18 May 2009
catch up headache
Like a lot of people I can definitely say that my viewing habits have changed now that such a range of free and recent tv content is available to view online. But even as someone thinks she finds it easy to get to grips with different operating systems and programmes I’m beginning to get a bit of a headache when it comes to VOD/ catch up players.
Of course I have the main shows I miss on TV each week and hunt down regardless of what player they’re on, but its not easy to browse programmes on the players in the same way I would TV channels. And this makes it hard for me to find or view programmes outside of those I habitually watch.
Firstly there doesn’t seem to be any independent centralised listing service of the content available across the players, meaning you’re left to traipse from URL to URL scrolling through their varying methods of programme listing. Even if you have an idea of a show you want to watch, first you have to locate which UK broadcaster owns the rights, then there’s still a chance that said channel might not own online distribution rights or that due to their availabilty dates you can no longer watch.
So far I can think of at least of 10 different online players I’ve used (Other than those listed above this includes Joost, The Auteurs, Babelgum <cough> Hulu, the trully appalling ABC player and the annoying in show ad placements- but still webby winning NBC player</cough>) and of course each of these has had its own, URL, GUI, listings methods, programme availability dates, and various quirks which to me is just a big ole mess to navigate or become comfortable with.
To truly make the wealth of free content to view online or easy to navigate are we going to have to wait for
-an independent third party player to pull together all the content (which I’m sure the competition commision could have issues with)
-a decent search engine to search through content,
-till the individual platforms naturally begin to adopt much more similar de facto standards.
If anyone knows of any plans for the above then I would be very keen to hear about these as I know I’m often a few steps behind current plans.
One thing I’ve always believed is that to encourage legal viewing of content, and thus create sustainable revenue streams content needs to be easier for people to view legally than illegally, regardless of whether people have to sit through a few pre and mid roll ads. But for the time being torrents offer users a much greater sense of consistency of use, online community support and access to content.
