A new generation of consumers is turning off the boob tube and watching digital video on computers and mobile devices. At present, high-quality video is available on 200 million PCs, 200 million 3-GB mobile phones, and an estimated 4 million iPods. The rapid migration to video-download services such as YouTube and iTunes has the Big Four television networks rushing to create distribution systems capable of delivering Internet-based programming.

Today's tech-savvy youth get digital programs across a variety of channels. Videos are sold as downloads, or through video-on-demand; they are cut and clipped for cell phones and marketed via online video blogs or audio podcasts—sometimes hours after they air on television. The new distribution channels are reconfiguring the entire programming process: networks can't look at a program in terms of just airing on TV. For instance, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno has an "embedded" writer-producer whose job is to focus on the best bits for non-broadcast platforms.

The shift to digital video represents a sea change for a medium that has remained basically unchanged for a century. Watching an episode of Survivor on a 2.5-inch LCD screen with white earbuds is nothing less than revolutionary, and the convenience is irresistible—especially to a "we want it now" generation.