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The Internet has considerable hurdles to jump before it becomes a mass medium comparable to broadcast TV, according to a new report by Magna Global USA (a unit of Interpublic Group.)
Given that Magna is the TV negotiating unit of Interpublic, the study could be just a little bit prejudiced toward old media.
MediaPost.notes that the study predicts that high connection costs will prevent as much as 32 % of the US population from connecting to the Internet by 2010.
But the report notes that free municipal Wi-Fi could make the Internet a mass medium sooner. San Francisco, for example, tapped Google, in partnership with Earthlink, to provide free, ad-supported Wi-Fi service throughout the city. (On a recent visit there, I found the connectivity spotty, but certainly better than what is now available in New York City.)