If you thought your local cable TV provider gave you a lot of channels to pick from, up to 500 in some areas, then brace yourself, because Internet Protocol Television is the next big thing.

IPTV will have the capacity to bring viewers an unlimited amount of channels and a huge variety of program options. Some proponents are talking 50,000 channels or more. “The opportunities are endless. The ways of production, the type of content, are all really new,” said Allan Hepner, executive director of the New Millennium Research Council. This research group is predicting that IPTV will very soon become the major competitor of Broadcast and Cable TV Networks.

According to Dr. Joseph Fergus, CEO of IPTV provider Communication Technologies, the transition over to IPTV is already underway and over 49 million Americans alone already have the broadband technology needed in their homes to make this happen. “What we have in the industry is the first stages of IPTV development,” Fergus said. He cited Apple iTunes as that first stage with many many more choices to come in the very near future.

Other pioneers in this blossoming industry besides Apple and Communications Technologies are MLB.com, which currently offers live internet broadcasts of all major league baseball games at the cost of $69.95 per season. Two big giants in the computer industry, Microsoft and Intel are working together to enhance computer software ease for the Web-to-TV interface. AT&T is getting into the game and has plans to begin offering internet videos and movies within its new TV internet service.

All of this has current mega corporations like Time Warner, ComCast, the networks such as FOX, ABC and NBC, as well as some of the major cable networks such as HBO and Showtime scrambling to not be left in the dust as IPTV begins raging through to the everyday consumer.

There are still a lot of bugs and other issues that need to be worked out before this new venture becomes commonplace among the general public. How will viewers pay for unconventional generated channels they can now obtain for free, such as video presentations on YouTube.com? What licensing fees may have to be paid to major corporations if fan films such as Star Trek: New Voyages or other future fan related projects become available through the service? What impact will the FCC have on the dissemination of this new technology since its access is not limited to just an American audience? While all of these and many more issues are being worked out, the companies involved are moving full-steam-ahead with their plans to make IPTV a norm for the near future.