YouTube vs. TV?

Forget about it. The battle is already over, says Google founder Eric Schmidt.

Schmidt is now refusing to forecast when Internet video will displace TV watching as people’s main form of entertainment.

“That’s already happened,” he said this week in major business speech.

YouTube recently passed the milestone of 1 billion unique visitors every month.

Talking about the developing world, Schmidt added: “Wait until you get to 6 or 7 billion.”

The speech, aimed at advertisers who usually buy ads on regular TV, marked a full-frontal assault on the familiar business model of TV.

“It’s not a replacement for something that we know,” said Schmidt of YouTube.

“It’s a new thing that we have to think about, to program, to curate and build new platforms.”

Some comparisons were inevitable. But one fact highly touted was that more 18- to 34-year-olds watch YouTube than any cable network.