Television viewing is slipping out of the hands of previously pre-eminent national, regional, and local broadcasters that no longer rule the remote control.
Television is not disappearing as a cultural medium or a display device. If anything, televisions are getting larger and offering a greater choice of viewing than ever before. Viewers no longer need a coaxial connection for a cable, satellite, or terrestrial television signal. Abundant viewing choices are available on any screen with wired or wireless internet access. Yet the viewing experience is fragmented, frustrating, and fraught with friction.
Broadcast television traditionally relied upon using common standards and co-ordinating spectrum usage and transmission infrastructure. As broadcasters embrace online viewing, they tend to promote separate branded applications, each with their own login and navigational structure. These apps generally imitate the model popularised by Netflix, resembling an online video store. The result is a series of undifferentiated app icons competing for prominence, position, and the attention of viewers across various inconsistent television interfaces on which broadcasters are becoming dependent to reach viewers.
The complexity, confusion, and cognitive load on viewers is increasing. They are spending more time and effort working out what to watch. They opt for the comfort and familiarity of services that offer the easiest viewing experience on any screen.
Scheduled linear channels struggle to compete in this viewing environment. Yet they are still viewed for hours a day by millions of people and should not be neglected.
On-demand media serves as a substitute but not a sufficient replacement for viewing scheduled programmes and live events. Scheduling provides an essential promotional tool for building interest, anticipation, and viewing habits. Events, both scheduled and unpredictable, will continue to be part of our experience of the world, including news, sport, constructed competitions, and national celebrations. People will always crave the company of familiar faces that appear to talk directly to them and to share in a collective experience.
Traditional transmissions are not going to go away for many years, but broadcasters need to plan now for hybrid delivery and a technologically inevitable transition to online distribution. Rather than attributing their diminishing share of available viewing time to technology shifts and viewer behaviour, broadcasters need to assume some responsibility and invest more in the overall viewing experience.
Regulators and legislators will also need to encourage and ensure the universal and ubiquitous availability and accessibility of online television and video services in an open competitive market, with appropriate prominence for public service media. These national and regional services play an important part in the fabric of society, an informed democracy, and in enabling government communication with the population.
Broadcasters still have extensive reach. Their challenge is to bring the audience with them while they remain relevant. Otherwise, broadcasters risk losing their unique ability to assemble large audiences at the same time.
Instead of assuming a massive passive audience, broadcasters now need to consider the requirements of individual active viewers. That means enabling viewers to share a login across multiple services, browse and search for programmes among them, and receive relevant recommendations based on their personal preferences. Viewers expect this to work the same way across any screen, from any manufacturer.
The ordering of logical channel numbers remains a relevant mnemonic by which viewers can access and navigate services, seamlessly linking to programming available on demand, at the touch of a button or a simple voice command.
Television has historically been an aggregated medium that benefits from a combination of competing programming providers. There is an urgent imperative for national and regional broadcasters to co-operate to compete with global services. They need to align their interests with those of multinational consumer electronics manufacturers and technology giants that are also major media players, seeing them as potential partners rather than attempting to dictate terms from an increasingly untenable negotiating position. Their goal should be a win-win scenario that benefits everyone in the ecosystem and simplifies the viewer experience.
That is why the Service List Registry is developing and promoting a global approach to audiovisual media service selection and programme discovery based on open standards including DVB-I and HbbTV. The aim is to offer simple service selection on any screen, empowering viewers with choice, convenience and control.