My 21 year old son does not watch TV..

[Saul Goodman]

I haven't had live TV for nearly 20 years. There's no way I could go back to watching what someone else wants me to watch. I don't know how anyone can put up with the adverts, and most of the content is shite. I've either downloaded or streamed everything for the past 10 years.

 

[xenon]

What is relevant is by the time you've looked through what's available on YouTube/podcast I could be at least half way through watching something on TV.

that isn’t really how that platform / format works. you search for something you are interested in, or follow a particular channel or podcast feed. YouTube, owned by Google, suggests videos based on your viewing history.

 

[strung out]

The iPlayer is an attempt to get this market by the bbc but it might be too little and too late.

You mean iPlayer, which has been around since 2007, longer than almost any other TV streaming service?

 

[planetgeli]

What's a TV?

 

[planetgeli]

I'm 46 and I love telly and think people without a telly are either weird, or declare it to imply they are intellectuals and above popular culture.

Probably the same fucking weirdos who read those book things.

 

[Santino]

Probably the same fucking weirdos who read those book things.

Come on now. There's no reason why a book might not be just as good as a TV programme.

 

[skyscraper101]

I think people forget amidst the fact you can stream stuff, that there are still a load of live things people want to have a telly to watch. It's not all old people watching dramas that most of us would do on demand.

e.g. Glastonbury, Wimbledon, The Oscars, Eurovision, Olympics, World Cup, Euros, Brit Awards, Sport Personality of the Year, big boxing matches.... etc

Sure you can catch up on all that. But then these are all massively social media events too, so people like to watch and tweet about it and share stuff. etc. And of course live sport on telly is big business for the pubs too (or was until Covid).

Then you've got stuff like Breakfast telly. I bet the vast majority of people watch that live while doing other stuff. And rolling news. in general.

It's more the nature of watching non-live stuff that's changed. And the ability to watch stuff on other devices. But live telly will always be a thing. Just not in the same way it was.

 

[planetgeli]

Come on now. There's no reason why a book might not be just as good as a TV programme.

Well, maybe if it has pictures in it I suppose.

 

[girasol]

I watch way too much of however you want to classify it as It all comes out of a screen and is generated by someone else and I pay for it via subscription (or adverts).

 

[farmerbarleymow]

But then these are all massively social media events too, so people like to watch and tweet about it and share stuff. etc

That's one benefit of not having a telly - when someone at work starts blathering on 'did you watch...' the conversation ends abruptly when I say I don't have one.

 

[girasol]

That's one benefit of not having a telly - when someone at work starts blathering on 'did you watch...' the conversation ends abruptly when I say I don't have one.

Yeah, that is definitely a good way of cutting out cliché ridden conversations! I got really bored of talking about what's on Netflix that's good right now. For a while it seemed to be what people talked about. Now it's coronavirus and LTNs

 

[mauvais]

This is an interesting one... As mentioned already it's a little confusing as to why the BBC hasn't released archive stuff. Maybe partly licensing/royalty agreements? The BBC board is also a bit fucked up - these days mostly seems to be recruited from establishment figures, who may not quite get how things are going.

The board - or more importantly the executive committee, which overlaps - understand reasonably well what's going on, if not necessarily consistent on the best way for the BBC to react to it.

Licensing is one part, proportionally more with newer things I imagine. The BBC may only have had temporary rights on some of the content it airs, and have never owned it.

Ofcom is another factor and it was the reason behind 30 day availability on iPlayer, which has now been relaxed to a year.

 

[purenarcotic]

I am 31 and watch plenty of live TV, as do plenty of my friends. The telly is always on though, like background noise the way a radio might be.

There’s a lot of crap, but you sometimes find whilst flicking through that you chance on something brilliant that you wouldn’t have thought to choose if you saw it in a list on Netflix for example but you’re glad you did. And sometimes I find when browsing iPlayer or Netflix or itv or whatever it is, that there is so much choice I feel a bit overwhelmed, or it takes an hour to decide so I end up watching something I’ve seen before.

 

[Reno]

One thing about broadcast TV is that you don't have to endlessly decide what to watch. Sometime it takes me ages to decide, with gazillions of titles on DVD, streaming and downloads ( talk about first world problems ! ) My parents for instance can't cope with that at all and they are bewildered by how I watch TV. They switch on the telly and then watch what happens to be on.

 

[Wolveryeti]

I would very happily live without a TV - and indeed did so 2010-2017 watching everything on a PC monitor. Sadly my wife likes big screens and nice GUIs so we now have 2 of the things. I much prefer to read, though on demand TV has at least reduced the volume of annoying adverts.

 

[strung out]

I think people forget amidst the fact you can stream stuff, that there are still a load of live things people want to have a telly to watch. It's not all old people watching dramas that most of us would do on demand.

e.g. Glastonbury, Wimbledon, The Oscars, Eurovision, Olympics, World Cup, Euros, Brit Awards, Sport Personality of the Year, big boxing matches.... etc

Sure you can catch up on all that. But then these are all massively social media events too, so people like to watch and tweet about it and share stuff. etc. And of course live sport on telly is big business for the pubs too (or was until Covid).

