Society Going Digital

Video has made leaps throughout history that could have never been imagined 20 or even 5 years ago. And it is now making another leap into the world of streaming. Video has been streaming for years now, but never the way that companies are starting to today. I'm talking about live streaming of shows, concerts, events or even speeches and lectures. In addition to live streaming, companies like NetFlix and Apple are making a move into the business of streaming rentals in HD. The amount of bandwidth that is necessary for this type of transmission could have never been imagined three to five years ago.
A local company, that I actually worked for not too long ago, iClips.net is making its own mark in the live streaming world. What they do is stream live concerts, shows and events like the Dalai Llama or Nelson Mandela's lectures. I recently left the company to pursue other desires even though it was the job that I have been looking for, go figure. But they have managed to compete with every other company whether minor or major, to become one of the most popular providers of free streaming concerts and major music festivals around the country.
One of their major competitors is the AT&T Blue Room. They have been getting into the streaming world around the same time as iClips, but as far as I can tell, have not been able to hit their goal like they wanted. Personally, I think one of the best feats that iClips has managed to do besides broadcasting two-three stages simultaneously live from the same event, is broadcasting those streams in at least DV quality, and also have done HD streams.
So it is pretty feasible to do such a thing, especially in todays age where a group of college students (very smart college students nonetheless) can pull of something that no one has done before in the web streaming world. The only thing that is holding a company like iClips back is the limited funding the the bandwidth limitation, which they have no control over. But once the world adapts to higher bandwidth cable, fiber optics and all that other goodness, the web will become something that the television never could and that day is not far away.

If you are interested in anything that iClips.net or AT&T Blue Room broadcast/produce you can visit their websites at:
iClips.net
AT&T Blue Room