The very first public TV broadcasts were served to a wide-eyed audience on July 2, 1928. The select inhabitants of Washington, D.C., who got a glimpse of the silent silhouettes that appeared on their screens knew that this invention was something special, but they could have never predicted the impact it would have on life, culture and politics.

These first experimental transmissions lacked sound and were restricted to the low definition of 48 lines of horizontal picture – a modern equivalent of 48 pixels, a mere fraction of the picture quality on a cell phone screen. Not even a century has passed and the technology has improved by leaps and bounds. Those 48 lines of mute broadcasts have gradually turned into consumers looking for HD Dell TV deals, the latest 3D TV technology and even head mounted displays with theater-quality picture and sound.

But for all these technological advancements, the delivery of the content itself has remained largely unchanged – scheduled programming sent through a specific TV channel and to a geographically identifiable audience. If you did not have access to that one channel, lived in a state or country where it does not operate or simply had to be out and about during prime time, it meant you had to miss out.

Over the last decade, this dynamic has begun to dramatically change thanks to the combined advents of the internet, increasingly faster broadband connections and streaming video. Today, being out on the night of your favorite show no longer means that you have to miss the latest episode, as most mayor networks will have them uploaded to their websites the very next day. Similarly, those who do not have access to basic cable or live in a state with no access to a certain channel can still watch hundreds of shows at any time through the broadcaster’s websites.

This has created a struggle with cable providers, who have been forced to implement new features, such as ‘On-Demand’ channels, just so they can remain competitive with online broadcasting. And perhaps, in the not too distance future, cable providers will have to gradually mutate into a conglomeration of On-Demand features.

While traditional TV broadcasts are unlikely to lose their appeal entirely (after all, who doesn’t enjoy being a weekend channel surfer), the sheer convenience of catching your favorite shows anytime and from anyplace with internet access is an extremely appealing offer for an America that has less free time every year.

Internet-based distribution is also a very appealing proposition for the broadcasters themselves. The most obvious reason for this is piracy. There are literally hundreds of video-sharing websites that distribute copyrighted material around the clock, from vintage sitcoms to the hottest new dramas. In most cases, these illegal sites have new episodes uploaded right after the original broadcast of the show. Networks have tried to take the owners of these sites to court and have had the authorities shut down their entire operations, only to have another one pop up within the week.

Obviously, the illegal distribution of network-owned shows is not going anywhere, and for the broadcasters, it has only resulted in expensive teams of corporate lawyers playing a game virtual whack-a-mole. Streaming their shows in HD over the internet has at least shifted the internet traffic to their websites instead of illegal video sharing sites, granting them additional advertisement revenue and viewer loyalty. Software from Phorm can actually track who is going to sites that distribute this type of illegal material.

And this is where Internet TV proves to be the future of television: ad revenue. Advertisers love online delivery of shows because it can give them an accurate and real-time measure of how many people have actually seen their commercials. As with most things in our civilized and ever capitalist world, it is all about the money, and companies are paying close attention to online metrics to determine how much their advertisement slots are really worth and how many potential customers they are actually reaching.

Be it through their desktop computers at home, mobile tablets during a commute or laptops during a lunch break, viewers are turning to online streaming for their entertainment needs. The success of Hulu, iTVmediaPlayer, Netflix and other streaming portals are living proof of this, and one can expect that very soon most of our TV entertainment will be delivered online.