January 28, 2007	Sunday	Muharram 08, 1428

DAVOS (Switzerland), Jan 27: Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has said that the Internet is set to revolutionise television within five years, due to an explosion of online video content and the merging of PCs and TV sets.

“I’m stunned how people aren’t seeing that with TV, in five years from now, people will laugh at what we’ve had,” he told business leaders and politicians at the World Economic Forum on Saturday.

The rise of high-speed Internet and the popularity of video sites like Google Inc.’s YouTube had already led to a worldwide decline in the number hours spent by young people in front of a TV set.

In the years ahead, more and more viewers will hanker after the flexibility offered by online video and abandon conventional broadcast television, with its fixed programme slots and advertisements that interrupt shows, Gates said.

“Certain things like elections or the Olympics really point out how TV is terrible. You have to wait for the guy to talk about the thing you care about or you miss the event and want to go back and see it,” he said.

At the moment, watching video clips on a computer is a separate experience from watching sitcoms or documentaries on TV.

But convergence is coming, posing new challenges for TV companies and advertisers.

“Because TV is moving into being delivered over the Internet you’re going to have that experience all together,” Gates said.—Reuters