Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Broadband Usage Up, TV Usage Down

Posted by michael on from the only-25-hours-in-a-day dept.

jZnat writes "BBC Tech News reports that the increased usage of broadband internet in Europe is cutting into the viewing of television. This is mainly due to the decreased price of broadband in Europe and the usefulness of the internet. Is it possible that the usefulness of TV has decreased with the internet so expansive these days?"

5 of 299 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Who needs a "TV" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    > when you've got multiple monitors and a tuner card?

    I think turning your computer into a TV still counts towards television usage.

  2. Not surprising by TheSpoom · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The only things I generally watch on TV nowadays are the news and movies. There are several reasons that I believe the Internet is more entertaining:

    a) Interactivity. You can talk to and interact with people as much or as little as you like, whereas television is entirely passive. You can also easily add to the content (like I'm doing right now) and have your content added to.

    b) Control. As I mentioned before, television is entirely passive, and you're limited to viewing the broadcaster's programming on the broadcaster's schedule. On the Internet, you can view whatever you want, whenever you want, and there are a nigh-unlimited number of "channels" available to suit whatever taste you're looking for.

    c) Adaptability. The Internet is anything you want it to be. While television is just video and sound, the Internet is a book, a video, music, or anything else you can imagine.

    Not to mention that TV shows are available in the Internet to view whenever the hell you want without commercials, but that should go without saying ;^)

    --
    It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
    - E. Debs
  3. Re:well as for me by Vancorps · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Its hard to compete, for now TV is on its own schedule and that will hold it back. Why should I wait to watch a TV show when I can download it from someone who recorded it several hours earlier. Movies are even worse for this since some cities see a movie as much as a few months earlier.

    The Internet allows me to have what I want and when I want it and at a very reasonable price. I don't see TV as being able to provide as much. They really are different forms of entertainment these days. TV is mind-numbing and thus good for when you just want to relax and be lazy. Problem is when you don't want to take time for that but once every six months.

  4. Less TV more bandwidth by canuck57 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...increased usage of broadband internet in Europe is cutting into the viewing of television...

    Can't say I am surprized. The internet has 2^32 channels, mostly garbage but you the user can decide and change channels to any other site in a second. And with so many channels there is something for everyone.

    Where as with cable you get to watch what someone else wants you to watch and when to watch it. Not only that, they make you pay for channels you never will watch.

    The internet will really pick up once Internet TV breaks through the legal barriers they now face from a monopolistic industry. Yor next TV migth be a computer.

  5. Re:End of the force-feeding, or ignorance==strengt by koreth · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Actually, I'd argue that it's both at the same time. People have more independent channels available to them now, but I think most people (me included, a lot of the time) are showing a depressing tendency to seek out information sources that reinforce their existing worldviews. If you're an environmentalist, you're probably getting a lot of your news from environmentalist blogs. If you're a libertarian, you'll feel good reading libertarian news sites. If you're very religious, there are plenty of comfortably pious news sites to choose from. Spend enough time doing that, and it feels like you're in the majority.

    I think this is partly responsible for what seems like the rapidly evaporating ability for people to respect each other's political views. Nobody has differences of opinion any more -- one person is 100% right and the other one is a moron, a dupe, a tool, a shill. That trend has been deliberately helped along by many in the media, but I think the unintentional echo-chamber effect of highly specialized news and discussion sites bears some of the blame too.