A HD in iTV?

According to statements from Robert Iger, CEO of Disney, Apple's iTV should embark a hard drive. This way this device should be able to work in an autonomous way.
There's still a question, for the French market at least: by the time the iTv rolls out (mid-2007), most of the broadband equipped homes will already have TV boxes (from such ISPs as Free, Neuf...), including hard drives and with functionalities most similar to those of the iTV, and the HD format on top of that.
How will Apple convince those people to buy their device?
Maybe a good idea would be to work with those ISPs and propose them to gain access to music and videa through their equipments.
Being able to gain access to the iTune Store via a HD Freebox, for instance, is not ridiculous.