A major player on the Internet is weighing in on the technology of Internet based television (IPTV). Google now sees the future of television as online video distribution. This is just on the heels of Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, stating that “TV will be based on the Internet; it will be an utterly different thing,”
Bill Gates made this statement on Thursday in a speech to the Northern Virginia Technology Council. Gates speculated that some of the most important advances will come in t
he way people interact with computers, and he expects the next decade to bring even greater technological leaps, than the past 10 years.
Vincent Dureau, the head of television technology at Google, is also a big believer in the potential of online video. Speaking at the recently concluded IPTV World Forum in London, he argued that Internet protocol television is already with us on the web. Vincent Dureau stated, “IPTV is already deployed on a very large scale.”
Although, some may argue that we have more than enough television channels already, Vincent Dureau believes that there is a 
virtually indefinite appetite for television. By way of example, he pointed out the millions of short clips now available on YouTube (recently acquired by Google).
“It’s also very clear that within the past six months we’ve seen this huge shift of mainstream broadcasters making their content available on the PC,” he said, referring to the BBC iPlayer and the NBC Hulu initiatives. “There is a clear recognition among the premium broadcasters that there is an underserved population that is watching TV on their PC right now and they want to address them.”
According to a new report by Global Industry Analysts, worldwide IPTV service revenues are forecast to cross $42.6 billion by 2014. With these recent remarks by two of the leaders of technology, Bill Gates, and Google, we can see that these numbers may not even be high enough. Even the most casual observer might agree that IPTV, is not coming, it’s already here.
This is sure to be of interest, and possibly even debated among oneness apostolic groups for several months, or even years to come. The largest portion of Oneness, Acts 2:38 preachers still do not advocate having a TV in the home. The articles of faith of the largest oneness organization in the world, the UPCI, state, “we disapprove of any of our members having television sets in their homes.” There is no such ruling with regards to the Internet. The overall response to the Internet has been one of caution, urging people to use common sense and Internet filters. 
Time will tell how Apostolic Churches will respond to this technology. Some ministers feel so strongly against the use of television, that after the UPCI recently passed a resolution allowing the use of advertising on television, they started a new fellowship (which allows no such advertising). This may not have been the only issue on their mind when they formed the Oklahoma based, World Wide Pentecostal Fellowship, but it was certainly at the top of the list.
How will the Church respond to these technologies? That is surely not a question that can be answered overnight. Many apostolic ministers argue that the time has come where we can no longer focus only on the television set itself; Instead, we must guard ourselves from the “content.” This would hold true in whatever method that the “content” was delivered, either by a television set, or by the Internet.
To many oneness believers, this argument bears no significance, as they have accepted the use of television years ago. Yet, for others they endeavor to find an answer to these questions of technology that face the Church.
Is Internet TV already here? If so, how does the Apostolic movement that has been guarded against television for so many years proceed?
The Apostolic Report does not claim to know the answers to these questions, but we will continue to bring you news of technology, as it may be of interest to the oneness movement.
Link: Google see future of TV in Online Video
Link: Bill Gates predicts TV will be based on the Internet
Link: What is IPTV?
Jeremy Lynch
3/16/08
The Apostolic Report
