LAS VEGAS — Fear of Google, and its property YouTube, has been apparent at this year’s National Association of Broadcasters conference. When former NBC Nightly News weekend anchor John Seigenthaler opened his onstage interview with Google CEO Eric Schmidt by asking whether his company’s rise means the decline of conventional TV, it put broadcasters in the audience on the edge of their seats.

‘Google will not replace radio and television,’ was Schmidt’s quick response, though he noted that TV ad revenue has been flat. When it was suggested that there are only so many ad dollars out there in the electronic media world, he flat out disagreed. ‘The trick is — whatever business you’re in — to use the best targeting.’

The theme of getting to know — really know — viewers has been on the tip of everyone’s tongue at NAB2007. In another digital content session, Sling Media CEO and president Blake Kerkorian, whose Sling Box product allows viewers to dial into their home TV content from anywhere in the world on any device, proclaimed that ‘appointment-based viewing is dead.’

The old method of top-down pushing out of content, says Kerkorian, has evolved into the ‘bottoms up’ scenario in which the Internet is made up of open roads and public networks. And consumers don’t care how complex it is to change.

Unfortunately, while broadcasters might agree with Kerkorian’s premise, some don’t agree with his methods. Jim Goodmon, president and CEO of Capitol Broadcasting Company from Raleigh, NC, said in a Tuesday session on IPTV that he doesn’t ‘believe the Sling Box model is appropriate or legal,’ adding that, as a traditional broadcaster, he is restricted from extending his designated market area. This echoes Canadian casters’ concerns with respect to distant signals and carriage fees, which will be further complicated by the growth of Internet-based distribution.

Schmidt has said famously ‘Don’t bet against the Internet.’ Seigenthaler pointed out that some broadcasters seem to be doing just that.

Schmidt smiled before answering. ‘[The Internet] is as big a possible land grab as enjoyed by the founders of television,’ he replied. He then finished by quoting the mantra that every broadcaster who attended this year’s NAB will have imprinted on their mind, if not tattooed on their foreheads: ‘But the new model of broadcasting will have to address user empowerment.’