One byproduct of the telecom bubble is residual cynicism about any new technology that purports to be disruptive. It's not usually the technology itself that lights the skeptical spark but the possibility of rapid adoption by major network players.

A lot of seemingly good ideas — remember voice over DSL? — disappeared completely from the landscape because they failed to crack the incumbent code: First, do no harm to the legacy business.

The major telephone companies now find themselves on strange turf, however. The video entertainment business is a brand new playing field, and there is no reason not to let the creative sparks fly. Incumbent telcos have long chafed at being called stodgy, now there's a real opportunity to prove the critics wrong.

The first time the Bell companies reached this point, in the mid-'90s, the heady atmosphere was overwhelming. Telco CEOs hung out in Hollywood and scrambled to create content consortia for the video networks they were going to build but never did.

This time around, the very real competitive threat of cable has changed the rules. Mistakes will still be made, no doubt, but the biggest mistake of all would be undue caution — or uncontrolled cynicism.