Google's Cerf Thinks Television Will Be On The Way Out By 2012

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The Daily Mail reports:

Cerf, who is now the vice-president of Google, said: "Around 85 per cent of all video we watch is pre-recorded, so you can set your system to download it all the time.

"You're still going to need live broadcasts for certain things - like news, sporting events and emergencies.

"But increasingly it is going to be almost like the iPod, where you download content to look at later."

While the UK is yet to have TV on demand it does have that feature with many television station web sites. The BBC, ITV and Channel 4 have all spent a tonne of money to allow viewers to catch their favorite shows online.

Some critics are warning though that as more and more people weave their way through the Web the Internet will crack under the pressure.

In the next four years it is thought that people will go from watching short clips online to more hour-ling programs. Broadband companies say this will in effect cause "traffic jams" costing millions of pounds to sort out. If they are right the ones holding the wallet out will be those using the services.

Mr. Cerf says that this is all a scare tactic remembering 20 years ago when the same thoughts were swirling about if people all over the world started to use the Internet.

He added: "In the intervening 30 years it's increased a million times over... We're far from exhausting the capacity.

"It's an understandable worry when they see huge amounts of information being moved around online."

Cerf wants to see the Internet reach as many people as possible.

"I want more internet, every one of the six billion people on the planet must be able to connect to the internet - I think they will add things to it that will really benefit us."