With The BBC’s announcement of a second series of the online soap spin-off EastEnders: E20 it appears more likely that the future of TV, and the way it’s watched, is changing.

With that in mind how much of a threat is online video to the good old fashioned TV?

A few years ago, UK TV broadcasters were trying to produce a decent online on demand  TV offering. And so the internet TV services such as Sky Player, iPlayer, ITV Player and 4OD came to be. And it’s not just the big boys who are at it these days. US Hulu have been thinking over a move to UK shores for months now, while new kids on the block Blinkbox and SeeSaw are already making an impact.

Makeover hosts Trinny and Susannah are trying to recreate their flagging careers with an online spoof series on iVillage; The Fast Show’s Simon Day stars in the online only BBC comedy series Brian Pern; and Channel 4′s flagship soap is to follow in its competitor’s footsteps with the launch an online spin off, Hollyoaks: Freshers. Scotland’s ITV franchise STV has also decided to use its website as a proving ground as they this week announced plans for an online comedy project that will see popular content make the transition to online content.

But while the arguments for watching the box online are obvious and many, there’s surely no competition for the combination of a big screen and a comfy sofa as far as the average couch potato is concerned.

Is there? Who knows!. In the past decade, the telephone has gone from a box on a wall to the 21st century equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife, the computer has gone from geek to chic and TV, by contrast, has been left behind.

Reports are suggesting that in the coming months that’s all going to change as Google and Microsoft have a lot of plans in the pipline, plans that will allow us to display holiday snaps and even update our Facebook pages have a chat with friends and even watch TV shows, Google claim their service, Google TV, will “change the future of television” as the service will allow viewers to search the internet as well as search for their TV channels for shows giving them access to libraries of online content on their TV sets.

Related News:

1. Internet TV Tax Coming Next Year Says Minister
2. Orange Looking To Join Project Canvas
3. Project Canvas Blow As Channel Five Quits
4. iRecord Pro Records TV Without A PC To iPad, iPhone 4 and iOS 4
5. Could the Growth Of Internet TV Be Slowed By Bandwidth Capping?