There’s a lot of news in the area of Internet video today. Here are the highlights:

• The UK government has responded to the controversy over the BBC’s recently introduced iPlayer digital video application, which only runs on Windows XP. We called it a closed on-demand video system when it was introduced. The government is now committed to supporting other operating systems.¬†A Mac version of the iPlayer will be released in the autumn followed by versions for Windows Vista and mobile gadgets. We’d still like to see them try ad-supported video podcasts.
• Apple wants to cut prices on television show downloads, from $1.99 to $.99. This is a smart move that the television networks are likely to scream and yell about – but the fact is that there isn’t much of a market for $1.99 downloads of shows you can watch and record for free.
• Internet service providers are cutting off users that download too much stuff. Yep – that means you and me! Comcast has punished some heavy downloaders by cutting off their Internet service, arguing that excessive downloaders hog Internet capacity and slow down the network for other customers. The company won’t reveal its download limits, though. In other words, if you use your high speed network to download podcasts, watch Internet TV and all the stuff that you got broadband for, they may shut you down.
• Universal Music is suing video-sharing site Veoh, alleging copyright violations. At this point, it may be easier to keep track of the video sharing sites that aren’t getting sued by big music companies. Universal filed suit in federal court Tuesday against Veoh Networks, a video- and file-sharing site, accusing it of massive copyright infringement that deprives the company and its artists of sales and royalties. It’s starting to look like it may be years before the issue of copyright infringement on video-sharing sites will be settled. Maybe it won’t be settled until Google buys the music industry.
• That hot new indie artist you saw on YouTube¬†or MySpace might not be so indie. The music industry has figured out where your attention is moving, and they are setting up faux-indie profiles for major label artists. Singer Mari√© Digby has been hailed by some as an example of how sites like YouTube are finding new talent. Digby actually was signed to a Walt Disney label a year and a half before her YouTube ascent.
• HP is shipping a new person-to-person Internet television app, Next.tv, with their new computers. How many dead-end proprietary video apps do we need? Note to content providers: throw an ad on your video, turn it into a video podcast, publish it to your site¬†and be done with it!