Re: The future for linear TV channels
 

Frozen 3:10
Great British Bake Off 4:45
Dr Who 5:45
Strictly Come Dancing 6:45
Call the Midwife 8pm

Do you really believe that this lot is good xmas viewing?? I'd go along with Frozen, particularly for the kids, but " Call the Midwife"!!!! Deary me....:rolleyes:

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Linear TV is dying Den, you should know that by now.......:D

Re: The future for linear TV channels
 

None of those are my cuppa tea either. Each to there own though.

Re: The future for linear TV channels
 

Its only dying in the eyes of the streaming diehards and aficionados but the reality is very much different from that MM but l think you and others know that deep down.:)

Re: The future for linear TV channels
 

I don't think that you are correct there Den, some of the evidence that OB has obtained definitely shows that people's viewing habits are changing, and changing pretty fast, can't keep denying what's happening Den!

Re: The future for linear TV channels
 

And what about the evidence that streaming is reaching saturation?

Re: The future for linear TV channels
 

Interesting comments from the FT in connection with Sky.
Article name: Five questions for Sky in the face of Fox’s offer
“The real question for Sky is what happens over the medium to long term as people move away from satellite and patterns of consumption change as young people of today become the bill payers of tomorrow,” said Mathew Horsman, an analyst at Mediatique. “No one knows the answer to that, not even James Murdoch.”
Google article name or direct pay link https://www.ft.com/content/bc21a49a-...3-7e34c07b46ef

Re: The future for linear TV channels
 

I've not seen that tbh, but do you seriously believe that people nowadays rush home to watch, whatever, at the time its being aired? I don't, and I know lots of people who don't either, gone are the days when you had to be sat in your chair, at a certain time, to watch your favourite soap or whatever. The times they are a changing SP!....

Re: The future for linear TV channels
 

In the 80s/90s I'd bootleg gigs, trade music tapes & VHS movies. In the 90s/00s I downloaded music and tv/films. Now I can stream what I want when I want it, on Spotify, Amazon, Netflix and Virgin/Sky catchup (when it works!). I rarely watch linear TV but then I never really did, it's just easier (legal) to do it now.

There's still a place for linear TV, live sports, news etc, but I find myself time shifting programmes more often than not.

Re: The future for linear TV channels
 

I've been saying it for a long while , gradually Sky will move over to the Now TV model for delivering its content.

Re: The future for linear TV channels
 

Agreed. I can see a future rump of 5-10 linear channels mostly sport, news and current affairs probably supported by advertising or subscription with the rest of content streamed on-demand and probably PAYG. It's what youngsters do now and they're the future adults that will pay for content.

Most of the stuff we watch on linear TV is available as download, on-demand or Youtube so the demise of these channels is no loss IMHO

Re: The future for linear TV channels
 

While anecdotal that's my observation of the world too I can't think of anyone I'm aware of that rushes in to catch a programme. The last people on earth i'd imagine embracing time shifting and streaming would be my parents and my in laws but the former had an Amazon prime video account before me.

Now many in my family will welcome the BBC1 xmas day schedule, they'll just watch it when it suits them...the tv programming is fitted around the day rather than the opposite.

There may be a sort of romance attached to watching a popular tv event as it's broadcast, knowing that millions are doing the same but I think viewing habits are beginning to change in all demographics. Of course I only have anecdotal evidence but I'd be surprised if the many different types of people I see switching to more convenient means of viewing is not in some way representative of a wider trend. I don't see any benefits of broadcasting television on a fixed time frame, the exception being sports I guess but even then I can see that category of viewing being scooped up by streaming as opposed to being broadcast.

Re: The future for linear TV channels
 

I think the Murdoch's know exactly the answer to that is and they've already started down that road with NOW TV.

One the big media announcements of the year, in my opinion, was the news that Direct TV were launching cable tv/streaming packages in the States and quote, "that's our future." DirectTv was controlled by Murdoch but is now owned by AT&T.

I said on this very thread, that when NOW TV launched, it was not a defensive move as everyone else said, but an offensive one. It's not to pick up cancelled Sky subs and perhaps those wanting a bit more than Freeview. It is in fact the start of Sky migrating from a satellite based pay tv company, to a cable based tv/telecoms/mobile company.

Whether Murdoch takes the plunge and invests heavily in his own cable infrastructure is another matter. Murdoch Snr has always said he wouldn't. But I don't think, for the reasons you state, that he, Murdoch Jnr, will have a choice.

The young folk of today are consuming media on various devices and when they get older they will STILL want access services on multiple devices. A satellite dish fixed to a house doesn't cut it...

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Disney came out with a statement earlier in the year regarding its ESPN services and sports in general and it reckoned that younger people are turning away from sports and are more interested in drama "box sets".

Disney stated that if that trend continued, then the vast swathes of money that are poured into sports, especially to football players, will end and the money redistributed to drama.

Re: The future for linear TV channels
 

Good post.
I would have expected Sky to bypass a cable infrastructure and go directly to 5G. However, their lucklustre mobile offering seems to suggest this is unlikely but it would make sense to me.

Re: The future for linear TV channels
 

John Malone gave a interview to CNBC on this very point and he reckons that fixed line telcos and cable companies will have to join forces with mobile companies because of 5g.

Link here:

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/16/john-...nsolidate.html

Re: The future for linear TV channels
 

I'm not sure how 'saturation' has been defined in the evidence to which you have referred.

There are at least three different measures of saturation that I can think of:

1. Virtually all households have access to OTT services.

2. The number of households wanting OTT services and who could afford it already have it.

3. Virtually all households have it and watch mainly OTT services rather than conventional broadcast linear TV.

The last measure is the most important, because if only a small number of households watch linear TV, it would not be worthwhile for the broadcasters to continue broadcasting in that way. After all, if households in 1 and 2 only watch a small amount of on demand services, this will have a minimal impact on conventional broadcasting, whereas if 3 applied, there would no longer be any decent revenue emanating from the advertising that supports it.

As I have said consistently, it's all down to audience habits. Collectively, we are in control.

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You may be right about being left with a small number of conventional broadcast channels providing live broadcasts, but as people get more used to OTT services, they will be hunting for live streaming services before they go to broadcast channels, I would have thought. The BBC i-Player already streams programmes at the same time as they are broadcast, so I don't think it is a stretch of the imagination to envisage the future looking like this.

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This proves that people are quite happy to stream sport as opposed to watching it on 'normal' channels:

http://www.a516digital.com/2016/12/p...year-ever.html

Olympic events from Rio were streamed live more than 30 million times across the summer. During Euro 2016, the England vs Wales football match had more than 2 million requests to watch the match live, becoming BBC iPlayer’s third most popular programme and most-watched live event of the year.