New plans have been unveiled by Virgin Media to offer the next generation of set top box technology. Virgin currently provides high speed fibre optic broadband and digital TV services for close to 10 million households in the UK.

It emerged that Virgin Media would be partnering with US firm TiVo, a name that has become synonymous with digital personal video recording in the United States, in order to provide a set top box which could record live television as well as offering broadband internet on customers’ televisions.

There are currently Virgin Media and BT Broadband options which allow for the combination of a digital TV package with a high speed connection, although no provider has yet managed to offer full internet access via a set top box.

Users will be able to take advantage of the high speed broadband connection to access a much wider variety of on-demand video content from various sources, expanding on the current Virgin Media offerings.

Virgin Media Chief Exec Neil Berkett said that his company was aiming to push ahead with the development of the technology in order to gain an early advantage in the next generation of subscription TV.

Although there has been no official release date for the new set top box and its associated services, a source at Virgin Media has confirmed that these will both become available some time in 2010.

Virgin Media is not the only home broadband provider to be partnering in anticipation of a more integrated future for television and the internet. It is likely that BT Broadband options which may include on-demand video services from the BBC, currently codenamed Project Canvas, could also be emerging with support from a new set top box in the near future.

Despite the evolution of multiple forms of online communication which improve upon the principally text-based capabilities of emails, a leading business broadband expert has predicted that emails will continue to form the backbone of commerce over the next decade.

This news comes after a report from broadband provider TalkTalk suggested that email usage was taking a downturn that would eventually relegate it to the annals of history.

Mickael Remond, CEO of a major messaging solutions firm, cited the universal availability and versatility of email as key to its continued use.

Remond was adamant that email would continue to be important to business broadband users because of its ability to target multiple recipients and provide a proven logging system to allow easy reference to older messages.

Although the TalkTalk survey revealed that 51% of low level businesspeople used email as their main form of communication, in ten years time the shape of online interaction would be very different.

Social networking and instant messaging are slated as being the next big thing in business by the report and so the adoption of BT business broadband packages to reflect this change could result in very different tariffs and functions in the future.

However, this is obviously a point open to debate and as email is so deeply entrenched in most businesses it could still be used as a formal and lasting form of communication, whilst social networking and instant messaging represents quick, casual and disposable means of conducting a business dialogue.

Whether future BT business broadband packages will include facilities for business social networks or intercompany instant messaging remains to be seen, but the continued importance of broadband itself within the business world is assured.

Wednesday saw the Queen’s speech used as a platform from which the Government could announce various new pieces of legislation. The most important news for broadband users was the announcement of the Digital Economy Bill, which will change the rules relating to illegal file-sharing and online piracy.

Those who download illegally will first be contacted and urged to cease and desist. If they ignore the warnings, they could have their connections limited as pressure is put on internet service providers to take the issues of file sharing more seriously.

The most persistent offenders could face having their internet connections disabled altogether, resulting in a system that would effectively ban those who do not respect copyright laws. The UK music industry has welcomed the plans, but lobbyists who campaign for information freedom in the digital age believe that the new rules could penalise people unnecessarily.

The new bill is also set to further establish plans for the growth of a high-speed broadband network across the UK. On Monday, the Digital Britain minister Stephen Timms told a broadband conference in Leeds that there was a governmental commitment to get the next generation of broadband connectivity into over 90% of UK households within the next 8 years. BT broadband deals which offer 20Mbps connections are representative of the first wave of this new, faster broadband infrastructure.

In order to pay for the BT broadband deals of the future the 50p broadband tax, levied against phone bills for UK customers, is still going ahead. This will further supplement the £170 million that is being injected into the industry in order to achieve universal broadband coverage by 2012.

Although an increasing number of providers are gradually offering 20Mbps connections, further telephone exchanges need to be converted to the new technology to enable a greater number of UK residents to connect at high speeds in the future.

According to a broadband expert, it is unlikely that fixed line broadband connections will ever be replaced or superseded by the mobile broadband alternatives. The comments were made by Edd Dawson, the editor of a UK broadband specialist site, although Dawson is not alone in questioning the viability and sustainability of mobile broadband services.

The reasoning behind the argument is that consumers will continue to purchase mobile broadband only as a supplementary connection to their existing fixed line service. This is because mobile broadband costs are comparatively higher than fixed line equivalents, whilst real speeds have been revealed in a recent survey to be far lower than most manufacturers are willing to admit.

Dawson likens the continued relevance of home broadband to the fate of desktop PCs, which in the face of stiff competition from laptops and netbooks are still managing to sell well. Laptops, like mobile broadband, are considered to be ideal for casual and occasional use, but not as a replacement for a powerful desktop PC with a fast home broadband connection.

It is believed that the same theory can be applied across the whole spectrum of users, with home owners as well as businesses sticking with the reliability and availability of fixed line broadband whilst complimenting this connection with the roaming capabilities of mobile broadband.

The future of mobile broadband as a primary connection has been further brought into question due to the wider availability of cheap cable broadband in the UK. Cable has several advantages over both ADSL and mobile broadband and with its faster and more consistent connection speeds it is likely to continue to grow in popularity.

Cheap cable broadband may also become more widely available as BT develops its fibre networks, in competition with the current kings of cable, Virgin Media.

The future is, of course, hard to predict as anyone who remembers similar reservations directed at car phones in the 1980s will attest.

Increased competition from alternative broadband providers has triggered BT to jump on the bundle-deal bandwagon. The telecoms giant will be offering new customers the chance to sign up to several of its home broadband and landline phone packages with the incentive of 3 months free. This is in response to the widespread market acceptance of similar deals from providers such as Virgin Mobile. Virgin recently offered customers 2 months free service and it seems that BT is determined to go one better in its attempt to win back previous subscribers.

BT will be offering the deal in partnership with its Starter home broadband package, which integrates the home phone service with inclusive weekend calls to UK landline numbers and a subscription to the BT Vision digital TV service. Customers will be provided with free equipment including the BT home hub, as well as free internet security software.

It is expected that the extended BT broadband options which fall under the terms of this offer will not be available for too long. As such, consumers are being encouraged to sign up before Christmas if they wish to make the most of the limited time offer. In line with common industry practice, the multiple services included in this package require a minimum contractual term of 18 months and there is line rental to pay on top of the monthly package price.

Incentives such as reduced monthly costs, as well as the lure of bundle deals, have significantly changed the way in which broadband has been marketed and sold in recent months. BT broadband options which include broadband, home phone and digital TV in a single monthly package offer the consumer potentially significant savings whilst giving BT more control over multiple services. The added convenience of having to deal with a single provider when issues arise is another key selling point of home broadband bundles.