Google's vision of the Internet: it's the "third phase of the television business"

Back in the 1990's, when too many "Netizens" proclaimed that the Internet would be a radically new medium and freed from commercial restaints of mass media, people like Kathryn Montgomery and I knew they were naive.  It was clear--both from what marketers were saying at the time and the history of electronic media in the 20th Century--that the same commercial forces that had undermined the public interest potential of radio, broadcasting TV and cable would help shape "cyberspace."  That's one reason why my group during the mid-1990's spearheaded efforts to regulate privacy online (given the new digital medium's ability to create advertising fueled by personalized data collection. 
 
We have watched Google's YouTube over the years, as well as online video developments.  Digital videos ability to deliver branded content and other marketing strategies has deeply influenced the dimensions of that medium.  Today, one can even target a user using video on real-time ad exchanges, for example.  But we think it is worth noting this recent pronouncement by Google about it's plans to expand the commercial offerings on its YouTube.  As the New York Times reports [and our emphasis]: 
 
“Today, the Web is bringing us entertainment from an even wider range of talented producers, and many of the defining channels of the next generation are being born, and watched, on YouTube,” Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s global head of content partnerships, wrote in a blog post...The investments in the channels reflect Google’s belief that the Internet is the third phase of the television business, after network TV (with a few channels) and cable TV (with hundreds).
 
While the rhetoric is that online advertising is fueling a great diversity of digital content, what's not said is that online marketers are imposing new restrictions on what sites (and videos) will see ad revenues.  So-called "brand safe" content, as part of digital "blacklists" and "whitelists" is becoming standard.  The adoption of TV business models by digital content and network providers raises important public policy issues about the future democratic potential of the medium.  Back after a commercial!