View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
January 26, 2006updated 22 Nov 2022 6:05pm

Viewers embracing new ways to watch television

By Press Gazette

By Caitlin Pike

New
technology and multimedia platforms are revolutionising the way we
watch television, according to a panel of experts at the convention.

It
seems that the only factors likely to limit the take-up of new viewing
technology are people’s incomes and the amount of spare time they have.

The
panel, chaired by the Guardian columnist and former managing director
of Carlton Productions, Steve Hewlett, agreed that the numbers of
people using on-demand, mobile phone and broadband television were all
increasing as they moved away from traditional terrestrial television.

O2’s
vice president for research and development, Mike Short, unveiled the
early results of an extensive mobile phone TV trial carried out last
year.

He said: “A mobile phenomenon is now a [global] reality and
we can ill afford to see the UK falling behind. It is impossible for us
not to have mobile TV at the London Olympics – we need to be organised
and play our part.”

Short said that of the 375 people who took
part in O2’s mobile TV trial, news channels were the most popular part
of the service, closely followed by soap operas. According to O2,
people watch TV on their mobile phone for an average of 23 minutes at a
time and 36 per cent of those using the service do so in the home.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Fellow
panellist Andrew Canter, who runs content agency Contentworx, backed
the panel’s view on consumer behaviour and technology with statistics
from the Future Foundation. He said: “Digital TV has shown the fastest
growth in the first few years of its inception compared to other types
of technology.

There will be two million HDTV [high-definition] sets by the end of 2006, more than one million homes already have a
Sky+ box and around two million people view TV programmes via their
broadband-enabled PC. In excess of five million of us have 3G mobile
handsets.

“So you can see that the Great British consumer is
taking to this technology very quickly indeed. We have been discussing
and debating whether the TV and the PC will converge. Perhaps with
Microsoft’s Media Centre we are already there.”

Short reminded
the audience that 30 per cent of UK adults did not have regular access
to mobile telephones and that a similar number did not have internet in
their homes. He said that class, income, knowledge and confidence were
all factors that prevented people from adopting new technology.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network