The problem, as many folks have discussed at length, is that the file size for HD movies, in particular, may be prohibitively large for the garden-variety home broadband user.

Storage isn’t a problem anymore. I just saw a 500GB USB drive for $140. Since the AppleTV isn’t meant to store this stuff permanently, adding that drive to your computer to store your HD movies would be fine. (Just be sure to back them up.)

LAN speed isn’t a problem anymore, since the AppleTV has 802.11n, and can support streaming an HD movie that isn’t synced to it from your machine. And since Apple also makes a base station that does 802.11n as well as printer sharing and

Content isn’t a problem anymore, at least for US audiences. There are plenty of video podcasts and HD and SD content available that will play on the AppleTV, and cheap tools to convert other content, like DVDs, to work with the AppleTV.

The problem I see is our outdated telecommunications networks. The monopoly or duopoly that most of the US lives under when it comes to broadband is stifling innovation. If it were a matter of population density, then NYC, LA, and especially San Francisco would be able to get similar offerings to Seoul or Tokyo. However, 100 megabit broadband for the price of our piddling 8 megabit asynchronous broadband does not exist anywhere in the US.

We need to change the telecommunications laws at the state and local level to increase competition and push out truly high-speed broadband, or products like the AppleTV or the Xbox 360, which can download HD movies, will never achieve their full potential.

How Battlestar Galactica came to be Time’s ‘Show of the Year’ is a very interesting story. Not many people would think that a remake of a mediocre TV show would be such a hit. But with the talent and network and a little illegal filesharing, it did far better than anyone anticipated.

I think that more and more TV video entertainment is going to be distributed online, with or without ads. Think about it: iTunes charges $2 per episode. If you have 50,000 viewers per episode, that’s $100,000 gross per episode. I’m not familiar with the TV biz, but that doesn’t sound like chump change. (And if I’m wrong, let me know.)

I’ll be downloading every episode of the new season of Galactica from iTunes, mostly because I don’t have or want cable, but also because I don’t want commercials. But I’d also like to support this method of entertainment.

The new design isn’t that revolutionary. It’s pretty much what we saw before, but thinner. (Just like almost everything else from Apple these days.) I showed it to my parents and they could hardly believe that “that’s the whole computer.” The ‘wow’ factor doesn’t affect me much, cause I’m the guy who walks around with a Bluetooth headset in his ear.

Having a video camera integrated with the computer makes it the stereotypical “sci fi TV.” You know the scene: Our hero walks into his cabin, pushes a button on his remote and his TV turns on and starts a video call with one of his buddies. Well, the iMac is that TV. At least it’s a step towards that.

Front Row is probably the most revolutionary feature in the new iMac. All your pictures, all your music, all your movies, and a DVD player is accessible from one little remote, with six buttons, from up to 30 feet away. And it really showcases Apple’s design philosophy. First off, things don’t have to be dragged anywhere to make them work. If a song’s in your iTunes library, it’s accessible. If a photo’s in your album, it’s accessible. If you bought or added a video to your iTunes library, it’s accessible. (They might have to rename iTunes after today.)

The iPod and iTunes

This is one of the biggest changes in the history of modern content, but not for the reason you’re thinking. Sure, being able to buy a TV show or music video or animated short to watch on your iPod is neat, but the real story here is video podcasts. If you’ve got the money for bandwidth, or Apple includes BitTorrent, you can roll your own TV show. Am I the only one who sees this? If Wil decides he wants to start acting again, he can go buy a DV camera, fire up iMovie and attach it to his RSS feed. Then someone subscribes to the feed in iTunes, and can watch it on their Mac or their iPod. No networks.

I don’t think, however, that TV show downloads will be very popular. TV shows are transitory things, even if they’re ultra popular. I’m not going to pay $1.99 for a TV show I’ll watch once. I think it would be better if you could pay $20 and get a ‘season pass’ for a show, and they’re automatically downloaded as soon as they become available. It would be cheaper than downloading things piecemeal, and people would be more willing to pay for TV that way than buying things one at a time.

It’s the “Long Tail” of the media.

So this is a pretty big development in terms.