But if corporate customers are now dipping their toes in the stream, some say the consumer market is still shying away. “The enterprise market is buzzing with activity, but we won’t see consumer traction really take hold until around 2005,” says Sean Badding of research firm Carmel Group, which just produced a report entitled “Streaming Beyond the PC."

"Whether there are two players or one in the satellite field, cable is getting a big wakeup call to provide more digital services for consumers,” says James Schaeffler, a subscription TV analyst with the Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif.-based Carmel Group. “Because, either way, there’s going to be a lot more money poured into the satellite industry, and that’s going to keep pushing cable to improve.”

The Carmel Group, a California-based telecommunications research firm, estimates that pirates cost the industry around $900 million a year. DirecTV sends out such signals about twice a month, but according to The Carmel Group’s Sean Badding, intrepid pirates can effectively block ECMs using devices called emulators, or if that fails, reactivate a “burned” card using a “card strip box” that connects to a personal computer.