country can get through them.

The advent of high speed connections has created enormous possibilities for streaming video onto people's home computers. The sheer variety of programming that's becoming available means that anyone – whatever their niche – can find something that interests them.

Everyone, that is, who has access to high speed internet.

The growing use of streaming among consumers is closely tied to the increasing popularity of broadband Internet connections in homes. The Pew Internet & American Life Project estimated 47 percent of American households have broad- band connections that make streaming possible because it transmits data faster.

"The greater adoption of broadband in the United States is really raising the ante for all kinds of content from premium Hollywood offerings to pet videos," said Rubin, who noted that NBC and ABC have begun streaming their prime-time programming to online viewers.

This enthusiasm for a high speed adoption rate of 47 percent illustrates just how bad the current of high speed internet access is in the U.S. Companies can offer streaming video for as many niches as they like, but with more than half the country lacking high speed connections, the audience just won't be there.

And streaming video is not limited to entertainment. It's used for all kinds of important activities, from telemedicine to distance learning to communication for the hard of hearing. Folks who live in rural areas or low-income neighborhoods deserve these advantages as much as anyone else.

Barry Henthorn, founder of the streaming video company ReelTime, boasted,

"We're point, click and watch — instantly. We never stop and never buffer."

That speed is all well and good, but it's no comfort to people who are stuck with dial-up. They must wait while their connection buffers till the cows come home.

Streaming is unleashing torrent of films, TV shows (New York Times News Service)