Several insightful business executives recognized that the portal concept could be
even more lucrative if applied to the “old school” but still dominant electronic information
and entertainment medium, namely, the television. Despite the far-reaching
impact that the Internet has had on U.S. culture over the past two decades, television
viewing remains much more prevalent in the United States than surfing the World
Wide Web. The Nielsen Company reported recently that the typical Internet user in
the United States spends only twenty minutes online each day, a small fraction of the
time that individual spends glued to his or her television screen.