Ariel says the BBC were "surprised" by this. Perhaps it is the beginning of the end for standard Scheduling, who STILL think viewers only have a choice of the four old analogue channels, never use red button facilities, never go on line or even use TV on their mobile  
Imagine if  "multiple choices" -just like the Olympics-but this time of all genres were available-all the time( not just by Iplayer)- on red button or free via Freesat or Freesat from Sky etc -what an amazing difference that would make.

Unless I'm missing something, online viewing will never overtake off air for several reasons.  Mainly:-

1. The cost of Broadband download, if I go over 10Gb a month it's £5/G over that and I'm not paying more to get "unlimited" download!  And you need a high speed connection for HD and even 3D if you want that.

2. If lots of people do it they'll risk losing it completely sometimes because the ISPs will limit the connection, "contention" and "fair use".  Again unless you pay far more for unlimited.

3. Most ISPs rely still on a few inter-city telecomms providers, e.g. BT, and if that goes down.....

4. We use Freesat (mostly) with Freeview as backup.  If the platform or the box go down we have an alternative. Where's the backup for online?

Richard