The internet won't soon challenge broadcast television as a mass medium, writes MediaPost, citing a new report by Magna Global USA - Interpublic Group's giant TV negotiating unit. Magna predicts that some 32 percent of the U.S. population, mostly lower- and middle-income people, won't have an internet connection even by 2010. Free TV will therefore remain a way to reach nearly everyone, and so continue to have significance for marketers, it says.

Because of the lack of ubiquitous online access, "endemic advertisers, marketers with e-commerce activities, companies offering deep information to consumers, and those seeking niche audiences will continue to be the primary users of Internet advertising, rather than advertisers focused on mass marketing," the report is quoted as stating.

The Magna report does suggest that free municipal Wi-Fi, if it materializes, might expand the reach of the internet.