The U.S. channel Bravo is now selling eps of its hit series Project Runway via iTunes, and Comedy Central has just cast porn star Jenna Jameson in its first original, all-mobile series, Samurai Love God.

Closer to home, CHUM recently made its VJ Search: The Series available for downloading, while Anheuser-Busch used the Super Bowl weekend to launch its ‘The Bud Screen,’ a direct-to-consumer service that sends ads, programming and branded content to computers and iPods – all of which seems to support the findings of a new study from IBM that is predicting drastic changes to the traditional TV business model.

The study, The End of Television As We Know It, looks at the shift by viewers around the world from traditional TV boxes to wireless devices and PCs. It involved interviews with broadcasters and video telecom outlets in Europe, Asia and North America. Key findings include:

* Annual ad revenue in the U.S. is expected to fall 6% by 2009 due to ad skipping.

* Going forward, network execs say their biggest competitors will be non-traditional outlets such as Google, Yahoo! and AOL.

* TV usage will grow by an average of 1.7% per year through 2008, on track with its usual growth.

The 27-page report also notes that – as viewers take greater control of content, accessing it via mobile TV or PC beyond the reach of CRTC regulations – old-guard Canuck broadcasters could be left out in the cold. CTV and Global could be passed over if viewers go directly to U.S. nets (such as CBS.com, which now offers Survivor) or mobile TV retailers such as iTunes for the top-rated likes of Desperate Housewives.

‘They’ve been very protected by the CRTC, and the reality now is that the CRTC won’t be able to control content,’ says Fred Forster, president of media buying firm PHD Canada.

New-model broadcasting needs to ‘look at whether people will pay for content with no ads, or will they pay less for content with ads?’ he says. ‘If enough people are getting content from other sources, how can ads support that model? Traditional TV is threatened, because targeting at the same [rates] will be problematic.’

The upside? Canadian networks may be forced to rely more heavily on domestic productions.

Roma Khanna, SVP of content at CHUM International, says that as long as producers create compelling content, the eyeballs, and ultimately the ad revenue, will follow.

‘There are no platforms that matter. Only content matters,’ she says. ‘Compelling content isn’t compelling content because there’s nothing else on. There’s always something else on. And how do advertisers work into the mix? The key today is experimentation,’ she says.

IBM recommends that broadcast execs should, among other things, create and experiment with more mobile content.

(A version of this article also ran in Media in Canada.)