Quote:
Originally Posted by OLD BOY
I agree with your last two paragraphs.
I do think that when the linear channels are eventually withdrawn, we will be paying for the BBC on a subscription basis (which will be rather less than the existing licence fee) and instead of buying in programmes from abroad, the library of programmes will all be from the BBC's own productions. Money will be saved from not buying in programmes from elsewhere and not having to maintain all those TV channels.
Whether the BBC has a joint platform with the likes of ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 remains to be seen, but it would make economic sense.
Although it looks as if we have a huge number of channels available to us via broadcast TV, it must be borne in mind that the majority of programmes are repeats, with not a great deal of original material.
In future, I believe that we will have a vast choice of previously broadcast material at our fingertips, plus the new stuff. How much that will cost, I don't know, but the competition between providers should bring the price down. If it costs £6.99 per month per provider (as is currently the case with Netflix), this would give us quite a good choice and will probably save pay tv subscribers quite a lot of money as we won't be paying for unwanted bundled channels.
Those who cannot afford to pay much should be able to get access to the current terrestrial channels at no extra cost (but by subscription rather than the licence fee).
|
There was a lot of discussion in the former cablecos about VOD (video on demand) and how it should be integrated into normal tv and this was long before streaming services such as Netflix came along.
One idea that NTL (I think it was them) was looking at was to have VOD channels next to their linear channels on the EPG. We see a little bit of that today with VM's VOD channels at the start of the music section, but it was originally going to be far more widespread.
The feeling was that the linear channels would be almost like shop windows into the various programmes, but you would then access the VOD channel for the main bulk of your tv viewing. So, the EPG might have looked something like this:
CH 101 - BBC 1 - linear tv channel
CH 102 - BBC 2 - linear tv channel
CH 103 - BBC VOD - gateway to access more BBC shows
CH 104 - ITV 1 - linear tv channel
CH 105 - ITV VOD - gateway to access more ITV shows
CH 106 - Channel 4 - linear tv channel
CH 107 - CH4 VOD - gateway to access more Ch4 shows
CH 108 - Channel 5 - linear tv channel
CH 109 - CH5 VOD - gateway to access more Ch5 shows
The feeling was that you wouldn't have all the BBC/ITV/CH4 & 5 offshoot channels because you could access the vast vault of shows available from the main broadcasters on VOD.
I've no idea what happened to that idea, clearly it was dropped and I think the BBC already had iplayer by then in any case.
I suspect the broadcasters, especially the commercial ones, disliked the idea of their main advertising funded channels being relegated to nothing more than shop windows in favour of their shows being nothing more than a commodity that is stored on the cable companies servers. But today we still have the traditional VOD service and offshoot channels littering the EPG, so we have the "best" of both worlds...
I agree with you about all the repeats on the channels, so although it seems like we're getting massive choice, we are not. Case in point:
NCIS/Law & Order/CSI and their offshoot shows at any one time are shown on several channels at the SAME time. That is not choice and it excludes all the +1 and HD channels too. Take a look, you'll find these shows on the following channels:
CH 5
Sky One
Sky Living
Fox
Universal
5 USA
Add in the the +1s and HD, and on some evenings these shows can be on a dozen or more channels all at the same time!