Long-promised Internet-connected TVs are finally here

Jordan Golson — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:26:16 -0500

Internet connected televisions, long promised by the "foward-thinking" technological futurists, might just be here.

Last week, Cisco announced it was making a push into the home, with new products designed to connect televisions and stereos to the Internet and move media around the home in a verity of ways -- and enable consumers to use Cisco's enterprise videoconference package called Telepresence (highly publicized on FOX's popular 24 series) on their HDTVs.

Today, LG and Netflix announced a partnership where Netflix's streaming video service will be available directly on some LG televisions. This is the first time that Netflix's service will be available directly on a television screen without a set-top box like TiVo or an Xbox 360.

Sony offers a similar service with its Bravia Internet Video Link service, but that requires the purchase of a separate $269 box. I expect the service to be built into the next generation of Sony sets.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings told the New York Times that the LG partnership is "hugely symbolic." According to Hastings, the "holy grail has always been to give the TV an Internet jack in addition to the cable jack. It's an early glimpse of the long-term future."

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Long-promised Internet-connected TVs are finally here