Such statements are akin to those of the 1895 stable owners who said that automobiles will never operate as reliably as the horse. Future 'intelligent agentry' will utilize 'fuzzy' logic, heuristic thinking, and intentionally contain overrides that allow reception of appropriate common or serendipitous content. Fascination at the unexpected is basic to human nature, so no significant group of consumers will ever allow themselves absolute control of what they see. No absolute self-control means there will always roles for editors to tell the public what it does not yet know. The same for entertainment.
Producers seek to reach widespread audiences of interest by the most efficient and economical means.
No longer do two programs at the same time have to compete for the same viewership. The major differences will be that, while electronic publications and programs may have release dates, they will not have set delivery or airtimes, and the consumer, not publisher or broadcasters, will have explicit control of format, depth of information, play, pause, rewind, and printout, as well as general topical control. Nor has any media ever created yet been unaffected by commercial forces. Advertisers and marketers, national, regional, or local, will always need to create product awareness. This necessarily will require to some degree an ability to intrude into the individual's choices.