Chris

In the future you have just sketched out, where broadcasters are still interested in delivering a linear broadcast schedule, then no matter how shiny their iPlayer is they will still operate over conventional broadcast technologies like digital terrestrial and satellite. They will do this because it costs a small fraction of what it costs to broadcast over the internet, because it is easier to deliver at high quality to 100% of consumers 100% of the time, and because, unless the terms of their public service obligation change radically in the meantime, they are obliged to be available on those platforms (for the reasons above, because universal availability is one of the key considerations in British public service broadcasting).