Re: The future of television
 

I highly doubt it happening anytime soon , try the Fire TV stick search and you’ll notice not all the apps content is returned in the results. It certainly doesn’t return Now TV results when I’ve tried it.

The closest two to universal search I’ve tried so far are Apple TV and the newest Chromecast and neither offer a universal bookmark facility across all the streaming services.

Re: The future of television
 

Well, such a facility on a TV or app would be the killer solution, which would get a lot of attention. Surveys have been saying for a while that people want ‘everything on one box’ and the first company to put out a system containing all worthwhile apps with comprehensive content search and watchlist options will capture a fair chunk of the market.

Re: The future of television
 

I think we've discussed why this is unlikely to happen - streaming apps want to keep you in their walled garden. Once you have a cross-app search facility, viewers spend less time with the streamer and brand recognition for the streamer fades.

How many people used to talk about seeing something on a Sky channel when the channel in question was not owned by Sky? Streamers want to avoid identification with the platform in favour of identification with themselves.

Re: The future of television
 

Nice theory, but it already happens to some extent (eg Netflix, Amazon and StarzPlay are all searchable on the TiVo.

Re: The future of television
 

To some extent being the operative word. The power of aggregators like VM is being eroded every time a new streaming service is announced. Searching for content across multiple platforms at the same time is becoming harder, not easier.

Re: The future of television
 

Surely if you combine 'the future of television' with the global warming initiative to 'conserve energy', we should end up with 3 or 4 companies producing programs for viewing on the only 20 channels available on a TV set :D


oh hang on . . that won't go down well, screw energy saving eh :D

Things always get worse and its sad.................

Re: The future of television
 

Except for increasing life expectancy, fewer neo-natal & childhood deaths, better medicines and medical treatments, ability to access trillions of pieces of information through your phone, no imminent threat of world-wide nuclear war, increased equality for disabled, ethnic minority, & women, etc.

Re: The future of television
 

There’s only one person in these threads with the blinkers on OB.

Re: The future of television
 

Over population, longer waiting lists, soft on crime, dumbing down of society, Z list celebs, quick fixes that don't fix anything, internet the home of snowflakes criminals and misinformation, rising migration, erosion of public services & amenities, history being rewritten because it's offensive, desolate town centers with the remaining shops selling cheap tat . . .


still, always look on the bright side of life eh . . 200 channels of shite on the TV :D

Re: The future of television
 

Anyway, that’s enough about Scunthorpe…

Re: The future of television
 

Don't knock it . . gas lighting and a horse trough on every corner, living the dream :D

Re: The future of television
 

In which case I recommend you take them off, jfman and accept that change is inevitable. :D

---------- Post added at 16:51 ---------- Previous post was at 16:40 ----------

I think that is a very narrow way of looking at it. I started watching a programme on Netflix about a week ago and my wife referred to the storyline and neither of us could think of what it was from. Fortunately I came across the title just this afternoon - 'The Maid' on Netflix. It wasn't on the watchlist on my box because Netflix has not integrated their content to enable you to bookmark it on the 360.

Frankly, we have watched less on Netflix since we had the 360 box for that very reason. So I would disagree with the premise that by not integrating content from all streamers you are taking away viewers. The reverse is true. We've certainly watched a lot more from Prime since we swapped boxes. That's because Prime is integrated and so we can see the programmes we listed as worth watching as well as those we've started just by scrolling through the watchlist.

Re: The future of television
 

You've completely missed Andrew's point.

Apple want to push Apple
Netflix wants to push Netflix
Amazon wants to push Amazon.

None of them have any incentive to be this altruistic platform offering all of the content in a neutral manner. For the same reason your Sky EPG has all of the Sky channels near the top (with the exception of PSBs).

Re: The future of television
 

OB, as per, you’re arguing that black is white and up is down, on the basis of your own, extremely limited, experience and very personal preferences.

As with most aspects of this topic, we have been here before, at some point, though frankly I lack the will to go and search for it. What’s at issue here is commoditisation. What service are you actually buying? A load of streamed TV shows from Virgin Media or a streaming experience provided by Netflix, or Apple, or whoever?

What you’re demanding is commoditisation of content in favour of a single, Virgin Media branded experience. But streamers that have invested a fortune in their brand awareness have absolutely no incentive at all to sacrifice that to the Virgin Media EPG. Each streamer has a unique character, driven by its app functionality and its content acquisition strategy. Netflix, in my opinion, is particularly strong on this point.

Amazon Prime can overcome this to a great extent as long as it’s the only streaming brand doing full integration. As Amazon commissions far less original content than Netflix, has a much smaller free-to-members back catalogue than Disney, and lacks the high-end reputation of Apple, there was a distinct commercial advantage in it going down the integration route. Certainly on our living room TV, which has all of the major streamers but no integration, Prime is the least accessed of the lot.

Commoditisation is what all brands fear and what they all expend a great deal of effort trying to avoid. This is why, for example, you will occasionally see a member of Walkers staff surveying the crisp aisle in your local supermarket. Walkers is a major brand and it has the clout, which many smaller player lack, to dictate even to the likes of Asda and Tesco, how their product is to be displayed. Many smaller brands get whatever placement they are given and often have to make sale-or-rebate promises to the supermarkets in order to get any shelf space at all.

Netflix has no incentive to surrender control of its brand to a search engine in your 360 box. The personal preferences of some random Old Boy are really irrelevant here. At the scale they are interested in (I.e. the entire viewing market, not your lounge) there is greater value in maintaining brand strength and awareness.