At zero hour on January 1, 2008, netizens surfing through www.hifly.tv suddenly found that the once official website based in China's Hunan Province had become a video network portal.

At the annual 2007 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft, prognosticated that in five years, television would be doomed to be replaced by the Internet. His words must have sent a shiver of apprehension through the hearts of TV moguls, still enjoying a high share of advertising profits in the market.

Although faced with problems of copyright and bandwidth, Internet video is now forging ahead, propped up by risky investment. With a vast amount of content to bolster it and no time restrictions, it is eroding the dominant position held by television for decades.

Statistics conducted by the Data Center of the China Internet (DCCI) showed that 77.5 percent of the netizens surveyed watched Internet video, and those watching TV accounted for around 60 percent. Although the disparity is not a large one, it is obvious that the former number is growing, and the latter, declining.

To lure back the audiences as well as advertisers, the once dispensable TV websites have had to step up on the stage. On November 29, 2007, Phoenix Satellite Television in Hong Kong began to use its new domain name -- ifeng.com -- getting rid of its previous official status. Beijing Television Station signed an agreement with OpenV, a Chinese search engine, and used its technology to launch on-demand and search services on the web -- ibtv.com.cn -- directly broadcasting programs from its 10 television channels.

Hunan Satellite TV also spared no effort to join the bandwagon. On January 1, 2008, its website www.hifly.tv featured a completely new reshuffle, setting up video columns covering news, performance, video and blog community; it was designed almost like an independent video portal.

Programs produced by Hunan Satellite TV and other televisions channels under Hunan Broadcasting Group were directly broadcast on the web in synchronization. The new website also provided a service platform for on-demand broadcasting and in-turn broadcasting. In addition, it has reshuffled telecom value-added business and Internet value-added business, forging double video portals in the wireless and Internet fields.

The Merry Sunshine Entertainment and Media Co. Ltd., serving as both a new media company and the Development Department for Hunan Satellite TV, is currently operating the newly reshuffled website.

"What we did was to mingle Internet and TV together," said Zhang Ruobo, President of the Merry Sunshine and Director of the Development Department. "Since Hunan Satellite TV is a well-known brand, we didn't have to change it by starting all over again."

Websites affiliated to TV stations enjoy rich program resources. Numerous programs that have failed to be broadcast on TV due to the time restrictions are able to be repackaged and uploaded on the net to satisfy audience's interests.

In 2007, Hifly relayed the entire audition process for Super Boy -- a wildly popular Chinese version of American Idol -- for dozens of days, since many programs were unsuitable for television broadcast. The site's Alxa rank jumped from over 10,000 to over 2,000, as a result.

"There is great potential for both the web and TV to interact further," said Cao Yan, Strategic Director for the website.

In June 2007, the U.S. based YouTube, in cooperation with Cable News Network (CNN), set up a special column on the web, and called on netizens to put forward one-minute questions to the Democratic presidential candidates. These questions were then compiled into a video document uploaded on the Internet. CNN, in the meantime, selected more than 30 questions from among the lot, for an on-the-spot broadcast where the candidates would have to answer immediately.

Onscreen, there were such questions such as "If you are elected as the president, will you support our marriage?" A cartoon snowman drawn by net friends "asked" before the lens: "As a president, what measures would you adopt to ensure my children live a happy life?"

All of a sudden, YouTube had converted the mechanical American presidential election debates on TV into something seasoned with wit and life. This instance is only the beginning of the convergence between the TV and Internet.

Hifly made a similar attempt before the start of the program Marry 2008, a large interactive live program, by introducing on-line registration. Audiences would win awards during the registration process.

"We expect all audiences to participate in the program," said Cao.

The threshold for investment in a video website stands at 1 million yuan, according to Gu Yongqiang, CEO of youku.com. Websites such as tudou.com, youku.com and 56.com each spend this sum of money every year. Every increased user means more investment.

Cao is clearly aware of the fact that Hifly is just in the starting phase of its Internet business.

"We never pursued expanding our number of users," said Cao. "If the web is able to serve only 5 million users, we would serve well them and enhance their experience on the Internet."

Aimed at different audiences, the site launched a series of trans-media network programs such as Mongo Star News, Exclusive Interview and Hot Spot Live Broadcast.

It also developed an on-line recording function and video uploading function. Users could express their greetings to their favorite stars, or capture their daily lives with DV or handset phones, and then upload these on the Net. Events caught by them on camera had the opportunity to be broadcast on the News Channel.

Hifly set up a technological research and development center in Beijing, and cooperated with video websites for technical support. It plans, in its future operations, to constantly enrich and consolidate its position as an Internet portal. It will, in addition to providing video products, play its media role by offering clients accurate and fresh information, as well as Internet ingredients, including pictures and articles, blogs, forum and review.

Indeed, Internet video, like the Internet itself, is here to stay.

(Source: China Internet Weekly)