ABSTRACT
Throughout this chapter, we will examine some of the ways in which two different but related forms of broadcasting – digital television and radio and online audio-visual webcasting – are being implemented and will transform cyberspace in coming years. There is considerable cross-over between both technologies (particularly in terms of encoding and compressing signals that are received by computers or television sets), but when discussing digital broadcasting this chapter will generally refer to digital-to-air or digital-to-cable transmissions that are typically viewed or listened to on television or radio; webcasting, by contrast, uses technologies based on sending data packets across satellite, cable and phone networks that are received and interpreted by computers, usually PCs but sometimes other devices such as mobile PDAs (personal digital assistants). There has been considerable talk of the convergence of these technologies, but at present they remain separate with only a slow adoption of devices such as web TVs.