Then you've got stuff like Breakfast telly. I bet the vast majority of people watch that live while doing other stuff. And rolling news. in general.

It's more the nature of watching non-live stuff that's changed. And the ability to watch stuff on other devices. But live telly will always be a thing. Just not in the same way it was.

I watch all my sport on catch-up too. Currently bingeing the First Division 1989-90 season, I can't believe what happened in the season finale! Can't wait to see what happens next season. No spoilers please.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I watch bike racing live, that’s it. And even that isn’t on a conventional TV channel, it’s via an app on my phone streaming to the telly.

Everything else is on demand streaming - Netflix, iPlayer or YouTube channels. The idea of watching “normal” tv channels at fixed times now just seems archaic.

 

[Sprocket.]

Occasionally watch the news on BBC or C4. Record any series we watch off BBC4 then binge watch entire series. Mostly Netflix/Prime for fillums. This year I haven’t even followed The Tour.
It’s all too many adverts.
ETA: Record Mortimer and Whitehouse gone fishing. That’s it.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Frau Bahn watches benders & Neighbours, I might watch something if it's on, Baby Bahn 1 doesn't watch any live TV at all, she has a tele in her room and it is only ever used for Playstation business, BB2 watches drivel on Netflix. I too can't stand how you now need to sift through 300 sodding channels before settling on something that will take another 5 minutes to track down again, by which time it's nearly finished...

 

[weltweit]

I guess one of the things I'm wondering is how long the BBC and the government can justify the licence fee when increasingly media users are using Netflix and Amazon prime and YT for streaming services rather than live TV?

 

[weltweit]

And if viewers of channel 4 for example reduce significantly, advertising costs will have to come down. Which means revenues will also come down.

 

[WouldBe]

that isn’t really how that platform / format works. you search for something you are interested in, or follow a particular channel or podcast feed. YouTube, owned by Google, suggests videos based on your viewing history.

But I don't know what interests me at any particular time until I see it listed and a description of the episode so how do I find that on YouTube?

 

[xenon]

But I don't know what interests me at any particular time until I see it listed and a description of the episode so how do I find that on YouTube?

Think of it more like a library. You wouldn’t wander in the library without knowing roughly what you’re looking for. That’s how I and I think most people use YouTube and podcasts. well and get recommendations from other people of course.

 

[A380]

I am worried for the BBC which I love in the same way as the NHS- I.e the concept and the fact it is both literally the best in the world at hard things and shit at lots of easier things.

But, golden age of telly and that. Have big TVs and too many streaming services so basically ‘do’ box sets and occasional films. Watch the BBC news religiously- though often on time shift from the hard drive TiVo. And Newsnight a couple of times a week. That’s it now for live TV. Got BritBox for lock down but if we ever get out won’t keep it - content is limited and the search function bizarre. I prefer the other services.

Like the idea of Radio 4 but basically as I’m not commuting anymore where I used to do Today and PM it’s now just for the Archers and Comedy .

It’s hard to see the licence fee set up continuing. But we will lose something unique.

 

[weltweit]

A380 I agree that losing the BBC would be losing something unique, but the licence fee is unfair. A single person household with one TV pays the same as a family of five with many TVs.

And if people are not watching the BBC's output in favour of streaming solutions one has to ask how special is the BBC?

 

[strung out]

A380 I agree that losing the BBC would be losing something unique, but the licence fee is unfair. A single person household with one TV pays the same as a family of five with many TVs.

And if people are not watching the BBC's output in favour of streaming solutions one has to ask how special is the BBC?

A single person household subscribing to Amazon Prime or NowTV pays the same as a family of five with many TVs too.

 

[weltweit]

A single person household subscribing to Amazon Prime or NowTV pays the same as a family of five with many TVs too.

You see life just isn't fair!

 

[Reno]

A380 I agree that losing the BBC would be losing something unique, but the licence fee is unfair. A single person household with one TV pays the same as a family of five with many TVs.

And if people are not watching the BBC's output in favour of streaming solutions one has to ask how special is the BBC?

Not as unfair as the German system. Here everybody has to pay, even if they don't have a tv or equipment to receive a signal. The two subsidised tv channels, ARD and ZDF run commercials on top of that and the general quality doesn't come anywhere near that of the BBC. Here I pay £200 a year for a service which I don't use at all.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

But I don't know what interests me at any particular time until I see it listed and a description of the episode so how do I find that on YouTube?

YouTube is owned by google, so they’re already well aware of the kind of filth you’re looking for...

 

[weltweit]

Reno I had no idea that was the system in Germany. So it's funded by general taxation is it? Or is that a separate TV tax?