CONTENT CREEPS IN

No one is using broadband in the TV ads for Cox Communications' broadband service. They're out in the sun, playing with their kids at the beach. The benefit of broadband, as Cox presents it, is the ability to get on and off the Internet quickly so you can spend more time doing something that's actually worthwhile. Lately, though, more companies have been stepping up to challenge the assumption that there's nothing worthwhile on the Web. The major movie studios (Paramount, Universal, Warner Brothers, et al.), long terrified by the Internet, are finally daring to dip their toes in with a service called MovieLink, which will begin offering movie downloads this fall. Major League Baseball began streaming games over the Web in August. And the NFL may follow in a new partnership with AOL, which is building its own menu of broadband-specific features out of music videos and photo-swapping. Broadband has been starving for such content for some time, but only a fool would view this recent crop of offerings without gigabits of skepticism. Media firms bold enough to bring their content to the Web have met failure after failure. Titans have been humbled (remember NBCi?). Inter-industry partnerships (e.g., Enron/Blockbuster) have disintegrated, and celebrated unions (think AOL Time Warner) are ripe for divorce. Even if those circling above the Internet have learned from others' mistakes, they may yet make their own. Internet users haven't rewarded big bets on content. And on a sunny day, it's tough to beat the beach.