Vint Cerf helped build the Internet in California in the 1970s, revolutionizing the way people obtain information and consume media. Now he sees television quickly reaching what he calls its "iPod Moment."

The vice-president of Web giant Google and chairman of the organization that administrates the Internet recently told an audience of media moguls at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival that television was rapidly approaching the same kind of crunch moment that the music industry faced with the arrival of the MP3 player.

"Eighty five percent of all video we watch is pre-recorded, so you can set your system to download it all the time," he said. "You're still going to need live television 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."

He went on to explain to television executives how the Internet's influence was radically altering their businesses and how it was imperative for them to view this as a golden opportunity to be exploited instead of a threat to their survival. The arrival of Internet television has long been predicted, although it has succeeded in limited ways so far.

But the popularity of Web sites such as YouTube has encouraged many in the TV industry to try and use the Internet more profitably. Last month the BBC launched its free iPlayer download service, and digital video recorders such as Sky Plus and Freeview Playback allow viewers to instantly pause and record live television. All of the United States networks have announced initiatives that will bring "on-demand" viewing capabilities to their more popular shows.

Dr. Cerf predicted we would soon be watching the majority of our television through the Internet - a revolution that could herald the death of the traditional broadcast TV channel in favor of new interactive services.

There will obviously be a need for a much stronger Internet capacity in the U.S. to realize this vision. As we have reported before, the U.S. lags in bandwidth speed and capacity. But as improvements are made in the way we access the Web, Cerf's vision may prove to be reality.