Are we killing linear TV?

By the end of February 2016, BBC3 will no longer be a broadcasting channel, with its content being divided between BBC1, BBC2 and online-only platforms. Suzanna Taverne, the Chair of the BBC Trust's Services Committee, says of the matter: "the BBC must adapt with its audiences; the evidence is very clear that younger audiences are watching more online and less linear TV."

 

Reading this quote really made me think – for 3 years at university, where I studied Film and Television, I was told by my lecturers that whilst online catch-up and On Demand services were becoming more popular, linear TV was still the main way audiences engaged with programming. So when it was announced in 2014 that BBC3 was being scrapped and changed to an online channel, I was pretty surprised. With more and more people gradually turning to more convenient methods of consuming TV, and indeed with platforms such as Netflix increasingly becoming places where shows are exclusively broadcast (Orange is the New Black, Marvel’s Daredevil, and House of Cards are just some of the Netflix-exclusive shows out at the moment) is linear TV going to die out entirely with new generations?

 

I’m one of the few people I know who actually doesn’t have access to Netflix or any other such streaming services – apparently that’s a rarity in 2016 (I’m not willing to fork out a fiver a month. Yes, I really am THAT stingy). It seems that traditional methods of watching the telly aren’t all that popular anymore – after all, why would you want to arrange your life around a TV schedule when you now have the ability to do just the opposite? The ease that recording, on demand and catch-up offers us means we’re no longer bound by the TV schedules that are forced on us, and that means we’re turning away from linear broadcasting.

 

I actually think this is having an effect on TV broadcasters in several ways. Aside from the obvious (closing down channels which don’t provide enough revenue - I’m going to miss BBC3, I actually watch it quite a lot), it seems to me that broadcasters are actually striving to create more quality programming, in order to keep people watching the box. This isn’t an issue for shows which already have a built in audience, say for example, Doctor Who. Doctor Who still gets high ratings on its initial broadcast because, let’s face it, people really love Doctor Who and have for 50+ years. They make a special effort to sit and watch it every Saturday because they’re invested in it. I’m thinking more along the lines of more recent internationally renowned shows like Downton Abbey. Downton was first broadcast in 2010, when catch-up services were already a well established thing. And yet it frequently scored highly in its initial broadcast ratings every week, and continued to do so every series until its sixth and final, which was shown this year. Why? Because it was quality, and people loved it for that; if a show gives you a real reason to tune in every week, you probably will. See also: Sherlock (that New Year's Day episode was smashing, wasn't it?)

 

   

 

There are so many things to say on this topic (can you really see a world where BBC1 isn’t broadcasting? That’ll be a sad day for Britain, won’t it?) but maybe they’re best saved for a different blog, lest this one turn into some sort of dissertation. Is linear TV going to die out because new audiences are more interested in other platforms and viewing methods? In short: I’d say yes, probably, eventually, many moons from now. But not just yet, if there are still quality shows coming out.