In the good old days of the 90s when optic fibre was first rolled out it was rolled out with a whacking pile of capacity that was imagined to be forever too much - people thought it silly and a boondoggle foisted upon the unsuspecting. I wonder if the day is near that the ceiling of that capacity is coming close:

The Internet poses a smaller threat to Canadian television broadcasters than many of the industry's doomsayers believe because the Web is still "an expensive way" to distribute TV shows compared with cable and satellite feeds, a new report says. The report, which will be debated Wednesday at one of the industry's largest annual gatherings in Banff, Alta., comes six months after a study by IBM titled "The end of television as we know it" predicted Internet distribution would be a death knell for broadcasters. In the new paper -- called "The Future of Television" -- the Nordicity Group Ltd. says the risk posed by the Internet may be overstated.

If everyone had broadband and wanted to watch video feeds all day in the way that cable TV drones in households, it is probably the case that we do not have enough capacity on the internet - and this does not even speak to lack of capacity outside of urban areas. So are we going to have another round of public infrastructure buying? We will have to wait for our betters to decide, as that same story notes:

The debate comes at a time when Canada's federal broadcast regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), is preparing to launch a review of the television sector, the first since 1999. The process is expected to look at many issues facing the industry, including the impact of new technology and whether federal regulations can help broadcasters navigate the changing industry more successfully...The federal government is also looking at assembling a panel to study how technology is affecting Canadian broadcasters, a move that could be announced tomorrow.

Like so many things, what is today will not really be what is tomorrow. What would happen if the self-described stakeholders were given a back seat so both the broadcasters, the cable companies and the Boingy dreamer futuretters would have to watch what a deregulated communications market would create. As long as it includes now verbotten Tommy Hunter reruns, I'd be happy but I think it might be that the internet could become as simple as AM radio if someone could figure out how.