Internet proclaimed 'over' before cable even gets into the game

Even as cable is starting to make its move to link its video entertainment/broadband business more closely with the Internet, that once-glittery repository over everything under the sun is "completely over."

"The Internet is like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated," said no less an industry expert than Prince, the artist formerly known as ... Prince.

Anyway, on a more serious note, it seems that the up-and-comers consider the Internet to be the land of the fogies: "old companies trying to become the new renewed thing," according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, which lists a few of these ancients as AOL, Yahoo!, MySpace and Microsoft.

At least part of the problem with the Internet is the newly emerging model of charging for content that was once free, according to Minnpost, which detailed how "news and entertainment industries are again experimenting with online payment plans."

One of those plans, obviously, is Hulu Plus, which, some have called a "cable killer" but others point out is more of a cable "frenemy." An article in the Hollywood Reporter, in fact, goes so far as to point out that the online TV player has had talks with Time Warner Cable about distribution on its video-on-demand platform. Predictably, both sides declined to comment on that.

For more:
- the San Francisco Chronicle has this story
- see this story
- and this Hollywood Reporter story

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