Despite the dominance of cable and satellite platforms and the Netflix buzz at CES ’14, over-air TV (terrestrial TV) remains high on the agenda for the opinion formers at NAB 2014. During his Wednesday (09 April) speech, FCC’s Chairman, Tom Wheeler went as far as to suggest that broadcasters should become content providers delivering content over wired and wireless broadband networks. He cited a recent US report that a third of Americans now watch news online.
Broadcast content consumption continuous to grow
One would imagine many more Americans watch broadcast news*. What is sometimes overlooked in these cases is that amidst the explosion in online media consumption, there is a steady rise in broadcast content consumption. Yes. A rise! Studies suggest that as popular as watching video online has become, it has not cannibalised the linear content. But there’s a key difference: free-to-air TV is just that. Free. Watching media online requires a broadband connection, and a mobile one will likely now have data caps above which costs explode. Is the aim to get the viewer to pay mobile network operators for content he’s happy watching on broadcast TV for free currently?
Tom Wheeler (right) talking with NAB President Gordon Smith (left).
250 million European viewers
Although terrestrial broadcasting is not the way most Americans watch TV, for some 250 million Europeans it is their primary TV service. In many major European countries terrestrial TV is the dominant platform. Yet the spectrum viewers use to watch their beloved programming is apparently needed for mobile sector that needs every more spectrum to address their consumers’ needs. Or is it?
EBU has recently published an article questioning the basis of the mobile sector claims for more spectrum . Further, with the increasing deployment of FON-based WiFi networks allowing fixed broadband customers to roam outside their domestic environment, and the decrease in sales of 4G enabled tablets in favour of WiFi only , one wonders whether we shouldn’t be more careful of falling into the trap that says that online media is delivered over mobile network operator owned mobile broadband networks.
* Standard Eurobarometer 80, November 2013: - 87% of Europeans watch TV every day or almost every day, 97% at least once a week.