TV viewing options are very fragmented
For those who know me, or follow along with my posts, you will know that I generally do not watch much TV. I can go days without looking at anything on the big screen; I've even gone weeks if I am home-alone. During the summer I spent many weeks in Spain and never once had the TV on.
My other half is a TVaholic (probably better to say a noise-aholic). The TV in the house is always on, blaring out some nonsense.
What do I watch?
I could count on one hand the shows that I seek out. They are generally the type where people are creating: cookery; pottery; sewing; etc. I like to watch people create things.
I used to watch the news, but I now find it very repetitive and depressing. I am a keen consumer of news and read it online. I can inhale the news at my own speed and skip the fluff.
Evolution of TV reception
What I have noticed, and mostly through my other half trying to find shows, is that content is scattered across an array of apps and subscriptions.
In the UK, in the good old days we had terrestrial TV which was beamed into every home via a TV aerial. When I was in my youth we had three channels, then four, and eventually five. Digital TV came along, using the same aerial (usually), with more channels squeezed into the radio waves; suddenly we had access to 50+ channels. Most of those channels churning out repeats of shows.
Satellite TV was also taking hold in the UK -- a big white or black dish on the side of your house received channels from satellites orbiting the earth. Many more channels, but still lots of repeating.
Terrestrial and Digital were free (almost, if we ignore the TV licence everyone needed in the UK). Satellite charged a monthly fee on top of this. Millions were happy to fork out their hard-earned cash for movies, and sport, and hundreds of other channels.
Splintered
Nowadays, we can consume TV shows, movies, and sport on almost every device with a screen. All this content comes via apps running on your TV, or other smart devices such as mobile phones, tablets, or computers.
The problem is these apps (and the corporate machines behind them) are fighting for our attention and money.
I saw and advert this morning for a show I thought I might vaguely be interested in -- a bit of entertainment requiring zero brain power, when I need to shut down the idea machine in my head!
Said advert was on a service we subscribe to. However, the show is only available via another app. And of course, the app needs your money!
Basically, we are being fed a fragmented, and somewhat costly viewing experience. I can see how the subscriptions could very quickly get out of hand.
Example:
- In the UK everyone(*) pays a yearly TV licence of £15 per month. This is required to watch any live TV on any platform, and funds the BBC TV and Radio service.
- Satellite TV: £15 for basic
- Netflix: £8
- Disney+: £12
- Prime from Amazon: £9
- HBO Max: £6
- Hayu: £6
*Yes, there are some options not to pay the TV licence, but most people pay it.
I just picked a few services that some people may build as their own 'package'.
That comes to an impressive £71 per month. Some of those packages will be upgraded to drop adverts, or add extra features. You can see how it easily gets out of hand.
A friend has movies and sports services, plus multi-room and pay well over £120 a month.
Gone are the days when you sat down and had access to all the TV -- now you have to decide what you want to pay for, and keep track of what show is on what service!
I'm glad I don't watch much TV.
For info, we only subscribe to a middle-of-the-road Satellite TV package for £36. (but it now streams via the internet, so no dish required)