Time to turn off TV for good?
This article addresses the aspect of media in the online age, and how this has begun a definite media revolution. Also how the internet is changing the way we view our media, and future possibilities of a growth in the internet as a TV source. Relevant questions to this article are ‘Discuss the extent of which the distribution and consumption of media have been transformed by the internet.’ and ‘The impact of the internet is revolutionary. Discuss.’ Feel free to complete these in your own time.
From the use of the internet, media has evolved more than we ever thought it could, one example being able to now watch television at no set date. Online TV program streamers, such as BBC iplayer, which launched on Christmas day 2007 (here you can watch programs from any channels on the BBC up to a week previously) 40D which launched on 6th December 2006(same concept, any program from channel 4) and ITVplayer which launched 8th December 2008 (same concept once again, any program from ITV channels) all allow substantial freedom when it comes to watching television. Youtube is also a big competitor for video streaming, for example the length in time it would take to view all content on YouTube would be 412.3 years (March 2008)Also, Youtube (launched February 2005) could now be taking away viewers from television even more, ‘YouTube now allows users to upload HD videos and recently launched a service to provide TV shows and movies under license from their copyright holders.’
Media faces competition in the online age due to TV streaming websites (shown above) is providing a challenge to television especially. Despite the fact they are not taking the television audience for programs away, they are diverting the audience to an online method of watching the programs; this could create a problem for television in general, perhaps even to the point where a television is no longer necessary in the household because everything can be watched online. A good example of this is as follows. "On the 10th of October 2009 internet history was made, as for the first time an English national World Cup Qualifying game was shown exclusively online. It is interesting for two reasons: firstly that it came about as a result of the collapse of a satellite sports channel (Setanta), and secondly; it shows the shift towards endusers willing to pay premium to watch sports content on their computers".
A strong leader for the online streaming craze, and an online evolution is the ever growing popular website TV Catchup. This was thought up by a group of friends who thought watching TV on the internet would be an interesting compromise. This was three years ago (2007) and since then the site has grown and grown; the latest figures were 758,000 members. In January, 1 million viewers a week streamed a total of 2 petabytes of live TV over TV Catchup. That’s the equivalent of 40 millions four-draw filing cabinets filled with text.That’s a lot of TV, ‘the equivalent of 26.6 years of HD-TV Video watching.’Which is showing that how the viewer watches TV is changing forever.
But is this way of watching TV legal? The downsides of the media revolution have resulted in illegal streaming and downloading of films, music and programmes. Legality of these websites has meant that TV Catchup’s form of live web streaming doesn’t not need a TV license if “You’re covered by the homeowner’s TV License if they have one, provided you live in the same building. If you live in self contained accommodation such as a separate flat or annex you need your own separate license.” This shows that, providing you have a valid TV license and you live at the address that a valid TV license is present, you are allowed to stream television live without any legal obligations. If you want go to university after your A Levels, then it’s also legal if: “Your out-of-term address is covered by a TV License AND You only use TV receiving equipment that is powered solely by its own internal batteries AND You have not connected it to an aerial or plugged it into the mains.” TV Catchup is totally different to just watching films online, (this is illegal) but TV Catchup follows the same licensing rules as TV and you can be caught very easily if you do not have a valid license.
‘A quirk of tv license’s outdated legislation is that it only covers live broadcasts. That means for on-demand services such as the BBC iPlayer that show content after it’s appeared on live television, you don’t need a licence – a point made by the BBC in their guidelines for watching programmes on a mobile device.’ These TV streaming websites may be legal due to the fact they are not live TV, but controversy has arisen in the claims that tv streaming websites are overloading the internet. Uploading multiple shows to one source is in a way a digital move from TV to the internet, and these internet tv websites could simply act as internet TV channels in the future. ‘The success of the BBC's iPlayer is putting the internet under severe strain and threatening to bring the network to a halt, internet service providers claimed yesterday.’ They want the corporation to share the cost of upgrading the network — estimated at £831 million — to cope with the increased workload. Viewers are now watching more than one million BBC programmes online each week.
Additionally, another example that strongly supports the internet taking over a physical television in the household is the new arrival of a new TV player referred to as MSN video. ‘Microsoft is launching an online TV player called MSN Video that will stream full-length television episodes such as 'Peep Show' and 'The Young Ones' after striking content deals with the BBC's commercial arm BBC Worldwide and independent producer All3Media.’ This site is a similar version of YouTube, but what I could see this is a calmer version as there’s no video blogs of kids posting various irrelevant videos, all of the content seems to be either clips or trailers from movies and TV. This website has deals with different channels to have their shows put on the website for people to view. This radical move from TV channels to the internet streaming websites such as BBC Iplayer and so on could mean it is time to switch off your television permanently. Will every TV channel eventually have an internet website streaming the channels online instead? This could lead to an inevitable audience diversion towards the internet.
Nonetheless, TV streaming websites are popular as shown by the above statistic of 1 million BBC shows bring watched online each week, and we can only estimate their popularity will grow. Perhaps in the future, media in the online age will now mean a TV is not a neccessity in the average household. According to a BBC article written last year, ‘Freesat viewers will be able to catch up with Christmas specials, following a deal that will see the BBC Iplayer launched on the digital TV service next month.The service, a joint venture between the BBC and ITV, is also planning to launch ITV's catch-up TV service, the ITV Player, in the first half of 2010. Freesat will be the first free-to-air service to launch the ITV Player, allowing viewers to watch on-demand programming via their TV set rather than a computer.’ With increasing extension plans, we can only estimate that media in the online age has begun to make considerable changes to the way we live our lives, and it will continue doing so. No longer will TV need to be watched at a certain time, or even on a television. ‘The Freesat iPlayer offering will provide 450 hours of BBC on-demand programming per week, including Top Gear, EastEnders, Life, Gavin and Stacey, and Christmas special The Gruffalo, for viewers to watch for up to seven days after the programmes have aired on TV. A full public launch is planned for early 2010.’
For your exam, you could think about the following key topics, and how the arrival of internet and web 2.0 has made an impact. Remember to include examples whereever possible. How has the internet and evolutions in web 2.0 changed the way people interact and show their work, has it made a difference to small scale media pioneers, or people trying to gain a career in media? (They can now upload videos to YouTube, and these can be seen worldwide, this is different to 10 years ago when the only way to get noticed would be to hold live events or social gatherings.) Think of some more examples for help in the ‘media in the online age’ exam question. Definite competition from online TV distributors (TV catch up, BBC iplayer) as opposed to watching television at home, will this technical revolution eliminate TV as a necessity in the home? In the future, TV could be watched purely online, what if every channel had an internet website streaming the same programmes? The uncertain future of print journalism, newspapers and books if everything is printed online. Are any other media distributors facing the same fate? Could everything eventually be digitalised? Or does the fact people still prefer a physical object to keep stop this from happening?
Tara and Matt L
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