“Why On-Demand changes Everything”
The thrust of this article expresses the BBC’s commitment not just to “continued centrality and national cultural life,” but to embrace the “next phase of broadcasting’s technological future.” The BBC has been experimenting with an on-demand player, with a 5,000 in house trial with a 7-day availability mostly to accommodate and preserve the rights of content owners. At present limited access to on-demand content is available for radio broadcasts and some video content, however, not to the extent that is being proposed. This new media outlet will allow for a significant amount of content to be viewed using peer to peer interaction software and will eventually include an archive of content accessible from multiple devices. However there are some reservations particularly from those who believe the the BBC’s forays into media will make it difficult for others to break into the market. Interestingly enough it encourages diverse viewing experiences.
The combination of on demand and a wide variety of choice does not seem to lead to a clustering of interest around a handful of well-known titles. On the contrary, users go exploring.
This is very different from the serendipity of the classic public service schedule, that idea of the mass audience being led by chance or cunning scheduling into something challenging or improving. This is user-led and driven by individual curiosity or need.
One of the problems encountered was internet speed, in some cases programs did take a while to download. However option being explored is working with ISP’s to upgrade the whole UK internet.
Together with ITV we recently launched a technical trial of the multicasting technology which could achieve this.
We are broadcasting all our TV channels and national radio networks for the next six months to the subscribers of the handful of advanced UK ISPs who support this new layer on the internet.
We’ll be looking at the outcome of this experiment, together with the other options, to work out the best way of making free-to-air live TV over the Internet a reality for audiences in the UK.
In less than five years people will be able to come home and drag and drop the evenings programs in the order that they want. But by far the most important idea the the notion of a digital Britain with universal high speed broadband.
It will encourage those who are not on line to go on line. It will encourage those who are not on broadband to adopt it.
And within broadband it will encourage users to consider higher and higher speeds.
This will hopefully allow the BBC to better fulfill its commitment to the viewers.
Questions:
1) How do you think the technological push the BBC is making will act as a conduit to attract more people to the internet and/or faster broadband?
2) The BBC is suggesting that this push will lead to an ultimately wired Britain, we have had on-demand content for quite a while yet we haven’t seen that kind cultural transformation. Why or how might the British experience differ from our own?
Week 7 - Podcasting, Flickr And YouTube, cont’d « Social Technologies, Media and Politics said,
May 15, 2008 at 10:23 am
[...] - Jason) Thompson, M. (2006, March 22). Why On Demand Changes [...]
week 8 - the legal environment « Social Technologies, Media and Politics said,
May 20, 2008 at 10:25 am
[...] (Jason) Thompson, M. (2006, March 22). Why On Demand Changes Everything. Speech. Respondents: Faith, KC, Kendra, NicoleB, Sammi, Sara, WhitneyB [...]
paks2008 said,
May 20, 2008 at 12:14 pm
I think that this technology push that the BBC is making will act as a conduit to attract more people to the internet by the simple fact that it will become much more convenient for people to watch shows at their convenience. Just like you said Jason, “In less than five years people will be able to come home and drag and drop the evenings programs in the order that they want.” Personally, I think that this idea of being able to select what you want to watch and when you want to watch it is extremely appealing. It’d be nice to work my TV watching around my schedule rather than the other way around!
huifenh said,
May 20, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I think the technology of having a TV on demand will serve to capture the audience that spend the bulk of their time online, rather than pushing people to go online or use broadband. This is because people may not be at the right channel at the right time to watch their show due to work or other commitments, hence BBC is trying to fit into their schedules so that they will watch their content. It is like a newspaper going online syndrome, to capture the audience whose attention to the medium they may have lost.
Whitney said,
May 20, 2008 at 2:55 pm
This seems like a neat idea, a sort of Tivo meets On Demand. In response to your first question, I think in today’s society people are constantly looking for faster, more personal technology and this seems like a great fit for that. Not only can people program and choose exactly what shows they want when they want them, they can have them as fast as possible. It seems to me though (and maybe I’m wrong) that this is the start of merging technologies. Soon we will have (or maybe we already do) high definition TV screens and won’t need traditional television sets to watch, we are also seeing the beginnings of large television networks offering shows online where people can watch when they want. Overall it seems like the internet is the place for media to be and this push by the BBC is just one more example of why.
cowenk said,
May 20, 2008 at 6:34 pm
I think that this new free-to-air live TV over the Internet idea is incredible! What a luxury to get to “drag and drop” the programs into the order viewers desire. I am already obsessed with my parents OnDemand, and a more advanced version of this sounds like heaven! This will increase accessibility for both consumers and producers – a win-win situation. Producers might get higher ratings for their shows and consumers can watch them at will. This will also improve internet usage too!
nkb4 said,
May 20, 2008 at 9:44 pm
I second what KC said above… my life is so hectic right now and finding time to watch my favorite shows is rare! What the BBC is attempting to do sounds like a great idea… if America doesn’t catch on soon, I might just have to move to the UK! I definitely think that others would love this new, merging technology and will be quick to use it. The convenience of this new feature will definitely attract more users and once this becomes popular, the other forms of media/television intake will become obselete. Sooner than we know, basic cable television will become just like casette players and VCRs!
noltes2 said,
May 21, 2008 at 7:26 pm
That’s such a crazy thought, nkb4, because we all grew up watching TV (most American’s, that is) and it’s headed towards the path of becoming outdated. I just bought a new regular old TV too! I’d hate to see it become useless… But like many of you, I hardly watch it, because I am hardly home when my fav shows are on. What the BBC is attempting will benefit everyone – and when the customer is happy, we all win.
kendra4 said,
May 21, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I agree with what Huifen stated about how it will allow people to watch shows on their own schedule and at their own time; however, this raises a serious question in my mind. What effect will this have on families and society? Before you could watch TV shows on the internet, families would come together to watch their favorite shows, or at least my family did. Now, however, I no longer watch shows at their regular scheduled time and thus don’t enjoy watching them with my family. Not to be a downer, but does anyone else see how this might have a negative impact?
jrwc86 said,
May 22, 2008 at 8:16 am
For all of its positives one general principle that I see as a negative is if everything becomes so easy I think that we as a society might begin to take less stock/value in the things that a) come so easily and b) the things that we actually have to work hard to achieve. as I have said before progress for its own sake can often times be pretty scary, but I think as we don’t get swept up in the fad then this merging of technology will be a good thing, but lets not forget the value of looking out the window.
nkb4 said,
May 23, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Good point Kendra! I totally remember bonding with my family on Tuesday nights for Full House or Thursday nights for Friends. I think this new sort of televsion technology will definitely have some negative impacts- but every new technology does. Facebook and cell phones have totally changed the way we socially interact with friends and family — unfortunately, they all have negative and positive impacts.
noltes2 said,
June 1, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Everything has their good and bad sides. It’s just a matter of deciding if the good outweighs the bad. Would we rather enjoy technology when it’s most convenient for us? Or would we rather have the “forced” interaction TV allows when we sit down together for a show. I have a tradition of watching Grey’s Anatomy every Thursday with my boyfriend, but sometimes we get busy and break it. If we could watch it whenever we wanted, the social interaction would still be there – you would just have to put a little more planning into doing so.