TV To Go

Television is rapidly changing and the uptake of services such as the BBC iPlayer are redefining our viewing habits. The move away from real time viewing to offline viewing has been happening for some time and the iPlayer has just taken the model one step further. What is significant is the quality of the presentation and although the sound can be limiting sometimes the pictures are not.

Microsoft have now announced that it will follow Apple’s initiative and be offering television shows on its Zune portable media device from NBC Universal. NCB shows such as ‘The Office’ and ‘Heroes’ will available for playback and the service will also include Comedy Central's "South Park" and MTV's "The Hills" available at a pre paid cost of $1.99.

But the Zune will not be alone in this space with NBC also appearing on Amazon.com’s Unbox service and News Corp.'s Fox Hulu service. The question remains whether the iPod and Zune devices can beat the mobile phone players in the portable market and other online services in the home online market?

TV ON Demand

The major UK broadcasters, BBC, ITV and Channel 4 are to are join forces to launch a joint on-demand service in 2008. The service will compete with new services such as Joost and will offer viewers access to over thousands of hours of current shows and archive material. The Internet based service may have several options streaming, download, rental and purchase and even possible expansion for distribution to other platforms. The broadcasters already have online platforms, 4OD, ITV.com and the BBC's iPlayer.

It is clear that TV is changing and watch what you want when you want is becoming the new paridim and real time viewing less demanding. This could offer the potential for others to compete for those ‘entertainment’ hours or alternatively present the viewer with content overload.