BBC iPlayer could be improved say BBC

The service could provide a superior streaming service using targeted rolling content said John Tate, BBC director of policy and strategy.

Speaking at a recent Westminster Media Forum,  he said, “The service is not currently taking full advantage of usage data to provide a more tailored experience. Currently, watching to the end of a show on iPlayer simply brings up a prompt to replay the content, as opposed to broadcast TV, where programmes are followed directly by new shows that are appropriate to the audience and timeslot.”

Mr Tate further added “This is one way in which video-on-demand (VoD) is still “playing catch-up” to regular TV, suggesting the introduction of targeted rolling options on iPlayer could offer various benefits. Why should you have to click play when you go to an online or VoD experience? Why shouldn’t there be some continuity or rolling element to that too?”

The BBC iPlayer set a new record of almost two billion requests for programmes during 2011 and enjoyed record viewing figures in December 11.  The iPlayer service is also set to debut on the Sky Anytime+ satellite service.

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Google TV has confirmed that this update is in the pipeline through their Google TV Twitter account.

They are promising to have the new firmware ready “this week.” this update will only apply to Sony Internet TV’s from about a year ago, and that 3D part only applies to a small amount of Sony Blu-ray players that has Google TV as well.

It will not include Logitech Revue which was abandoned due to poor sales. Google TV are hoping that a major comeback in 2012 will happen, as support has finally been confirmed from some of the other highend TV manufacturers.

But the question stays as whether consumers will see any value in having a computer built into their TV sets, that still is a largely passive consumer electronic device. The main thing it lacks is a collection of apps and content that can add to the TV experience.

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Sky Internet TV service coming

The service will be an enhanced version of the Sky Go online service and is for customers who do not want to subscribe to to satellite and who do not want a Sky dish plonked on the side of their house. The streaming content can be viewed on laptop, PC, Mac, tablet, console, connected TV and smartphone.

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Later this year BBC’s iPlayer will become accessible to Sky customers on their home TV sets. Using BBC’s iPlayer, viewers can catch-up on BBC programmes in the familiar iPlayer experience that they may have missed.

To access the BBC catch-up TV service, users will need a broadband connection and access to the AnyTime Plus internet TV service. Viewers will also be able to use the ITV vod service, ITV Player from today.

The BBC’s goal is to reach all viewers it can, so with Sky’s plan to bring its Anytime+ to customers regardless of who their internet provider is, is a major development in helping to bring BBC iPlayer to around 5 million new homes in 2012 and at no extra charge.

This deal builds on seeing the BBC’s iPlayer on platforms like Virgin Media, BT Vision, FreeSat, Freeview, PlayStation, Wii, along with mobile phones, tablets, and Internet connected TV’s. Launching on Sky Anytime+ rounds off the picture in which BBC’s iPlayer is available on pretty much all major UK TV platforms.

The BBC Director General Mark Thompson said “Having the BBC and Sky work together to further build on the BBC iPlayer success story can only be fantastic news for audiences. Making BBC iPlayer available on all platforms is key to our commitment to universal access and this agreement takes us one step further towards that goal. I’m delighted to take this first step on a story of innovation for both organisations.”

Sky’s Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch, added “Sky Anytime+ will go from strength to strength in 2012 and we are delighted that the addition of BBC iPlayer will allow Sky customers to enjoy the best of the BBC whenever they want.”

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The new network would be created with the intention of offering viewers a further chance to catch up on the main channel’s most popular series, including Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, Come Dine With Me, Comedy Lab, and New Girl.

Being made as a complement to the network’s current ‘catch-up’ offerings of Channel 4+1, and online service 4oD, the new service has been said to already have been booked in as a future channel number on digital terrestrial platform Freeview and satellite broadcaster Sky, while plans are also in place to attempt a carriage deal with Virgin Media.

A source close to the project (which is currently internally dubbed ‘Project Shuffle’) claimed that the new channel would be operated with Sky’s in-system ’Anytime’ service as a slight template, suggesting that Channel 4 will select their best shows for extra broadcast, but then placed into an actual schedule, as opposed to Sky Anytime’s full ‘on-demand’ offering.

