Broadband will bring a number of fundamental changes to the way that media will be created and consumed. These changes will lead to a convergence between telecommunication, broadcasting and the Internet, creating a situation where hybrid content delivered through a combination of two-way communication and digital broadcasting using fast and slow lanes will be available on a number of IP devices.

The current development towards ubiquitous computing, including computing to provide entertainment goes hand-in-hand with the diversity of broadband network infrastructures. The diversity of IP devices, the convergence of broadcasting from analogue to digital, and with the convergence between telecommunication, broadcasting and the Internet: television, voice, music, real time text and figures, animated interactive content, office automation software, internet pages, file transfers, e-mail, etc.

A computing device that carries such a mulit-layered medium will be able to combine the best of television with the best of the Internet while eliminating the limitations of both media. This device, which may be a PC, a television set, a mobile phone, or something else, will work as an always-on background medium providing such content as live stock prices, real time news video coverage, and streams of high quality music channels. Providing all software elements in a client independent platform that enables users to receive broadcast based multimedia from their favourite browser environment.

The advantages of modern internet portals utilizing data broadcast to simple internet sites are that they are able to carry content that is more compelling than any pure Internet site, to carry advertisements that are richer and smarter than advertisements in any other medium, provide enhanced information, selection and convenience to e-commerce. Broadcasting, however, also requires proper Quality of Service (QoS). Though traditional broadcasting media offer QoS, the Internet in its present form still does not. A global infrastructure of ‘fast lanes' on the Internet using UDP/IP would overcome this problem if combined with a bandwidth booking system to ensure that any content provider could have guaranteed broadband bandwidth from their server to all their end customers taking that content. Such changes could be made to the Internet using existing infrastructures.

A converged medium that combines Internet access with broadcasting will involve distribution issues that are similar to the distribution tasks of traditional broadcast content. A network that offers its users very fast access to the Internet will only provide a limited benefit unless it ensures that rich content is available all the time. This may lead to the content being provided by the network operators who are also providing the high speed access: without the opportunity from selling content, there may be insufficient revenue to justify the installation of fast access. Such provision may encourage more locally produced content, particularly in regulatory frameworks where the access operator is predominantly local.

Broadband multimedia distribution is not only appealing for the mass market, but the concept can also be used as a way of enabling large organisations to communicate. Broadband communication helps communication by enabling the type of networking that we normally only experience through personal meetings. Intranets are vital tools for sharing information, education and corporate vision in large organisations. Data broadcasting on a corporate Intranet would lower costs (as a single transmission can reach any number of end users at the same time at no incremental cost) and improves training through new interactive applications.

Other areas of corporate networking that could benefit from such convergence are the various extranets and branded business channels, which connect organisations to their partners, retailers or customers. Using richer content would allow more effective communication with these partners. This is also one of the most promising subject areas, for professionals across many industries to share information and to receive online training. Sales and marketing, finance and information technology are areas that also meet these requirements.

Newly developed services should work over any basic network infrastructure such as satellite, cable, xDSL, digital terrestrial or mobile, and those services should be supported by all devices, such as PCs, set top boxes, mobile devices or other IP devices, supporting streaming media, cached content and the download of software programs.

This means that a collection of text, pictures, video, 3D animation's, database content and software programs from various sources can be transmitted in a structured way to communities of end users. This also means that content providers can aggregate any kind of multimedia once and then deliver it simultaneously over many types of broadcast infrastructure which offers a tremendous flexibility.