But the advent of cable changed all that. Expectations were raised both in terms of picture quality and the number of channels available. Then came satellite TV—but that pretty much depended on hooking into the home's internal cable distribution network.

Cable distribution has apparently proven inconvenient for most people. As a result we are now in the process of handicapping which wireless technology will prevail for in-home distribution. Will it be Wi-Fi, or UWB, or one of several proprietary technologies such as those offered by Pulse-Link and Amimon—to name just a few?

More on this topic is available at CE's wireless Babel: Connectivity strategies are all over the map.

One technology that is a long shot in the near term at least is the 60 GHz distribution systems. Even if you could set it up initially to avoid interference from walls etc., simple things like moving furniture or walking through the room could cause problems at that frequency.

Never say "never," of course.

My guess is that we'll see Wi-Fi first with a good deal of proprietary technology penetration. The deciding factor will be endorsements by big CE companies who actually find it beneficial to the bottom line to have a succession of products each one a little better than the previous generation.