VOD : The future for linear TV channels

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by denphone

By heck we seem to have quite a few pessimists on the opening day of the year.

You're right. We must assume that VM will surprise us all later this year.

[theone2k10]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

You're right. We must assume that VM will surprise us all later this year.

They will indeed surprise you with more price rises

[denphone]

Originally Posted by theone2k10

They will indeed surprise you with more price rises

As will others.

[theone2k10]

Originally Posted by denphone

As will others.

Most only do 1 price rise a year though virgin tend to do 2 or 3.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by theone2k10

Most only do 1 price rise a year though virgin tend to do 2 or 3.

If you say so.

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

it seems to me that Sky have already grasped the nettle and are now embracing the changes to come

Yes, Sky know where things are heading. That's why SkyQ will have 8 or 12 linear TV tuners.

[OLD BOY]

Originally Posted by spiderplant

Yes, Sky know where things are heading. That's why SkyQ will have 8 or 12 linear TV tuners.

But those tuners are still needed for the present. I would hope that the new Tivo box will also have more tuners. However, it also needs to be future proof and VM need to add lots more streaming/on demand content if they are to satisfy their customers.

[theone2k10]

Originally Posted by denphone

If you say so.

It's true mate most companies do 1 price rise a year whilst virgin media do 2 or 3 a year infact i'm sure a poster on here mentioned their bill had risen by over £10p/m in the last year, 1 of the price rises are ofcourse down to sky or so vm say anyway.

[denphone]

Originally Posted by theone2k10

It's true mate most companies do 1 price rise a year whilst virgin media do 2 or 3 a year infact i'm sure a poster on here mentioned their bill had risen by over £10p/m in the last year, 1 of the price rises are ofcourse down to sky or so vm say anyway.

If Sky put the sports and movies up Virgin has no say in this matter as one suspects they lose money selling Sky's premium channels on to the customer.

[oliver1948uk]

What is obvious is that each person has different priorities when it comes to TV viewing.

Many on this forum delight in having all sorts of means of getting content.

Though I have no statistics I suspect most people want to switch on the TV and with the minimum of button pressing watch their programme of choice.

Personally, except for the news, I record on TiVo just about everything I want to watch so rarely sit through adverts. However, if everyone did this all but the BBC would not be able to operate.

I have access to Netflix but it is such a palaver getting to it I rarely watch it (though I have to say once there it is brilliant so easily being able to continue where you left off). One problem is that twice recently it just stopped working mid programme. I think streaming is not yet reliable enough.

Finally, I watch on a 37 inch Panasonic. I really don't mind in most cases whether it is SD or HD (in fact on BBC 1 you need SD for the local news). I put this down to the excellence of the TiVo SD picture. Of course, I may think differently if I had an enormous screen.

Because of ease of tuning to your required programme I think TV as we know it will be around for a long time yet, though streaming services are sure to get more popular.

[passingbat]

Originally Posted by oliver1948uk

I have access to Netflix but it is such a palaver getting to it I rarely watch it (though I have to say once there it is brilliant so easily being able to continue where you left off). One problem is that twice recently it just stopped working mid programme. I think streaming is not yet reliable enough.

.

My experience is completely different to that and find it very reliable. I wonder if it is a Tivo issue, assuming that is how you access it? A reboot would maybe solve the problem?

[OLD BOY]

That's what I was thinking. I have been streaming a lot, particularly since Netflix was installed on the Tivo, and I have never experienced a problem except on the BBC i-player, when we were having all those problems with it some months back on the Tivo, with stuttering, pixillation, freezing, etc.

However, that now seems to be in the past as I have had no problems at all since then.

I have no doubt Netflix is reliable for most people, most of the time. After all streaming accounts for only a fraction of TV consumption in the UK. If it were ever to get to the point where the majority preferred to stream their entertainment, we would have problems - the UK is a long way short of having the necessary data-hauling capacity, and even if it did, there aren't enough power stations to run it.

At present, broadcasters pay the satellite and transmitter companies for carriage, but they do not pay for Internet transmission. If we ever get anywhere near the levels of home streaming some here have predicted, the bandwidth and power demands will be so great, a radically different (and ultimately more expensive) funding model would be required.

Just another of the many reasons why TV Content delivery will not undergo the revolutionary shift that some here have predicted, any time in the foreseeable future.

[steveh]

If streaming is currently reckoned to be around 10% of UK viewing (can only dig up a figure of 3.8% for 2014 but with growth that seems about right) then getting to 100% (which of course it won't ever need to) doesn't seem that big a stretch given advances in codecs, telecoms kit and more local CDN servers (which the big video delivery services do pay the ISPs for).

Interestingly, according to Ofcom the biggest decline in traditional TV viewing in any platform was when Netflix launched on the TiVo and were offering the six month free deals. That and a ton of other interesting info on viewing habits here: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/bin...ing_habits.pdf

Actually, if the national news and entertainment infrastructure is ever to transfer to exclusively IP-based delivery, then 100% penetration is exactly what it *will* need to achieve. Why would you think otherwise?