The study was commissioned by Wiggin, one of the top media and technology law firms in the country. Firm partner Alexander Ross told the BBC “A letter would not be enough. It does take an ultimate sanction.” (By the way, Alexander is not only a great guy but brilliant too.)

The survey also revealed that ISP’s would rake in bigger profits if they switched from flat rates to a metered plan. A sort of pay as you go model.  Heavy consumers of video and online games would pay a premium to maintain their access to these sorts of content, according to Ross.”The suggestion is that if ISPs develop content services of their own and tier their access there are ready and willing customers for it.”

Consumers apparently are getting more and more comfortable with watching on demand TV on a PC.  The survey shows that use of the BBC iPlayer and similar UK TV web services has exploded in the last year. However the leap from laptop to family room TV set is still a bridge too far for many consumers, saying that it is still to difficult to make the PC to TV set connection. But once TV manufacturers and  device makers simplify the process and actually begin to build wi-fi connectivity into sets, the demand for services will skyrocket.

“The distinction between the sit back experience of scheduled broadcasting and the sit forward experience of on demand access is becoming ever more blurred, and consumers are driving the convergence,” said Mr Ross.

So will this convergence actually ignite more illegal downloading of movies and other video content? Could it become so second nature that the masses just won’t know the difference between what’s legal and what isn’t? The flip side of the coin is that ISP’s certainly don’t want to go around disconnecting their customers. Next week the British government is releasing a final version of the Carter Report, which will tackle the issue of web piracy and possible “technical solutions” to the problem that could involve slowing down connection speeds for habitual offenders.

In light of the Wiggin report, it will be very interesting to see what the government comes up with. The odds are better than 2 to 1 that it will be something goofy.

© 2009, Wayne Rosso. All rights reserved.