I wanted to name this post “Things to view in Denver: Talking heads” but no one around the office got the reference.

Well, if you were worried that Obama’s VP announcement would overwhelm your network, you were spared. The announcement came in the middle of the night – 3 a.m., in fact – on a weekend. But convention season is starting, and that’s a whole additional set of worries.

At 5 p.m. EST today, the Democratic National Convention will begin, and with it, streaming video from multiple news networks and the DNC itself, which, like NBC’s Olympics coverage, uses Silverlight to project a “high-definition” (480p?) image.

Unlike the Olympics however, there’s bound to be some event – a protest that goes wrong, a verbal gaffe, a moving speech – that becomes a viral video. The reason I’m pretty sure about this is that it’s in the interest of both political parties that something goes viral – something good for the Democrats, something embarrassing for the Republicans. Politicians will find a compelling video of an unplanned, sincere, candid, spontaneous moment, even if they have to manufacture one.

There’s bound to be online coverage from the major TV networks as well.

And then after that, the Republican National Convention – with streaming through Ustream.tv - is next week. And McCain is yet to announce his vice presidential nominee.

Those interested in Obama and McCain’s technology policies will find this article at Ars Technica interesting, while C|Net has technology policy information for Biden.