BBC director general Mark Thompson has warned that free-to-air broadcasting will become “obsolescent” unless the Corporation and other public broadcasters continue to develop new platforms for content. Speaking today at the Oxford Media Convention, Mr Thompson said the future will belong to “closed systems” unless there are partnerships between broadcasters to create platforms such as YouView, which is a subscription-free service that will offer digital TV channels and bring on-demand services and interactive applications straight to TV.
He said platforms such as YouView, which is a partnership with other public service broadcasters, were becoming increasingly important because of the fact there is going to be an “intense battle for the living room” over the coming years. ” Without partnerships like YouView and without the continued active engagement of the BBC and other public broadcasters in platform development, the danger is quite simply that free-to-air broadcasting will become obsolescent and get squeezed out, and the future will belong to closed systems.”
Thompson also said the future of free-to-air broadcasting will depend on broadcasters understanding how linear broadcast and web-delivered content can work together to “satisfy users best”. “We need a clearer sense of the convergence between the use of radio, TV and every other kind of content on the move,” he said.
(Source: thestage.co.uk)
