What the hell is going on with TV?

[Commentary] After more than a decade of false starts, web TV is here -- sort of.

Thanks to streaming video services like Hulu and Netflix and new portable devices such as the iPad, we've begun to expect that TV should be more like the web itself: social, mobile, searchable, and instantly available. When we can't figure out what to watch, web-based recommendation software ("If you liked Inception, you'll love Heroes!") might do a better job of finding us programs we like than the professionals who program ABC -- or we might just want to check an onscreen guide of our friends' status updates to see which shows they've enjoyed recently. And once we've reached a decision, we want to click and watch on any screen that happens to be nearby. But for the moment, all that promise translates into a proliferation of new boxes and services that are impossible to compare. Do I want an Internet-connected TV from Samsung or Sony, or should I just buy a separate box that hooks up to the Net, like that brick-size Logitech gadget that enables Google TV? What about the supercheap Roku box? Should I bother paying for Hulu's new premium service or just get a Netflix subscription? Those companies -- and many more -- are making a bet that the largest screen in our homes is going to become an operating system like the ones that power our computers and phones -- a platform I can use to open up apps or surf the web. The potential payoffs for tech companies are huge: Google could serve up advertising next to search results on our TV, grabbing a chunk of the $56 billion a year spent on television ads (See The $56 billion Ad question). Apple's iTunes could become the online merchant for all video content. Device makers can sell us even more gear. Cable operators and studios stand to gain viewers and ad dollars by making their shows available -- with commercials -- anytime, anywhere. And for time-starved folks like me, it's TV nirvana.