The End of Television - Not If But When

[Port Said Red]

Around 5 years ago when a guest on Danny Bakers show, Richard Osman was asked what he, as prolific producer and presenter on Television, thought was the future of the medium. He said "in 20 years television as we know it will be a thing of the past" 

Seeing my wife around 1pm yesterday watching the Coronation Street episode that was scheduled for 8pm on ITVX, and reading that the BBC were considering moving all their content online by 2030, I remembered Osman's prediction and wondered if he might have been circumspect.

I could also reference things like Paramount+ where we can see production companies circumventing the normal route to air, and think when was the last time a terrestrial channel showed a movie you haven't had a chance to see via streaming services, to see how the vitality of the medium is being eroded. 

Will it be something you welcome, lament or are you ambivalent to it's passing?

 

[daored]

29 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

Around 5 years ago when a guest on Danny Bakers show, Richard Osman was asked what he, as prolific producer and presenter on Television, thought was the future of the medium. He said "in 20 years television as we know it will be a thing of the past" 

Seeing my wife around 1pm yesterday watching the Coronation Street episode that was scheduled for 8pm on ITVX, and reading that the BBC were considering moving all their content online by 2030, I remembered Osman's prediction and wondered if he might have been circumspect.

I could also reference things like Paramount+ where we can see production companies circumventing the normal route to air, and think when was the last time a terrestrial channel showed a movie you haven't had a chance to see via streaming services, to see how the vitality of the medium is being eroded. 

Will it be something you welcome, lament or are you ambivalent to it's passing?

 

I agree , we’ve recently decorated bedrooms for our two sons, both too young for a tv in their room. My dad asked where we planned on putting the TVs he looked in shock when I said when they come to want a tv they probably won’t exist

[miser]

I have Netflix and Amazon Prime, yet find myself watching less and less. The absence of a fixed broadcast time has meant much watch has turned into might watch. If regular TV disappeared today, I'd just watch less. 

[Lanterne Rouge]

Live sport too. Who would really want to watch England v France on catch up tomorrow morning.

#Thelikelylads

[Port Said Red]

2 hours ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

Live sport too. Who would really want to watch England v France on catch up tomorrow morning.

#Thelikelylads

But live sport and news is already available on streaming services or through news apps. I watch CNN on an app on my LG smart device (not sure they should even be called TV's anymore) and there have been games available on Prime and other services in recent seasons.

[BS2 Red]

Other than sport, I can't think of anything I'd miss if live TV disappeared. And Sport can easily be streamed live. On demand TV/movies is the way forward, very few people want to be tied to a TV schedule anymore.

[Port Said Red]

Other things that will hasten the change, TV advertising revenue is a fraction of what it used to be, gone are the days of the blockbuster TV show drawing in large audiences, today's games are probably an exception to that rule.

Seeing the ITVX offering, there seems to be less limitations on the amount of advertising they can put into the programme breaks, unlike terrestrial which has rules around the length and frequency of the breaks.

[Renaissance Williams]

You’ll always need a large TV sized screen - I can’t stand watching a film even on a desk top pc let alone a flipping phone! But how the image gets there is irrelevant for me. 90%of the time I watch BBC but hardly ever when broadcast, almost always on iplayer. So the death of old fashioned broadcasting won’t bother me one jot. But the death of the Beeb - and the mob is out to get them I fear - will be an utter disaster. You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, alas.

[Red-Robbo]

3 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

Around 5 years ago when a guest on Danny Bakers show, Richard Osman was asked what he, as prolific producer and presenter on Television, thought was the future of the medium. He said "in 20 years television as we know it will be a thing of the past" 

Seeing my wife around 1pm yesterday watching the Coronation Street episode that was scheduled for 8pm on ITVX, and reading that the BBC were considering moving all their content online by 2030, I remembered Osman's prediction and wondered if he might have been circumspect.

I could also reference things like Paramount+ where we can see production companies circumventing the normal route to air, and think when was the last time a terrestrial channel showed a movie you haven't had a chance to see via streaming services, to see how the vitality of the medium is being eroded. 

Will it be something you welcome, lament or are you ambivalent to it's passing?

 

 

Certainly by 2040, terrestrial not on-demand television will be a very-much minority, heritage medium, enjoyed almost exclusively by pensioners.

My kids watch TV even less than I do, the adaptation to technological change is inevitable.

It's like how most of us are happy to save dosh by dispensing with paper utility bills, whereas the elderly, like my mother, still insist on them. 

