TV Your Way

From Net to Set

Other options for disgruntled cable and satellite subscribers are available now via broadband. Buy a set-top box from a company such as Akimbo, Dave TV, or ITVN and hook it up to your cable or DSL modem, and you can discover a brave new world of TV programming. Typically, these services offer channels of content, either streamed "live" like traditional broadcasts or delivered on request as a download to watch later.

The problem is unearthing something worth watching, let alone paying for. For example, the freebies among Dave TV's 100 channels of streaming or downloadable video include BBQTV (where you watch people cook meat) and Wheels.tv (collections of racing videos). But some shows, like The Girls of Asian Love Palace, cost up to $25 apiece. Because Dave TV distributes or sells content from virtually anyone who has a video and a marketing agenda, it's a bit like the Web equivalent of a public-access cable station.

For a fee of $5 per month (plus a $99 set-top box), ITVN offers content ranging from "Live TV" (obscure streamed programming--a recent entry showed Lance Armstrong playing Frisbee golf) and the Lacrosse Channel to the Silver Screen Network (old movies) and an impressive quantity of X-rated material. ITVN's remote control even has a panic button you can press to blank the screen if someone walks in while you're watching, say, Miss Piggy Gets Jiggy (an actual ITVN movie).

Akimbo's 111 channels feature content you may actually have heard of, including programming from the BBC, Cartoon Network, CNN, Discovery Kids, and the History Channel, as well as original Web video from sites like Rocketboom.com and iFilm.

But Akimbo is strictly a download service. Select the shows you want from an on-screen guide or from Akimbo's Web site, and they will show up on the $70 set-top box within an hour or two, or overnight. Also, since you frequently must pay for the programs (on top of the service's $10-per-month charge), your monthly costs could end up exceeding your cable bill.

Higher-quality programming might be on the way, however. At press time ITVN was planning to roll out an on-demand music video service called Pulse, while Akimbo has signed a deal with MovieLink that will make Hollywood movies available for download (for fees).