Quote:
Originally Posted by OLD BOY
Hopefully, they will be listening to criticism of its employment policies.
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They may well listen, but I suspect they won't change a thing until either their profits are affected or the government intervenes.
---------- Post added at 12:39 ---------- Previous post was at 12:11 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by OLD BOY
Hence my question to MM, Den.
Look, at the moment, I could put on ITV on Saturday and get a choice of The Family Chase, The X Factor, Jonathan Ross, News, American Pie.
If I set my preferences to news, dramas and chat shows, my selection might become Liar, Victoria, Jonathan Ross, News, Lethal Weapon. It's still ITV, and all the programmes are extracted from the same week, but the shows are now to my liking.
Conversely, a person who likes talent contests, reality documentaries and soaps might have the choice of The Family Chase, The X-Factor, Coronation Street, Tipping Point, Call the Cleaners, Britain's Claim Culture: Tonight and An Hour to Catch a Killer with Trevor McDonald.
Call it a gimmick if you like, but this actually makes linear viewing far more acceptable and tailored to the needs of the individual or family.
What's not to like?
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I can see two ways this will work. If they don't ask you to register, they will simply track what their viewers are watching en mass and use this to schedule the shows. This is not new, and is actually what Channel 4 do in this country with More 4.
If they do require you to register, then yes, they open up the possibility of an individually scheduled channel, but they could (and probably will) harvest all sorts of other information about you, which they could then sell on. That info, at the very least, will be used to advertise stuff to you and could be used for other stuff. Stuff that doesn't benefit you. Imagine a situation where you (for whatever reason) buy a lot of junk food at your local supermarket. You have a loyalty card, and are using it to save up points. By using that loyalty card, you are giving the supermarket permission to track what you are buying. You may also be giving them the right to sell that information. Perhaps to an insurance company you are looking to buy life insurance from. All of a sudden, your premiums go up because you buy a lot of junk food (even though it may not actually be for you). Now, add in data from streaming services (which, even if they don't already sell the info, you can bet the terms of conditions of service give them the freedom to sell it). Now, I doubt that you watching dodgy 80s action movies on Netflix is going to massively impact your life, but the technology exists, should some company decide to, to merge all this info into a nice, handy, profile which companies trying to sell you services (such as life insurance or loans/mortgages) can use to determine your lifestyle. Even if the use of such info is illegal, companies will actively lobby governments to get the law changed.
Linear channels cannot track your personal information even if the owners wanted to.