Online TV

PAST When the BBC launched Iplayer, many media commentators heralded this as the beginning of the internet TV era for real. There had been divided opinion about whether TV through the internet would catch on. Recording program codes from the Radio Times to record shows onto your VCR

PRESENT On Demand is what users increasingly want, and they are taking greater ownership of how they watch it and where they watch it from There has been an explosion in distribution of TV content over the internet

The incredible success of the online video and the newer development of internet protocol television are combining to make online TV an inevitability.

Streaming Increasingly young people turning to sites to watch favourite programmes. Quality of streams often poor, but ability to consume a product instantly, or on their terms, takes precedence over quality.

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) TV viewers increasingly personalise their TV viewing so they can watch what they want, when they want.

greater user control Sky+ and Virgin+ allow you to take that control so much further, recording series, pausing and rewinding live TV. Great development but challenge to broadcasters.

Virgin TV In a feature in The Guardian, the CEO of Virgin Media content, Malcolm Wall, Described the virgin offer as ‘TV for the ipod generation’

FUTURE Various media and platforms will start to converge on a much more regular basis E.g Boxee provide content from the iPlayer and Joost.

Web-based TV The BBC will launch ‘project canvas’ - web-based programming to the TV Partnership with BBC, ITV and BT, and will encourage an open-industry standard that will allow “platform- neutral publishing ” Move from the computer to television. Engage with Adobe AIR - cross-platform downloading. Includes Freeview (digital terrestrial TV service) and next-generation set-top- box/radio/TV/VOD/web/interactive content/catch-up content such as BBC’s iPlayer and ITV’s player.