Could Virgin Eliminate Live TV?

[Paranoimia]

Everything I want to see, I record with the V+ and spin through the ads. Can't be asked sitting through 15+ minutes of ads every hour.

As I understood it, regulations state that there should be something like 7 minutes of adverts per hour. During the first episode of The Riches, Virgin 1 had 7 minutes of ads in the very first break!

[Mick Fisher]

IMO advertising, in general, is just getting completely out of hand and is increasingly getting intolerably invasive.

I can't speak for others but advertising is having the complete different effect on me that it was intended in that anything that is advertised really heavily I think there must be something wrong with it and then go out of my way to avoid it.

Last night, exactly as I was scooping my meal from the frying pan, simultaneously Avon (FFS?) was banging on the front door and somebody from sky was phoning to sell me an extended guarantee.

Sorry I know that's selling and not strictly advertising but the two are merged into the same thing in my brain.

Rant mode off.

[12noon]

If all we had was VOD, i'd run out of good programs to watch. I should imagine most people are like me and search through the VOD, pick out the good stuff, watch it and then have to put normal TV on and watch what ever because they have already watched all the good stuff.

Originally Posted by grabbi

...Of course, my answer was "thats preposterous!" but upon thinking about it

it's always best to think before you speak

Originally Posted by .Mick Fisher

But why would you want to watch 'all our yesterdays' on VM VOD whenever you want to when you can watch current TV whenever you want to with the aid of a PVR.? .

You're making an assumption that everything on VOD is repeated - which it wouldn't be the case if there was no live TV

yet another argument for thinking before you speak

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

sorry but that wont ever happen on all channels, most channels get an income from adverts & with VOD thats unlikely to happen.

as pointed out - there's no reason compulsory ad's couldn't appear on VOD - in fact I would be happy for ad's to appear on VOD if it meant stacks more content (and of course it would) - might even benefit advertisers since we can currently skip ads from live TV but with compulsary ads on VOD we wouldn't

---------- Post added at 11:00 ---------- Previous post was at 10:56 ----------

Originally Posted by andygrif

Human nature often means that channels are 'just-on' as wallpaper, or in the background.

You could use VOD for wallpaper more easily - so that's not a case for keeping Live TV

---------- Post added at 11:02 ---------- Previous post was at 11:00 ----------

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

online is quite different from VOD dont confuse the two..

there's absolutely no difference when it comes to compulsary advertising - which was your point

.

---------- Post added at 11:06 ---------- Previous post was at 11:02 ----------

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

i prefer to watch actual tv myself, as alot of what i watch isint on VOD

meaning?

if more stuff (you like) was on VOD (highly likely to happen) then you'd watch VOD more than Live - ergo no reason to keep live TV

---------- Post added at 12:45 ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 ----------

Originally Posted by G UK

What point am I missing?

You're not missing anything - Cable Guy just dropped a bo****k about the advertising and he's hoping you forgot - Cable Guy gawd preserve us

[jcw00]

What about bandwidth? If every house is watching a different program at different times, then VM couldn't cope. Just look at the slow broadband connections.

Originally Posted by RealDiamond

I watch live TV but only for sport its better live.

people will always want to watch live events pretty well as-it-happens

although should VM decide to go 100% VOD there's no real reason to prevent live events being added as they happen & played near live & still have advantage of also being available on demand later (even if it's only few minutes later after dropping the wife at bingo )

I can't see that theres a viable market out there for people to only watch programmes on demand (POD! - I'm copyrighting that!). I know enough people who struggle to understand how PVR's work, and I can imagine there being an awful lot of older people who would not embrace this new way of watching TV.

Originally Posted by Paranoimia

Everything I want to see, I record with the V+ and spin through the ads...

Shame V+ dumps the buffer everytime something happens so (unlike my Philips) you can't delay the whole evenings viewing and flick back and forth thru the buffer at will

with V+ you have to record every programme - start every programme - then delete every programme

on my Philips you just press pause - one day - one day

---------- Post added at 13:46 ---------- Previous post was at 13:32 ----------

Originally Posted by 12noon

If all we had was VOD, i'd run out of good programs to watch.

there's nothing inherently good about programmes just because they are broadcast in a schedule - e.g. the exact same programme on VOD wouldn't be any less good

i think that before you can even discuss VOD becoming a threat to broadcast TV then you should start with the premise that the content would be the same/similar/equal (e.g. it goes without saying that if the latest movies were only ever shown in a post box then we'd all want one)

---------- Post added at 13:53 ---------- Previous post was at 13:46 ----------

Originally Posted by jcw00

What about bandwidth?

more servers - again i think we need to assume VOD will be up-to-it before we can discuss it being a threat to broadcast

the only thing for discussion really is whether you prefer watching scheduled broadcast or whther you prefer to watch stuff whenever you like

from that the answer is really clear cut - and a good analogy is:

Do you prefer radio or CD?

[kragen]

the one point I think everyone here has missed - and was discussed albeit briefly on Steve Wright's radio 2 show abouyt a year ago.

If everyone watched their TV "On-Demand" then approx 95% of the social interaction at work coffe breaks would cease.

