The Washington Post reports that a number of companies including Microsoft and Google are pressing US regulators to allow the use of television airwaves for delivery of high speed internet services. Effectively, this could mean delivery of television via the internet, using the television spectrum. It would be a punch in the stomach to traditional tv companies.

The coalition wants the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to let them use spare space on the television airwaves to supply the internet.

Microsoft, Google, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Philips are in the coalition and are giving the US officials a prototype made by Microsoft to test. If accepted, the gadget could be available by as early as 2009. Of course, along with tv stations, telephone and cable companies are under threat from this concept. They currently earn billions from people subscribing every month to an internet service provider.

But for us at MediaSoon it’s more interesting to think of the lines being blurred for the consumer. If this concept goes through, it will soon be difficult to know whether you are watching YouTube on the net or a tv station. The viewer won’t see the difference, but the shift in ad revenues will be significant.

The majority of revenues currently go to the content distributor, which is often also the content originator - the big tv networks. A future IPTV environment will mean that technology companies like Google and Microsoft will take their cut of the advertising cake. Even hardware manufacturers like Philips and Hewlett Packard will be able to claim a share if they make the right affiliations. It looks like they are doing just that.