Thread: VOD Linear is old tech - on demand is the future
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Old 11-11-2020, 13:52   #1524
OLD BOY
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Re: Linear is old tech - on demand is the future
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris View Post
The main thrust of the argument in this thread has always been over on-demand versus scheduled broadcast. There are a multitude of ways broadcast TV can be delivered. To be honest in our house we access broadcast TV over IP most of the time now, because our TV's iPlayer app boots up more quickly than our Freeat box; plus now we have 4G for our home internet we have the bandwidth available to do that. But in the terms of the thread title - which you chose, back in the day - when we watch a whole Saturday evening on the iPlayer we are still watching linear TV. The delivery method is secondary. The issues around on demand as an alternative to linear broadcast have to do with viewing habits, convenience and consumption of live events (not just sport - major light entertainment competitions and game shows also rely on live broadcast for their impact) on the one hand, and the technical challenge of near-100% nationwide coverage of fast, affordable internet on the other.

VOD platforms, as well as the national data nintrastructure, still rely on not everyone maxing them out at the same time.
I don’t think we are as far apart as all that. I have said on countless occasions that by ‘linear TV’ I was referring to the existing broadcast channels. It is pretty obvious to everyone, surely, that live shows and live sport will always be available, but instead of being broadcast by conventional methods, it will be streamed.

Although you say the delivery method is secondary, this was the whole point of the thread. Yes, it’s the content that is important, in fact that is key. But I do not believe that we will be accessing that content the way we do now in about 15 years’ time. We will access it by way of IPTV, and while some of our existing channels may be accessible by that method initially, as you can on Now TV and the BBC I-Player, as people learn the simplicity of choosing programmes from the icons on display, most people will end up doing that. In turn, the various streamers will phase these channels out altogether.

The fact that you have now told us that even you spend Saturday nights on the I-Player is reassuring!
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