An instructive, if misnamed, volume on emerging technology in the fields of television, telephony, and computers. Owens, an economist, tends to approach his subjects with the issue of cost-effectiveness foremost. He treats his material methodically from both historical and prognostic points of view, covering radio as a precursor to television and making predictions on the success of high-definition television (HDTV). In the case of telephones and televisions, there is a further division into analog and digital subsets, and with television additional stratification between broadcast and cable media. Much of this discussion is quite helpful, and Owen certainly renders the technical jargon far more clearly than a typical owner's manual for a product does. For instance, he offers an instructive discussion on the origins of the word ``broadcast,'' employing a comparison with ``narrowcast'' to underscore the importance of bandwidth to predigital and non-computer-based forms of communication. Similarly, Owens makes strong use of charts and diagrams to elucidate his contentions. His political stance, on those rare occasions when it can be discerned at all, is innocuously laissez-faire, criticizing both monopolies and government-sponsored protection of the industry. However, the study eventually sinks under the weight of too much material crammed into too slim a volume: confusion inevitably results, despite the helpful glossary. More importantly, the issue of convergence between television and the Internetthe very phenomenon that the book's title suggests is centralcomes late in the discussion and is given short shrift. Owen seems somewhat behind the curve, predicting that television/computer convergence is further off than it may actually be, though his points about the requirements for higher computer speeds and greater memory capacity are well taken. Despite its future-oriented hype, more useful as a historical text than a handbook for the 21st century. (53 line illustrations) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Focusing on both the effects of government regulation on the television business and the economics of communication technology, Owen, a communications economist, presents insights in both areas that are refreshingly different from the mass of speculation recently published about the nexus between television and the Internet...Owen's book is recommended for anyone interested in the television industry or the economics of the telecommunications industry.
--B. P. Keating (Choice )

An instructive...volume on emerging technology in the fields of television, telephony, and computers. (Kirkus Reviews )

This book provides an insightful view of the evolution of new media technologies by the leading authority on video economics.
--Harold Furchtgott-Roth, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission.