Is my TV dying?

This past May I was in Germany visiting my friends Till and Mark. And we all know what was on TV in May:

• Finals for Amazing Race
• 24 Season Finale
• Lost Season Finale
• Prison Break Finale
• etc, etc, etc.

Now, I do own a dvr with my satellite dish provider. So before I left, I clicked all the shows I wanted to watch upon my return. However, while I was on this three week hiatus, I got the urge to watch. What happened if Jack died and I didn't learn about it until June? What about if the losties were rescued?

So I turned to iTunes. Here are all of the episodes available for me to watch on my laptop. For the small price of $1.99, I can stay current on the American shows while enjoying the German life. My flight from Berlin to Munich was perfect because I caught an episode of 24.

So now I return to the states in late May and see that CBS is now offering Amazing Race, Big Brother and many of their other fall tv shows on Innertube. Basically Innertube allows you to watch tv shows in their full glory for free. But alas, here is the catch, there are commercials. But you save $1.99. I am guessing at some point, we might have a choice of a paid subscription with no commercials or a free ad-sponsored environment.

Last week I tried it out a few times, watching Big Brother episodes. Worked quite well, load times were quick and the video smooth.

And so, with more and more shows offering web versions, with companies like Innertube offering to allow you to watch full tv shows for free, is the TV set dead? Which network will be the first one to "creatively destroy" themselves to be the first pioneer to move to web?

Comcast offers on-demand but it is on my tv set. Who will offer on-demand but on my computer? For example, when will food network offer me Giada or Rachael on-demand on foodtv.com? When will WWE offer the old matches between Funk and Gordy on demand? 

And most importantly, which mega-super-power will offer them all (with a nice remote control!)?

Tags: innertube | cbs | tv