The news that Cisco Systems is buying Scientific-Atlanta is evidence that the long-predicted convergence of entertainment and the Internet is well under way.

Back in the 1990s, Bill Gates led the way in predicting that computers and television would be the key convergence. Microsoft and others were working on software to allow small boxes to sit on top of televisions so users could surf the Internet and answer e-mail on their plasma screens.

Of course, the reverse has also been true. A few “content providers” have tried to sell video over the Internet but most people are not happy about watching a double feature at their desks, especially when there is a big-screen TV in the living room.

The business models we’re likely to see in the future (and which this deal is designed to further) are on-demand sales like the watch-a-show-for-99c deal CBS and NBC recently announced. Fibre optic networks have made music downloadable and it looks like other entertainment is going that way too.