Hacker News Reader

This "linear TV is dead" mantra is just not true, and not supported by data. Linear TV is still extraordinarily popular in the UK across all age demographics.

The most viewed shows last year got over 10m viewers. Young people watch Love Island live at huge numbers.

You're not going to get an 80 year old binge watching Countryfile on Netflix. Not everyone wants to switch to that viewing model.

View on HN

Good points. However, on-demand streaming has changed people expectations around content availability. A weekly show on linear TV makes sense when it's topical (e.g. Countryfile or news-related), if it's a reality contest with a finale (e.g. Love Island, The Apprentice) or a prestigious drama with cliff-hanger ending.

Even the idea of TV channels makes little sense today unless those channels reflect a genre or theme (e.g. The Arts Channel or the Horror channel). I suspect most people in the UK would struggle to describe the purpose or differences between BBC channels. Streaming services (including iPlayer) reflect what probably makes sense to most people - the genre or theme of the programme. BBC linear channels are increasingly irrelevant.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com