From Daytime to Anytime
The new era of TV entertainment
By Meghan Sousa Dias
It started out with the boom of the television in the 1960s with around 75% of Brits owning a TV set in their homes, allowing for the shift of human entertainment to be found in front of a TV screen. Then, in the mid-80s, daytime TV was launched allowing for all day scheduled TV shows, appeasing the rapid growth of technology consumption. However, the major advances in technology have allowed for TV to enter a new era of on-demand TV entertainment, conforming to the corporate on-the-go lifestyle, which has left many people to speculate where the need for scheduled channels will be.
The BBC and Daytime television
The BBC has been a centre point to UK’s daytime television, giving the public back-to-back entertainment since its conception. As the world’s leading public service broadcaster, the BBC translated everything that was found in the newspaper or radio to the screen. It also included fictional TV shows, such as ‘Neighbours’ an Australian sitcom, which was attracting 16 million viewers within the first couple years. While the importance of it remains, the viewership isn’t as prevalent, as the downside to a set schedule for each segment is proving to be more trouble than its worth.
Additionally, due to inflation, TV licences have gone up in prices by 6.6%, making it more expensive to afford to watch PSB services. It is expected to carry on rising in line with inflation for at least the following 4 years. Therefore, while the public would be expected to pay upwards of £169.50 per annum for the ability to watch the ordinary scheduled shows, the ever growing VoD conglomerates are offering a range of prices, majority of which are radically lower than the TV licence, depending on what is affordable for the household. With a larger selection of shows and higher quality content the current VoD service are, as expected, taking over TV entertainment. Amazon prime, in particular, profits primarily off of commission from selling products, therefore allowing them the ability to have those lower subscription prices, something PSBs do not have the luxury to match. To illustrate this, the annual subscription to Amazon prime will not only offer VoD services but also complete access to its music streaming services and next day delivery on products purchased through the platform – all for the price of £8.99, which would be just under £120 a year.
The shift toward online streaming
As technology became more advanced, with the 90s presenting the public with Macromedia (Adobe) Flash Player and RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol) and RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol), innovators were able to present us with the early streaming services such as YouTube (which aired in 2005), Netflix (which started it’s online streaming service in 2007) and later on the American streaming platform Hulu. This presented to the public a new way to consume video entertainment. It was playable at our convenience and offered a newfound flexibility, fixing what daytime TV was lacking. The days of going to blockbuster to buy films individually or waiting every week to watch said shows at specific times were gone, and instant entertainment became normalised accommodating to the fast-paced modern day lifestyle.
Another notable key factor that boosted streaming to the forefront of entertainment was the COVID-19 pandemic. With everyone stuck in their homes, almost everything had to be centred around technology. Prior to 2020, the video streaming market was limited to just a few major contenders, however between 2021 – 2022 platforms like Disney+, Peacock, Paramount+, Amazon Prime etc, were presented to the public making every major TV channel and Film company profit from their own VoD (Video on Demand) streaming platform.
What does statute say?
As of 24th May, the Media Act 2024 came into fruition, introducing new legislation, within Part 2 of the act, for PSB services, as it recognises the uprising of streaming, thus allowing for PSB VoD services to engage with similar protection as there scheduled channels do. It also requires the VoD service to meet similar, if not, the same demands as it would on a linear regime. An example of this would be the placement of PSBs on EPGs (Electronic Programme Guide) upholding the ‘prominence regime’ and having the main national general entertainments channel’s listed first. This however wasn’t extended to the VoD system, thus the need for statute.
The concepts of ‘regulated television services’ and ‘designated internet programme services’ were also introduced in Part 2. The ‘television selection service’ essentially allows internet programme services to be presented and selected between. As not all of these services will be subject to the new regulations, the Secretary of State will be selecting which services will be required to follow the set regulations based on the amount of usage the British public gets out of the service. Designated internet programme will allow for PSBs to be provided with designated solely for the VoD format.
The Future
While limited statute has been released for PSB services allowing them to maintain providence in alliance with statute regulations. It is likely not to going to convince the public to remain loyal to the nationally provided services as their pricing, quality and quantity are not worth it in comparison to what the streaming services are offering. It may be worth statute recognising the obvious competition put in place and allow for BBC VoD to match the price of their competitors and increase the range of their content. Either way, the monopoly once held by the BBC over the nation’s attention is decreasing, televisions and content are being threatened and ultimately being taken over by streaming platforms offering a plethora of content. Whether or not the BBC will rise to this challenge remains to be seen.