Net video not yet ready for prime time

The Internet is not your television. Despite advances in streaming media technology, the huge numbers of people unable to watch Wednesday_s live Victoria_s Secret fashion show Webcast showed the Internet still isn_t ready to handle mass market video. According to Broadcast.com, the company that hosted the Victoria_s Secret broadcast, the fashion show received close to 1.5 million hits as it played live. This was the most popular video broadcast in the company_s history, far outstripping interest in President Clinton_s videotaped deposition in the Monica Lewinsky case. Broadcast.com had a total of 1 million hits the day the Clinton deposition was released, compared to a total of 2 million on Wednesday. Yet many users were unable to reach the site during the live broadcast because of network bottlenecks and other Internet roadblocks.