Q. What is the most popular topic of conversation around the office coffe machine?

A. "Did you watch XYZ last night wasn't it brilliant/rubbish blah blah blah"

if TV goes completely on-demnad,we as a nation - who already interact less and less what with online shopping meaning you don't even have to go to the supermarket anymore. will have less reason to interact.

it's a valid point - but 'social issues' are not going to influence peoples individual decisions - only governments are in a position to do that by denying choice

[the-cable-guy]

Originally Posted by JethroUK

meaning?

if more stuff (you like) was on VOD (highly likely to happen) then you'd watch VOD more than Live - ergo no reason to keep live TV

i like to watch actual tv, however alot of ppl on here seem to think that cuz they do or dont that everyone else likes the same as they do. everyones different.

---------- Post added at 22:40 ---------- Previous post was at 22:38 ----------

Originally Posted by JethroUK

You're not missing anything - Cable Guy just dropped a bo****k about the advertising and he's hoping you forgot - Cable Guy gawd preserve us

& your point is ? i stand by what i said & if you read what i said above, thats another reason. not everyone likes VOD as their only source of tv, some ppl like to watch actual tv.

---------- Post added at 22:41 ---------- Previous post was at 22:40 ----------

Originally Posted by kragen

the one point I think everyone here has missed - and was discussed albeit briefly on Steve Wright's radio 2 show abouyt a year ago.

If everyone watched their TV "On-Demand" then approx 95% of the social interaction at work coffe breaks would cease.

Q. What is the most popular topic of conversation around the office coffe machine?

A. "Did you watch XYZ last night wasn't it brilliant/rubbish blah blah blah"

if TV goes completely on-demnad,we as a nation - who already interact less and less what with online shopping meaning you don't even have to go to the supermarket anymore. will have less reason to interact.

agreed

---------- Post added at 22:41 ---------- Previous post was at 22:41 ----------

Originally Posted by JethroUK

it's a valid point - but 'social issues' are not going to influence peoples individual decisions - only governments are in a position to do that by denying choice

but we have the choice & that way everyone is catered for

---------- Post added at 22:43 ---------- Previous post was at 22:41 ----------

Originally Posted by JethroUK

people will always want to watch live events pretty well as-it-happens

although should VM decide to go 100% VOD there's no real reason to prevent live events being added as they happen & played near live & still have advantage of also being available on demand later (even if it's only few minutes later after dropping the wife at bingo )

that would mean the end of their channels like Bravo & Living etc which they get an income for from Sky, NTL Ireland etc & VM only cares about money so i cant see them axing their own channels.

---------- Post added at 22:44 ---------- Previous post was at 22:43 ----------

Originally Posted by 12noon

If all we had was VOD, i'd run out of good programs to watch. I should imagine most people are like me and search through the VOD, pick out the good stuff, watch it and then have to put normal TV on and watch what ever because they have already watched all the good stuff.

my point exactly.

---------- Post added at 22:46 ---------- Previous post was at 22:44 ----------

Originally Posted by Mick Fisher

IMO advertising, in general, is just getting completely out of hand and is increasingly getting intolerably invasive.

I can't speak for others but advertising is having the complete different effect on me that it was intended in that anything that is advertised really heavily I think there must be something wrong with it and then go out of my way to avoid it.

Last night, exactly as I was scooping my meal from the frying pan, simultaneously Avon (FFS?) was banging on the front door and somebody from sky was phoning to sell me an extended guarantee.

Sorry I know that's selling and not strictly advertising but the two are merged into the same thing in my brain.

Rant mode off.

dont forget tho that thats how most channels get their income. at least we dont live in America where they have twice (if not more) as many adverts as us.

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

i like to watch actual tv...

yeah we heard - because TV has nice stuff on - like VOD can't possibly

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

i stand by what i said.

you mean when you said "sorry but that wont ever happen on all channels, most channels get an income from adverts & with VOD thats unlikely to happen"
we all pooped it because there absolutely nothing preventing advertising on VOD - but you're standing by that right?

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

.not everyone likes VOD as their only source of tv, some ppl like to watch actual tv..

yeah - like you said - TV has nice stuff on - right


next

.

---------- Post added at 00:07 ---------- Previous post was at 00:03 ----------

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

my point exactly..

ppppppt - i didn't make this stuff up - honest

.

[the-cable-guy]

i stand by what i said yes & yet again cuz you like VOD you seem to think that everyone does. everyone is different & likes different things.

[G UK]

I think the-cable-guy is just having trouble articulating his view.

Whilst it would be technically and commercially viable to go all VOD at some point many people just like to sit down and watch with little idea what is actually going to be on and this is indeed how many shows pick up popularity.

A similar although not identical parallel to this is music radio, we could all listen to most of the content via other means but we still listen to radio because the mix has been chosen for us and there is always the possibility that we will stumble across something we didnt know about before.

Whilst this could still be done through VOD via either manually browsing the programs or some random select feature most people are lazy and would prefer it to be just there in front of them.

[the-cable-guy]

its nowt to do with laziness its to do with preference