One of the more interesting chats during SXSW Interactive happened between HDNet (and other things) owner Mark Cuban and Boxee founder Avner Ronen. Aside from the fire alarm that went off during the chat that forced a momentary evacuation of the premises, there were plenty of fireworks that amounted to The Big Question floating throughout SXSWi: how do you monetize a streaming model and not go out of business?

Cuban was adamant that even though the internet piecemeal strategy Ronen is embracing serves more people in a better way, that he could still make better money sticking with the Network Zombie model. I find it hilarious that what's touted as the greatest achievement in home viewing tech over the last ten years is the capability to record, pause, and fast forward content, which we could all do with a VCR (albeit at much lower quality and precision). It's no secret that I've long been a proponent of re-packaging the perception of what "On Demand" is and following the lead that so many home DVRs are advancing: let the consumer be the programmer.

I hate being stuck with a cable package that I use virtually none of with the exception of major networks and a few cable channels. I want more control over what I pay for what I want, and even with a DVR, I hate having to make sure that I set a recording in advance and navigate (at best) clunky interfaces that give me fits. It's double-silly that I can't access content from anywhere in the world, like the actual BBC channels and not just the repackaged "BBC America".

By the end of the chat, I think Ronen made a significant amount of progress wearing Cuban down to an "I'll consider it" point. The terrible thing is that it's all feasible and doable both from a bandwidth and tech perspective, and the public wants it, but until the content hermits come down off the mountain, we won't get anywhere.