|  The possibilities of on-demand TV promised by high-speed broadband go beyond the consumer’s hunger for Hollywood blockbusters and limitless reruns of AC Milan’s latest Champions League goals. An executive in Milan, say, could soon routinely find himself in lifelike virtual meetings with colleagues in London, Paris and Frankfurt via high-definition video conferencing. And should they need a little pre-presentation primer – or, indeed, post-match punditry – the same bandwidth will enable businesses to shift their entire workforce onto voice over IP systems, slashing phone bills.
While broadband may now be enabling businesses to handle and transport greater volumes of data, it took many years of investment in equipment and infrastructure, a burden few companies were prepared to shoulder, to arrive at this stage. That is why the advances of UK firm Easynet are so significant, and why British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) was so prescient in paying £211m (€302m) for the company in October, 2005. The deal represented BSkyB’s first step towards becoming a major force in the UK internet arena and made the broadcaster a direct rival in the broadband market to the likes of BT, AOL and NTL before the latter’s reinvention as Virgin Media. Easynet allowed BSkyB to offer a “triple play” of pay TV, broadband internet and telephone services to its customer base, totalling around eight million subscribers by the end of that year, and to future-proof itself against the long-term prospect of TV being broadcast over the internet, the seeds of which have since been sown by the likes of the Netherlands’ Joost, Italy’s Babelgum and the UK’s BT Vision. Betting his money on the broad new world of business and entertainment might be viewed as the boldest strategic move taken by James Murdoch, who became BSkyB chief executive in 2003. It was also a good result for David Rowe, the chief executive of Easynet, who pocketed over £4m for shares in the company he founded in 1994. Despite his windfall, Rowe has stayed on at BSkyB in the new role of managing director for enterprise business, meaning he is responsible for BSkyB’s business-to-business services across TV and telecoms. He’ll be focused on delivering HD video conferencing, internet telephony and the streaming of media to customers, employees and partners, and also advising multinationals on how to make the most of the internet in broadband backwaters around the world.
 His job title may have changed, but Rowe seems more determined than ever to play a role in bringing the UK’s infrastructure up to date. The difference is that now it’s concentrated on businesses likes fashion chain Diesel, which streams music into its stores in order to create the same experience for shoppers in every branch, or the London Symphony Orchestra, which is using Easynet’s high-speed networks to capture high-quality recordings of its performances.
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