[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by muppetman11

Oh dear so saving a few pence means more to you than hard working people being in a job what pays them a liveable wage.

I'm not sure that you read the last line of my post. In any case, this is about customers, not employment policies!

---------- Post added at 16:00 ---------- Previous post was at 15:54 ----------

Originally Posted by Stuart

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 ----------



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.

I think you will find that there's already far more information out there about you than you realise. I don't think this is breaking new ground.

---------- Post added at 16:01 ---------- Previous post was at 16:00 ----------

Originally Posted by buckeye

VM, BT and Talk Talk all have an upstream from their TV boxes and can track what every customer is watching.
I suspect that as a broadband connection is required for Sky's on demand service they do the same.

I have anecdotal evidence that VM do track their customers usage,
when I recently renegotiated my contract the agent tried to upsell me a V6 box and higher TV package, I explained I hardly ever use my Tivo and don't need a different box or package, within a few seconds he replied "oh no you don't do you".

Its not beyond a stretch of the imagination to think that carriage agreements with linear suppliers would include the sharing of what is being watched on their channels, but I don't think the law would allow the sharing of who is watching those channels.

Yes, I think you are right, buckeye.