There are a few of us who remember TV sponsorship (not me personally) in the beginning of the TV Era (e.g. Texico Star Theater, The Colgate Comedy Hour, etc.)

Recently there have been a number of articles showing a trend towards (or at least exploration of) sponsorship and product placement.  (Yes, product placement has been around since the beginning as well but also seems to be enjoying a resurgence.  Particularly interesting is the idea of Dynamic product placement allowing placements to be adapted to viewer demos.)

Marketers creating their own shows.

Commercial Free TV via Sponsorship.

Or, how about a reality show?

So why isn't more of this happening online, especially considering... 

The shift to Online TV (6.3B industry by 2012?) and Positive indications for Internet Customer Commitment. 

It seems that sponsorship is an excellent approach during these nascent days of Internet TV.  Podcasts offer low entry costs to advertisers looking to present their products to the growing numbers of Internet TV viewers.  Sponsorship of a show can be anything form supplying the Craft Services to paying the full slate of production costs and allows the advertiser to control the environment in which their products are presented.