[BS2 Red]

5 minutes ago, Red-Robbo said:

Certainly by 2040, terrestrial not on-demand television will be a very-much minority, heritage medium, enjoyed almost exclusively by pensioners.

By 2040, pensioners will be people born in the 1970s*
 

 

 

*i'm joking of course, the Tories/Labour will have increased the retirement age to 95 by then.

[ralphindevon]

If you take watching live sport on Sky etc out of the equation I now watch more YouTube than normal TV and I love it. 

[phantom]

Just evolving with the times 

We'll still need a screen to watch our content on, we've not really had TV as we knew it for many years already 

[TRL]

5 hours ago, phantom said:

Just evolving with the times 

We'll still need a screen to watch our content on, we've not really had TV as we knew it for many years already 

Indeed, think Sky glass, completely useless unless you have sky and a ;pretty shit product, but you can see the way it is likely to go.  you will be buying glass panels to stream content.. who will own what? Will TV makers be buying the tv programme producers or vice versa?

[Rob k]

On 10/12/2022 at 14:42, Red-Robbo said:

 

Certainly by 2040, terrestrial not on-demand television will be a very-much minority, heritage medium, enjoyed almost exclusively by pensioners.

My kids watch TV even less than I do, the adaptation to technological change is inevitable.

It's like how most of us are happy to save dosh by dispensing with paper utility bills, whereas the elderly, like my mother, still insist on them. 

Agree, my daughter is just coming up to 12 and watches next to no conventional TV whatsoever, she watches you tune etc but I’d not be able to name a single programme she was really into. 

[Open End Numb Legs]

Takes an age for the valves to warm up in this cold weather....

Just a word from my son's optician - she says there is a trend toward more children being short sighted because they are looking at small screens for too long.

[Super]

On 10/12/2022 at 10:46, Port Said Red said:

Around 5 years ago when a guest on Danny Bakers show, Richard Osman was asked what he, as prolific producer and presenter on Television, thought was the future of the medium. He said "in 20 years television as we know it will be a thing of the past" 

Seeing my wife around 1pm yesterday watching the Coronation Street episode that was scheduled for 8pm on ITVX, and reading that the BBC were considering moving all their content online by 2030, I remembered Osman's prediction and wondered if he might have been circumspect.

I could also reference things like Paramount+ where we can see production companies circumventing the normal route to air, and think when was the last time a terrestrial channel showed a movie you haven't had a chance to see via streaming services, to see how the vitality of the medium is being eroded. 

Will it be something you welcome, lament or are you ambivalent to it's passing?

 

Richard Osman is probably my favourite person on TV. 

[downendcity]

2 hours ago, Open End Numb Legs said:

Takes an age for the valves to warm up in this cold weather....

 

Not just that, but Mrs Downend had to stand at a very awkward angle on the window sill throughout the England v France game, as that was the only place where she could hold the coat hanger  (attached to a bit of wire) in order to  get a decent signal on the telly

[Renaissance Williams]

2 hours ago, downendcity said:

Not just that, but Mrs Downend had to stand at a very awkward angle on the window sill throughout the England v France game, as that was the only place where she could hold the coat hanger  (attached to a bit of wire) in order to  get a decent signal on the telly

Bet she flipping moved it just as Kane was taking his run up - I knew there had to be a reason……

[Midred]

On 12/12/2022 at 10:26, Open End Numb Legs said:

Takes an age for the valves to warm up in this cold weather....

Just a word from my son's optician - she says there is a trend toward more children being short sighted because they are looking at small screens for too long.

We used to go cross eyed watching til  the spot disappeared in the middle!

[Midred]

Having seen the christmas line up I can't imagine watching very much at all!

The tv companies seem to be dominated by half a dozen production companies now who send out endless variations of the same concept.

We still mostly sit together but it's not often that we're all watching the same programme!

[exAtyeoMax]

I don’t have a television at the moment, I watch stuff on my 24” Mac desktop or iPad. I only tend to watch dramas on BBC iplayer, itv or All4, or watch YouTube. 
I really don’t like any of the shows on telly like Strictly, love island or reality tv. The quality of programmes these days really is shocking. I occasionally look at radio times online for something to watch but rarely find anything. I cancelled my Netflix subscription too.

It might be because I don’t have a sofa or lounge setting ( I live in a loft room with just a computer table and chair) that I can’t experience tv in the way most people would.