What's become a familiar backstory to the Emmy telecast is the TV industry's fear and loathing of a new "digital world." One destined to wipe out Hollywood.

I understand where this misplaced emotion is coming from. Hollywood is filled with creative types who are intimidated by every uptick in Internet usage. But Hollywood has not dug deep enough to see that a maturing web won't spell the end for television as we know it.

On the heels of several announced interactive television launches, chatter spread through the business and trade press comparing these efforts to the many that have failed in the past. But for many of us in the field, these announcements are something that we believe marks a turning point.

Internet video distribution today seems like the inevitable path media companies are going to take in order to ensure their content gets to consumers. But big media needs to figure out a way to operate (for at least the next five to seven years) with one foot firmly planted in today’s TV distribution platform, while incubating their Internet audiences.

This past week brought the announcement that a consortium of industry players -- NBC Universal, Time Warner, News Corp, CBS Corp, and many more -- were banding together to give Nielsen Media Research a run for their money.

Why are they bothering when digital TV offers so many other ways to secure the platform’s future?

Plenty of people watch TV so let’s not just yet send out the sympathy card. But what the industry has not done in a long time is look inside the digital spectrum to find more money.