Wouldn’t it be great if you could buy and download your favorite episodes of Sex in the City from a Web site? Unfortunately, that scenario is probably a long way off, according to a panel of Internet executives sounding off on the future of entertainment and media at the Web 2.0 conference here Thursday.
The main reason, of course, is that "the forces of control," which are the cable and satellite TV companies, want to protect their turf and continue to make consumers buy 200 channels worth of content, Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings said.
Pitted against them are the "forces of freedom," made up of Internet entrepreneurs, who would like to shake up that model, he said. "I’m sure the forces of freedom will win over time, but it will take a long time," said Hastings, whose company rents DVDs over the Web but delivers them via the mail.
