Cable Forum - View Single Post - VOD Linear is old tech

**Chris** · 11-11-2020, 13:35

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.

11-11-2020, 13:35	#1523
Chris Trollsplatter Cable Forum Team Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: North of Watford Services: Humane elimination of all common Internet pests Posts: 36,967	Re: Linear is old tech - on demand is the future 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.