EL SEGUNDO, CA – The market for Internet TV service will reach $5.8 billion in 2011, up 13.7 times from $422.7 million in 2006, iSuppli Corp. predicts.

The Web is quickly growing into the world’s largest on-demand, interactive video library. The Internet also is evolving into the most ubiquitous video distribution platform ever known, says the firm.

iSuppli notes that as more consumer electronic devices like TVs, DVD players, game consoles, iPods and portable gadgets become Web-connected, Internet TV will leap from computer screens into the consumer’s primary media environment: the living room TV.

With Internet TV, content owners face the trade-off of “reach” versus “control,” while video network operators face a new way to reach consumers, as well as a new competitive threat that could put pressure on their long-term position in the market.

Meanwhile, a variety of Internet portal companies, content delivery networks, software platform companies and other technology providers embrace the revenue opportunity, says the researcher.

iSuppli also found that while news was the largest revenue category for advertising supporting professionally generated Internet TV in 2006, it will be third by 2009, behind sports and entertainment. Also, bandwidth required for Internet TV will grow by more than 44 times from 2006 to 2011 to almost 7 million Tebibytes, the company says.

Internet TV will be dominated by North America and Western Europe, says iSuppli. Regions such as Latin America and Eastern Europe will not have significant Internet TV penetration through 2011.