In the digital age, time for a flexible channel?
i4u
Posts: 54,911 Forum Member
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Sky News & BBC News channel have devoted a fair amount of time to the Oscar Pistorious trial. In the case of Sky why don't they ditch their normal repetitive programming on the Pick channel and put live coverage there?
There are now enough events etc with TV coverage to create a channel that has very flexible programming, that is a total mix of things? That has regular programmes that can be replaced at the drop of a hat, most new channels look stuck in the old repeat pattern of programming rather than the digital age were a click of a mouse can whisk someone of here or there.
There are now enough events etc with TV coverage to create a channel that has very flexible programming, that is a total mix of things? That has regular programmes that can be replaced at the drop of a hat, most new channels look stuck in the old repeat pattern of programming rather than the digital age were a click of a mouse can whisk someone of here or there.
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Because without viewers you aren't making money, and without money there is no channel...
This is why "internet TV" is not going to work. There's the ultimate flexible channel, streaming TV. But how do people know what's on?
Spending money to advertise programming each day/week is certainly not going to work, the money is going the wrong way.
This inability to use other channels to advantage is one reason why a big sporting event like Wimbledon HAS to be on BBC1 regardless and create mayhem with normal viewing schedules.
Even if this flexible channel was well advertised it would not generate viewers because there are many out there that have not adapted to the digital age and will probably never do so. They never seek to find programmes they might like to see on other channels but rely on the tried and tested "big 5"
A poster in another thread made a suggestion, which I agree with, that if Sky or the BBC want rolling coverage of the trial then it's what the Red Button was made for.
Sky has closed its Red Button service on Freeview.
They'd know what's on via a thing called social media, the EPG?
Every heard of promotions/advertising?
How many how channels & platforms does Sky have to cross promote on?
C4 alone has 4 or 5 channels on which to promote the flexible service.
I know, it's so sad that Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, HBOGO, BBC iPlayer, all the Watch ABC, Disney, ESPN apps, and on demand, are failing. People just need to be led like sheep to programming by these channels that know oh so much better than the actual viewer what they want to watch, it's a shame really...
The flexible channel is a drop in channel it isn't aimed at the audience you describe, it would be on trend, attracting the social media users. We have almost had a generation of the digital age.
Information TV does this very thing and rents out its airtime. There is/was another channel that does/did it, but I can't think of the name.
Doesn't BBC still have a red button service on Freeview though?
I don't get this about some people. The children's programmes from channels like BBC Two being moved to channels like CBBC might have been an issue in the past but not now that it's all digital. All Freeview boxes and digital/HD TVs have a programme guide and say what channel it is when you switch over don't they?
The main advantage of having many digital channels is that things no longer have to revolve around five main channels. It would be good if this advantage could actually apply though so that things like live events don't change the schedule and delay other programmes or bump them off entirely.
I guess it's even more lowest common denominator that they've not just kept it to Sky News, which freeview viewers get anyway so there's no need for an airing on Pick TV. Everybody who has the other channels they have put it on will have access to Sky News anyway. By putting it on more channels they have shown their attitude to this programming, that they are using somebody's court trial purely as TV entertainment, journalism yeah right!
Yeah, because that's never going to change.... but WWE has managed a pretty successful looking business model, developed on the top of MLB.tv - say what you want about "fake acting" or the "pantomime" of pro wrestling, but WWE was one of the major forces behind the Pay-Per-View business model in American TV, as it created monthly PPV events, whereas boxing was every 4-6 months. PPV changed as a result of the wrestling influence, so why can't Internet TV do the same?
WWE have spent years buying archival footage and they've got virtually 40 years of their own weekly TV footage as well, and they wanted a TV channel to rebroadcast it again, but no American TV company would work with them enough so they decided to create the WWE Network, basically a Netflix of their own back catalogue of programming & events, with a live stream of scheduled programming as well.
Their website shows the days schedule, they have regular slots for programming such as Monday Night Raw etc so fans can watch their live broadcasts over the web, and they can choose to watch an event from 1991 if they wish at any time they want, day or night.... so there's a model that may work, they're only doing this in the US at present but globally launching this summer to the UK and Germany, so I can see how this is doomed to fail for them.
Likewise, MLB, NFL and the UFC have their own on-demand and live stream services, so the US is taking this business model very seriously, and with BBC3 going online only, how long until British broadcasters come up with a similar setup?
Think about it this way, children growing up now will know of Netflix and on-demand programming, but why should they know about the "old" days of linear TV where you had to watch golf on BBC1 as there was nothing else on?
The internet offers such a massive threat to broadcasting linear TV channels, even US networks went crazy when Netflix launched House Of Cards so the entire series was available on day one - no programming schedules, no thirteen week long season, no weekly build up to the season finale (where the TV execs determine whether to commission a new series) and fans can choose to watch the whole series across 2 or 3 days, or watch it piecemeal like "traditional" TV.... they made a second series because this business model was so successful for Netflix
I think it just takes someone to work out a model that works for the content owners, as they will become the broadcasters in future, BBC & ITV are already aware of how the internet changes their business model, it's a case of how Sky will go because they don't have an on-demand distribution network of their own (Virgin Media do...!)