If you are planning to get high-speed Internet service for your home, you should also start thinking about how you are going to take advantage of the amazing broadband speeds you are going to experience. You probably already know about music downloading, video clips, and online gaming but did you know you can watch live TV online too? I currently listen to radio online and I knew that you could get subscriptions to various sporting events. However, it turns out there are a ton of other sites that offer live content.

Find Internet TV™ recently announced the launch of its program Listings for live Internet TV. According to their press release, Find Internet TV Listings is the first to provide Internet users a programming grid to find live online video content. The Listings contains schedules for a variety of programming from around the world, including entertainment television, sporting events, music, and news.

"Online video, whether live or on-demand, is expanding immensely, and it has become increasingly difficult for viewers to locate the content they want to watch online. While a number of companies and sites have made their focus to index video clips on the Web, they've left live streaming video on the sidelines," says Curtis Sund, Founder of Find Internet TV. "With our live Internet TV Listings, users now have the ability to visit one central destination for complete and updated lineup of live online content."

The company says that the Find Internet TV program grid provides a high-quality user experience through an easy-to-navigate, feature-rich format. Users have the ability to jump hour-by-hour through the grid or to specific dates and times. In addition, users can save their favorite Internet TV channels for easy access.

The Find Internet TV Listings includes sites broadcasting from all over the world, in different languages, and in different time zones. To provide the best end-user experience, the site automatically adjusts all program runtimes to match the viewer's time zone.

"The number of viewers who are looking for live television content on the Internet is tremendous and ever-growing. We have witnessed it through our directory and search engine when live events take place. This first-of-its-kind live Internet TV Listings is a win-win solution for both viewers and content providers," said Birgit Schelzel, Marketing Manager for Find Internet TV.

Fifty-three percent of Internet users would replace their cable and satellite TV with broadband TV, if they could get the same TV channels, according to a new Zogby poll, sponsored by Redback Networks, an Ericsson company.

The Zogby poll asked 1006 Americans how they use broadband services, Internet-connected mobile devices and what video and mobile services they would pay for in the future. 53 percent of Americans would replace cable and satellite with broadband TV. Other findings included 55 percent who said that parents and individuals are responsible for making broadband technology safe and 29 percent who felt parents have primary responsibility to make Internet devices safe for kids.

"These findings help illustrate how people use broadband and mobile devices today and what they anticipate doing in the future. This poll makes it quite easy to imagine a world where all TV and movie content is portable and two billion cell users become 2 billion TVs or 2 billion TV broadcasters," said Alan Lippman, chief video architect of Redback Networks. "Within five years, broadband will be as video-centric as your cable or satellite service, and telephone and high-speed mobile networks may emerge as alternative platforms for triple-play services, delivering greater choice to consumers. There also are emerging revenue opportunities for broadband carriers who meet increasing demand for parental control services."

To read more about the survey, check out the press release.

According to the latest research by Cable Digital News, U.S. phone companies signed up at least 100,000 more high-speed Internet subscribers than cable companies during the fourth quarter of 2006.

CDN says that for the ninth time in the last 11 quarters, the phone companies topped cable companies as together the industries added more than 2.5 million subscribers for high-speed Internet service. The nation's largest phone companies added more than 1.3 million broadband subscribers during the quarter, compared to fewer than 1.1 million customers for the biggest multi-system operators and more than 1.2 million subscribers for all cable operators.

As the total number of U.S. high-speed customers hit 53 million at the end of December, the two rival industries finished the year with cable companies reporting more than 29.4 million subscribers, more than 55 percent of the market, and phone companies accounting for about 24 million subscribers, around 45 percent of the market.

Comcast reported the largest growth with a pickup of 488,000 cable Internet customers. Although down from its gain in the third quarter, the total is still one of Comcast's highest increases ever. Time Warner Cable followed next with 246,000 new subscribers.

The top two phone companies were Verizon and AT&T, with 409,000 and 383,000 new broadband subscribers respectively.

For more, check out the full Cable Digital News article.

The Daily Times in Salisbury, Maryland recently ran an interesting article about the importance of broadband Internet service to economic development in the local community.

The article profiles Ian McLaughlin, who says he is able to work from home is because he now travels to and from work via the Internet. He is able to call himself a telecommuter because he has fast, reliable and affordable Internet access—not something everyone in his area can claim. He feels so strongly about the importance of broadband Internet access, he frequently attends local government meetings regarding the subject.

Two separate but connected broadband initiatives are now underway in the area that are seeking to address rural broadband access. One is a $16-million project aimed at building a new fiber optic cable down the spine of the Shore from the Maryland line, past Wallops and south across the bridge-tunnel to Norfolk.

However, some feel that the initiatives will help business more than average Internet users.

"The project being funded from Richmond is not really aimed at domestic uses at all," McLaughlin said. "It is really aimed at putting lower cost high-speed applications here to allow existing business and entrepreneurial-type applications, but also to stimulate new business growth."

The article goes on to give a brief history of broadband Internet access, including the impact of Verizon and NASA on the issue. Also mentioned is the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative, a group responsible for funding, acquiring and building a broadband network in southside and southwest Virginia, including 700 miles of fiber to 20 counties and more than 60 business, technology and industrial parks.

For more information, check out the full article BROADBAND 101: Broadband important for economic development

According to a recent Reuters article, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission took a step to address a growing debate on whether high-speed Internet providers like AT&T and Comcast should be barred from charging extra fees to guarantee access to the Internet.

The article reports that the five commissioners backed a proposal yesterday to start a "notice of inquiry" regarding broadband industry practices.

Net neutrality, the concept of broadband providers treating all Internet content in the same way, has been the subject of much debate among lawmakers. Their main concern is that if broadband providers charge extra fees for more reliable service, that they would also be able to block access to the Internet—a contention that broadband providers say is untrue.

For more information, check out the full Reuters article FCC to Examine Future of Internet Access.

Residential subscriptions to broadband Internet services surged 20 percent in 2006 to exceed 50 million U.S. households, according to Digital Lifestyles: 2007 Outlook, a new study from Parks Associates. The report estimates U.S. residential broadband subscriptions will surpass 60 million households by year-end 2007, accounting for 55 percent of all U.S. households.

"The foundations of digital lifestyle applications and products are built on access services, including broadband Internet and television," said Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst with Parks Associates. "With the penetration of high-speed Internet exceeding 50 percent in 2007, we're also witnessing shifts in the way companies are positioning their communications, entertainment, and information services as home technology solutions."

Digital Lifestyles: 2007 Outlook reveals providers are delivering both broadband and television services with greater emphasis on the value-added services they enable, rather than just the services themselves. The report also finds that, in recent years, service providers have been partnering more closely with equipment vendors to strengthen the linkages between digital lifestyle services and the end-user products that enable them, including set-top boxes, home computers, home networks, gaming consoles, and other fixed and portable consumer electronics devices.

"With the demarcation points in access services migrating closer to the customers, service providers can provide much more in the way of personalized and enhanced communications, entertainment, and information services," Scherf said. "A key trend is the tightening of the value chains that enable end-to-end and seamless services. These stronger linkages will lead to greater choice and convenience in the ways customers interact with digital lifestyle amenities."

For more information, check out the press release U.S. Residential Broadband Penetration to Exceed 50% in 2007.