To think that in 10 years time television will be a thing of the past?

[stillenacht]

Typical evening here: me on my iphone, DH on computer, DS1 on laptop/ipad and DS2 the same. Can't remember the last time we watched tv. Talking last night about cancelling Sky as we don't watch it.

We cancelled our sky for precisely this reason. It cost us a fortune as we had a full package - now we have Netflix at 10% of the cost and watch it much more.

I wouldn't pay for Sky, not worth it IMO, but couldn't imagine being completely without TV. Strictly is a must!

not if I can help it!

I think it would be a shame if that were the case as I think discussing the previous evening t.v. is a really social thing (not essential and I'm sure it could be replaced but it's a good 'bring people together' tool)

YANBU. We don't have TV but we do pay £5.99/month for Netflix. We also watch a lot of programmes on catch-up and on iPlayer which we can do through DP's playstation.

Never seen the point in paying for Sky when you can watch it all online for free or for 10% of the cost (Netflix, LoveFilm).

I don't think so. We very rarely watch any, the only tv is in a cupboard in bedroom. We watch it when ill/ and odd films. I think it's the change in working days. By the time I'm home it's 7.30pm, then we cook, eat and it's 9pm. Sort some emails/chat to dh/ shower/ and its 11pm so head to bed. I'd be up til 1am if watched tv. Leave early so no time then

However I know many people who have the tv on vitually all day. These people will still watch in 10 years I'm sure

I think the way we use the TV will change, it will be used more for streaming content. We've just got a smart TV and we hardly watch much traditional TV on it, we use it mostly for Iplayer, lovefilm and blu ray/DVDs.
I think more and more if you want to watch particular TV shows, you'll pay just to watch that show.

I doubt it.

TV license will, hopefully, be a thing of the past, though, as less and less of us watch BBC and start refusing to pay.

I think better than netflix, (but pretty old school) is blockbuster by post, their catalogue is absolutely massive, with every obscure film / series you can think of. Makes netflix /love film seem pretty limited, It's brilliant!

Not sure what 'television' you are talking about.
Is it the actual machine in the corner of the room or the production of television programmes for consumption?

Either way I think you are wrong.
We live in an ageing population where the telly is still a central point of information and entertainment for millions of people. Not everyone is glued to iPads etc.

I would hate to see the demise of the BBC. The thought of broadcasting and programme production being entirely dominated by product placement and advertising and run by cunts like Rupert Murdoch and Silvio Berlusconi makes me heave.

The only reason we have a TV at all is for games - any programs we watch will be on tablets. Had a netflix/lovefilm account for a while, but the selection of stuff we wanted to watch was pretty crap. I don't remember the last time we watched TV at the time of broadcast - but in comparison to Tee, I've not watched anything that wasn't a BBC production since Time Team stopped, and I don't have a problem with the TV licence. The BBC itself seems to need to lose about 4 layers of management, but I'll stand by their output. Unless you're watching hours of TV a day or are obsessive about sport, I don't understand the point of Sky.

I don't think TV will have gone away in 10 years. I think broadcast (vs Watch on Demand) TV will have basically faded into nothingness, and the big 'events' will be when the series becomes available.

Harticus I take your point, maybe I should have said 20 years then. We are in some respects a typical family and yet none of us have watched television in days. I agree about the BBC and despise Murdoch. I am sure our Sky subscription will be cancelled in the next week or so.

The funny thing is that a lot of the output on the more obscure sky channels is old bbc programmes.

I would happily never watch another BBC programme if I could not pay the licence fee. I watch so few on there that I resent paying the £144 per year or whatever it is. All the other channels get by on revenue from adverts, why should we have to pay for them?

I much prefer a big screen to watch things on but record what I want to watch usually and look at it when I have time.

Which means they've sold them to Sky, Verycold. So why do they need our TV license fee any more?

I doubt the sale of these programmes is enough to pay for new programmes.

If you don't watch tv, then cancel your sky and tv licence.

Netflix is cheaper per month than tv licence alone I pay 8.99 per month as then it can be played on 4 devices.

When you think about all you get from the BBC - at least 7 ad-free tv channels, plus all the radio, I really don't think it's that expensive.

Then they should have advertisers and/or fund drives.

I'm tired of paying for the 10,000 channels with BBC in their name that no one actually watches.

Who says no one watches them? Or listens to the bbc radio? Have you got figures?

The only part of the BBC I'd miss would be Radio 4, most of the television output from it is no better than other channels. Whilst we are an ageing population we are ageing with the growing use of technology so where once if you were retired you may have used the TV as your entertainment/information source it will increasingly be coming from elsewhere. I'm not going to suddenly put my IPad down when I hit 65 and revert to the TV.
I'm convinced we'll be using content by paying on demand. We used to have Virgin Media and moved to an area where we couldn't get the service so got BT, much more limited in channels but DP wanted it for some sports, I'd have been happy to not bother with it at all.

We will consume 'TV' in a different way ie have the screen and use it for streaming whatever you want in your home environment.

Though in terms of hardware, maybe it will be more like larger sized tablets that you can set up in whatever room rather than the now-clunky-seeming flat screen TVs...

So my TV license also pays for the radio?

Then shouldn't it be called a TV and radio license? And I really shouldn't' have to pay a portion of it because I never listen to the radio.

And with all the current BBC scandal, not exactly an organization I respect.

And look at their ratings if you don't believe me that they are losing viewers except for some very specific programmes.

I don't watch much tv but DH and dd watch far more. Granted a fair about is prerecorded or streamed via iplayer or via the sky catchup/on demand thing.

I do prefer tv without ads though and we personally watch more bbc channels than any other. It's generally, IMO, better quality programming - well for what I want to watch anyway.