This article on CNet underscores a theme that I've been thinking about more, and which also appears to be gaining more attention from the content and connectivity businesses overall.
While lots of people have thought about how to monitize content on the Internet, few have been successful. It's fair to say that for the first seven years of the consumer Internet that the capabilities of the primary content platform (the Web) have significantly limited what's possible in terms of original content, and more importantly, the connectivity of consumers has lagged so far behind that content companies have been in somewhat of a catch-22.
It now appears that the traditional alliance of media+delivery is remerging as a contender for broadband-based subscription services. The article rightly points out that few original content providers will choose to exclusively tied paid content to one access network (just as multiple TV content providers would ever tie to one cable or satellite network), so where's the beef?
Broadband access providers certainly seem like they'll be strong aggregators of subscription services, though acting as non-exclusive channels for original content creators. Consumers will subscribe to 'content+connectivity', including subscription services, not just IP access.
The final stopping block, of course, is content. We're now at a point where rich media and interactive appliations environments such as Macromedia MX help provide enough of a foundation for content providers to create compelling services.
A great place to keep track of these trends is PAID: the economics of content.
4:10:19 PM 
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