Benefits Of Multi Channel TV?

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• grahamzxy Posts: 11,920

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  25/07/11 - 21:09 #2

  MrEco wrote: »

  Browsing through a list of American produced TV shows from the 70's it occurred to me that at that time we only had three channels.
  
  Although I didn't watch all of them, I quickly identified this list of shows that were shown over here.

  • Alias Smith and Jones 1971 to 1973
  • Barnaby Jones 1973 to 1980
  • Battlestar Galactica 1978 to 1979
  • The Beverly Hillbillies 1962 to 1971
  • Bewitched 1964 to 1972
  • The Bionic Woman 1976 to 1978
  • Bonanza 1959 to 1973
  • The Brady Bunch 1969 to 1974
  • Charlie's Angels 1976 to 1981
  • CHiPs 1977 to 1983
  • Columbo 1968 to 2003
  • Dallas 1978 to 1991
  • Diff'rent Strokes 1978 to 1985
  • The Dukes of Hazzard 1979 to 1985
  • Ellery Queen
  • The Ghost & Mrs. Muir
  • Flash Gordon
  • Hart to Hart
  • Hawaii Five-O
  • The High Chaparral
  • Hogan's Heroes
  • I Dream of Jeannie
  • The Incredible Hulk
  • Ironside
  • Knots Landing
  • Kojak
  • Kung Fu
  • Land of the Giants
  • The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams
  • Little House on the Prairie
  • Logan's Run
  • Lou Grant
  • Man from Atlantis
  • The Mary Tyler Moore Show
  • Mission: Impossible
  • Mork & Mindy
  • The Muppet Show
  • The Odd Couple
  • The Partridge Family
  • Planet of the Apes
  • Police Woman
  • Quincy, M.E.
  • Rhoda
  • The Rockford Files
  • Roots
  • Roots: The Next Generations
  • Sesame Street
  • The Six Million Dollar Man
  • Soap
  • Starsky and Hutch 1975 to 1979
  • The Streets of San Francisco 1972 -1977
  • The Swiss Family Robinson 1975 to 1976
  • Taxi 1978 to 1982
  • The Virginian 1962 to 1971
  • The Waltons 1972 to 1981
  • Wonder Woman 1975 to 1979

  Now that we have multi channel subscription TV, many current US shows are behind a paywall.
  
  In terms of access to US produced shows, what has subscription TV brought us the we didn't get for free before?

  
  You may not realise but the following channels all show US programmes free to air for everyone (with a £19.99 freeview box)
  
  BBC2
  Channel 4
  ITV2
  ITV3
  ITV4
  Five
  BBC3
  E4
  Five USA
  Fiver
  Five *
  More4
  Pick TV
  
  Also if I may also point out the US used to have 3 networks (ABC CBS NBC) - now they have hundreds of channels producing drama, just as we have so many more channels broadcasting in 2011. As a rule BBC1 & ITV1 do not show US drama, they used to rely on it in the 1980s for ratings winners - now you would struggle to name 3 shows a year on either channel.

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• [Deleted User] Posts: 1,835

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  25/07/11 - 21:16 #3

  The whole point of multi channel tv was that previously we had FREE access to so many tv programmes. Someone took a business decision that the British public would be prepared to pay for their tv.
  
  Ultimately that decision was right from a business point of view.

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• [Deleted User] Posts: 223

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  25/07/11 - 22:08 #4

  grahamzxy wrote: »

  You may not realise but the following channels all show US programmes free to air for everyone (with a £19.99 freeview box)
  
  BBC2
  Channel 4
  ITV2
  ITV3
  ITV4
  Five
  BBC3
  E4
  Five USA
  Fiver
  Five *
  More4
  Pick TV
  
  Also if I may also point out the US used to have 3 networks (ABC CBS NBC) - now they have hundreds of channels producing drama, just as we have so many more channels broadcasting in 2011. As a rule BBC1 & ITV1 do not show US drama, they used to rely on it in the 1980s for ratings winners - now you would struggle to name 3 shows a year on either channel.

  
  I understand that and perhaps I'm wrong but I believe the BBC decided to cut back on imported shows (outside pressure?) whereas ITV seem to have gone down the soap/reality route to reduce costs.
  
  Another factor would be the creation of a fan base for a show only for it to be poached.
  I can still remember Kiefer Sutherland thanking us for our support of 24 during season 1

  In the US 24 was slow to catch on but in the UK it was big so Fox stuck with it, so thank you Britain

  
  Perhaps I have rose titnted specs but back in the day a series like Roots was essential viewing whereas now it would probably only be available on Atlantic to those who have a Sky subscription.
  

  thedrewser wrote: »

  The whole point of multi channel tv was that previously we had FREE access to so many tv programmes. Someone took a business decision that the British public would be prepared to pay for their tv.
  
  Ultimately that decision was right from a business point of view.

  I agree that it makes sense from a business perspective but I was raising the subject more as where is the benefit to the viewing public.

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• Bedsit Bob Posts: 24,344

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  25/07/11 - 22:35 #5

  thedrewser wrote: »

  Someone took a business decision that the British public would be prepared to pay for their tv.

  
  Some of the British public anyway.
  
  Approx 13.7 million people are subscribed to Sky and/or Virgin Media.
  
  Given that there are approx 27.6 million properties in the UK, only around half are willing to pay anything, beyond the LF, for TV.

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• [Deleted User] Posts: 1,835

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  26/07/11 - 09:13 #6

  Bedsit Bob wrote: »

  Some of the British public anyway.
  
  Approx 13.7 million people are subscribed to Sky and/or Virgin Media.
  
  Given that there are approx 27.6 million properties in the UK, only around half are willing to pay anything, beyond the LF, for TV.

  
  and yet on another thread Sky is being called a monopoly broadcaster.

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• Bedsit Bob Posts: 24,344

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  26/07/11 - 10:52 #7

  thedrewser wrote: »

  and yet on another thread Sky is being called a monopoly broadcaster.

  
  I'm not responsible for what someone else says, on another thread.
  
  Perhaps they meant a monopoly of the pay TV market?

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