Thread: VOD The future for linear TV channels
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Old 03-01-2016, 19:51   #513
OLD BOY
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Re: The future for linear TV channels
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris View Post
Errr ... No I haven't. The point I was making was actually so far removed from that, it's hard to know what to say to you by way of a response.

Still, at least it proves that you're basically not engaging with the issues at all - you're simply reading everything as being supportive of something you see a bright future for anyway, ultimately for no other reason than you really like it and can't understand why more people don't do it.



Further proving my point - you are welded to the idea that everyone basically wants to consume entertainment the way you do. Until you begin to accept that other people consume entertainment in different ways, you're never going to truly grapple with the issues here.



Again, proving the point that you can't, or won't, engage with anything that challenges your pre-conceived views. In fact, the point about lack of data capacity, and lack of electricity generating capacity to run it, was made months ago, with supporting links, in this very thread. Whether you can see the problem or not, is irrelevant. It exists.

Virgin Media and others are very good at advertising blisteringly fast headline speeds, but they are selling you a contended service. You share the same chunk of bandwidth with at least half your street. If the entire UK TV audience tried to consume something in HD at the same time, using the Internet as opposed to a terrestrial aerial or a satellite dish, you would very quickly learn a frustrating lesson in just how much of that 200Mbps is actually "yours".

The UK's broadband and power generating capacity is far, far short of where it would need to be in order to support the IP based system you are advocating. The information is out there, and it's in here. Try actually reading the thread. The other day you said you had yet to see any arguments here that contradicted you. I suggest this is because you're not bothering to read them (or, possibly, simply not understanding them, or else dismissing them out of hand because they tell you something you don't want to hear).



It is a bigger mistake to insist no such restrictions exist.



That's because you're making an elementary mistake in your reading of the statistics. Past trends are no guarantee of the future. Other factors play their part, as I have outlined above. If you continue to refuse to acknowledge the fuller picture, you will continue to make faulty assumptions about the development of streaming entertainment services. Incidentally, I guarantee you that these are mistakes that are not being made in the boardrooms of companies like Netflix.
Having re-read your post, I did misread the bit about the problems that more people streaming would cause. I apologise for that, I was trying to do about three things at once. . However, there is no reason to believe that the capacity problems you allude to will not be resolved as more people opt for streaming. We had a capacity problem here a while ago, which affected our on demand service. This was resolved with an upgrade in our area.

On the contrary to what you have said, I do not think that everyone is wedded to my idea of viewing. Clearly, they are not yet, but as shown by the BARB figures, the trend has already started. In particular, look at how people changed their viewing habits when Netflix was launched on Virgin Media.

You are right to point to existing capacity issues, but what is it that makes you think that these won't be resolved over the next decade?

I am certainly listening to alternative arguments, and I have tried to answer your points in this post.

However, many of the arguments presented by those who don't agree with me are wedded to the idea that none of the existing barriers will be broken down. All my contacts with younger people (below 40) indicate that they have either embraced, or started to embrace, much more streaming into their regular viewing habits. My thesis is simply based on the fact that any large scale change in this direction will be disastrous to commercial TV channels.

What I cannot understand is why anyone would think that TV channels could continue to function as normal despite such changes taking place. The fact that you personally don't want this change I understand, but it's what the majority think at the end of the day that will determine the future of TV.
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