Well, don't look now, but that tantilizing prospect is zooming ever closer to reality. This according not only to the industry analysts who make a very good living overhyping the prospects of new technology, but also to the staid old media dinosaurs who now grudgingly admit that their very business model is substantially at risk.
The most recent nail in the coffin of conventional TV came with the announcement this week that ABC will offer the latest episodes of its two most popular shows Lost and Desperate Housewives over the Internet. Instead of charging viewers for this service, it will embed the hour-long shows with three one minute ads.
The ads will be interactive and viewers will be able to choose categories of ads they would like to see. Viewers will be able to pause, fast forward or rewind the shows. But they can never skip the commercials.
It was no surprise to see ABC at the forefront of moving its content on to the web. Apple's Steve Jobs is the guru of web-friendly media and his recent move to the board of ABC parent company Disney was widely seen as a sign that the colossal media conglomerate was serious about meeting the challenge of the internet.
But other companies are also moving fast in the same direction. Time Warner's plans to exploit its huge library of video content on its network of AOL websites has revitalized AOL, and finally illustrated the synergies that were the justification for the companies' seemingly ill-fated merger in 2001.
"Video consumption online is exploding," said AOL CEO Jonathan Miller at an industry conference in Cannes last week. "In the US, video streams were up more than 40 per cent last year, and in Europe, 61 per cent use their computers to watch videos. Until now, lack of broadband and poor search held back online video."
The increased prevalence of home wireless networks and media center PC's also add powerfully to the attraction of nternet television, or IPTV, as it is starting to be known.
You can already get a sophisticated system for less than 2,000 dollars - PC, TV, cellphone and iPod included - and have it download all the video you would ever want and beam it to your TV, iPod or cellphone to watch what you want, when you want where you want it.
"This isn't just about watching TV on your computer," added Miller. "We're creating interactive, engaging entertainment experiences. In this environment, prime-time is my-time and for advertisers prime-time is all the time."
Another factor that is boosting the market is the incredible success of sites like Youtube.com, an online video start-up which already sees users post 35,000 videos daily. In true Silicon Valley lore, the site was started by two geeks in their garage. They now say that they are getting threatening letters from network lawyers, at the same time as network executives call them to beg them for collaboration.
"We look at sites like YouTube and, for that matter, a multitude of other online options as just that - new options that we look to embrace," said Darcy Antonellis, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.'s senior vice president of worldwide anti-piracy.
"We look to embrace it, but not at the expense of infringing copyright," she told the Los Angeles Times.
No-one knows for sure how all these developments will play out into the media of the future. But it's clear that the internet is already radically realigning traditional media - threatening newspapers, telecoms and TV stations alike.
"It won't happen overnight," says media analyst Sandy Wolf. "But look how fast cellphones, DVD's and the Internet spread. In ten years time the media landscape will be totally different."
