TV moves to digital age

So suggested a panel of experts from Google, Dow Jones & Co, NBC Universal and TNS Media Research at a conference in New York on Tuesday, which coincided with the first work stoppage by TV and movie screenwriters in 20 years.

At the heart of the work stoppage is the question of how screenwriters should be compensated in an era of burgeoning digital technologies, such as Internet and hand-held wireless devices, that are changing the face of entertainment.

Those changes were the central topic of conversation during the hour-long panel session -- part of the adtech conference in New York -- although nobody mentioned the strike itself.

"When you take a show like "Heroes" or "The Office," that show ran once 30 years ago," said Ron Lamprecht, senior vice president, digital distribution, at NBC Universal, which is majority owned by General Electric.

"Just in the past couple of years, so many new choices for consumption have developed on so many platforms," he said, pointing to Hulu, an online video service formed by NBC Universal and News Corp, which is buying Dow Jones.

The long-awaited free, advertising-supported service made its debut last week, with many seeing it as a key competitor to Google's YouTube. NBC has pulled its channel off of YouTube.

Lamprecht said NBC Universal and Google are engaged in various discussions, but that Hulu is the company's priority.

"Hulu is a big bet for NBCU and News Corp," he said. "Our play for video outside of NBC.com is Hulu and the launch partners in Hulu," including Sony Pictures Television and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.

But Lamprecht and other panelists said traditional TV -- broadcast through a TV set -- isn't about to disappear.