AMSTERDAM — The long-awaited (or threatened) invasion of the living-room TV set by Internet content, after being finally here for the last decade or so, is finally here, according to a panel of search-engine wizards convened here Thursday, on the first day of the International Broadcast Convention (IBC).

The last word of Thursday's "Content Over the Web" session came from moderator Simon Forrest of Pace plc. (UK), who said, "Convergence is certainly happening."

This echoed the sentiments of Joseph Guegan, chief technology officer of Groupe Canal+, France, who said, "2008 is the year of convergence between broadcast and broadband, fixed and mobile, PC and set-top box."

The site for all this converging seems to be the television set, making the whole discussion more accurately about migration.

TV, indeed, is the last major consumer medium that has all this time resisted the absorption of the sort of Web-based content that is normally accessed on personal computers, mobile phones, portable music players, personal digital assistants and even game consoles.

The barrier to convergence, the panelists admitted, has always been the TV remote control, and the inability of device-makers and service providers to reduce the complexity of content access for consumers.

That's no problem any longer, according to Guegan. He said that Canal+'s vast array of Web-based offerings, visible on TV in France " including 500 channels, 1,000 services and 3,000 video choices on demand " are no more than "two clicks" away.

"Most users," agreed Guru Pai, vice president of marketing and business development at Veveo, Inc. (USA), "just want to press 'Play.'"

His company, said Pai, provides service operators a search engine called Vtap that makes pressing 'Play' the consumers only job. Adding to the reduced-click chorus was Gavin McLauchlan, the Europe, Middle East, and Africa customer marketing manager for Microsoft Mediaroom (UK).

Offering the caveat that service operators must also commit to the simplicity of the user interface, he said, "What we do best is make it so easy for consumers to find what they want with that service. The more you reduce the number of clicks, the better it is for consumers."

All three panelists proved the importance of remote-control simplicity by screening demonstrations of how their user interfaces work.

Each swiftly and deftly progressed through a series of menus and screens, videos and images, electronic program guides (EPG) and program choices at a rate of speed and skill that made it impossible to count the number (more than two) of clicks. In the end, though, each time, the panelist pressed "Play," and the chosen program played.

Except for McLaughlan, who couldn't summon up the Xbox 360 digital video recorder, despite several tries.