As I've mentioned in previous blogs, I think Diane Mermigas of Hollywood Reporter is one of America's very best media analysts. Few people have their finger on the pulse of modern media like she does.

In her latest column, she outlines the "new world order of media and entertainment" that will take shape in 2006 and discusses what it will mean for some of America's top digital media and entertainment companies. She argues:

"[2006] will all be about a flood of fast, fun, alternative distribution for TV programs, movies, video games and print on first-generation portable video players, video cell phones and digital cable and satellite set-top boxes. In the process, the industry will struggle with new dilemmas: how to slice and dice existing content for on-demand access without losing its integrity and how to create new forms of advertising that can tag along.

Like never before, media and entertainment players are reinventing themselves right before our eyes, driven by an unprecedented marketplace collision of the mass penetration of new digital broadband services and a willingness by content providers to provide access to their existing and new products in untested ways."

Make sure to read this important new piece by Diane.