While the brand name of Channel 4 is almost certain to be used in the channel’s name, suffixes (similar to the ‘+1′ channel) are said to be in discussion by executives, with the name thought to be selected from the options of ‘Shuffle’, ‘Too’, ‘Squared’, and ‘Plus Two’.

Channel 4 is thought to believe that the Shuffle project could help it offer more advertising inventory around popular new shows, as well as ensure it maximises audience share for programmes. A Channel 4 source reported the plans and their motivation for launching the channel, saying: “If there is something like a Sherlock [BBC One] or a major show on a commercial rival then Channel 4 takes a big hit. If light viewers miss an episode, especially the first, they tend to go away so this is a clever idea to keep them engaged in the prime window after first broadcast and it shouldn’t cannibalise the main channel.”

Another source added: “Advertisers are genuinely pleased with the opportunity, there is certainly demand for it. Too quickly, too often this stuff falls off our screens. This gives an opportunity to re-engage with the big stuff that people want to watch on a TV screen. It gives two or three more bites at the electronic programme guide.”

While it seems to be a format that has not been used too often before, some critics might claim that it is a step back from the moves online that most major networks (including Channel 4 themselves) have made over the past few years. Can Project Shuffle manage to tempt online viewers back into traditional viewing methods?

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The service, which has over 600,000 UK subscribers, offers its users the chance to access on-demand content alongside digital terrestrial channels, now seems intent on integration with Facebook and Twitter, as well as adding ‘personalised recommendations’ to viewers based on what they have seen before.

‘Close sources’ to the company believe that the update will come within three weeks, and will serve as a free exciting add-on for ‘BT broadband bundle’ customers.

BT chief executive Ian Livingstone had previously stated his company’s desire to bring: “…true interactivity to the TV set.”

Livingstone said of the service, which he feels will fulfil viewer’s desire to have as many features as possible on the ‘most watched screen in the house’: “That [the update] means on-demand services, it means the availability of buying things as you do it, to have personalised services, to know what your friends like and what they think of it. I think that will change viewing habits quite considerably. It won’t happen overnight but I think it’s the start of something quite big.”

The BT Vision update could be an important new lick of paint for a service that may be falling down the pecking order against more international names, but will these new features push them back into the UK market spotlight?

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The BBC’s iPlayer catch-up TV service has enjoyed it’s biggest ever audience figures in December (up 29% from 2010), with the huge jump in requests from not from computers, but connected devices such as connected TV sets, tablets and smartphones.

Top Gear and connected devices helped iplayer have a record year

The BBC have revealed that for the month of December, they received 187 million views from all platforms. But the big change was from which devices. 7 million requests from connected TV sets. An astonishing 1000% increse from December 2010. Tablets, including iPad had a 596% increase with 10 million requests and smartphones got an increase of 163% with 13 million programmes requested.

In total the iPlayer had 1.94 billion requests during the year 2011, showing that both online TV and internet-connected devices are making a real dent in the market. BBC general manager for programmes and on-demand, Daniel Danker said, “While 2011 was a remarkable year for BBC iPlayer across the board, the real story was growth of iPlayer on TVs, mobile phones, and tablets, outpacing PC growth many times over.”

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The archive, which would be run on a subscription-only segment of the network’s free online catch-up service BBC iPlayer, could face issuing a ‘second licence fee’ to fund the collection and hosting of backdated content, although the extra fees would only be issued out to viewers who choose to sign up to watch such content.

Under the plans, regular licence fee payers and online browsers will still be able to use the regular iPlayer for free, which generally contains repeats of content aired on the network’s channels within the past week.

The move, and ‘fee structure’ is thought to be in the planning stages, as executives look for new ways to fund the corporation’s ambitious projects. The current licence fee for taxpayers is an annual rate of £145.50 ($223), with the fees currently ‘frozen’ as a result of agreed government cutbacks in 2010.

The BBC are thought to be discussing ‘careful modelling’ over a potential system, making sure that it is not for profit, but for covering expenditures, with added income most likely to be reinvested into the project. It is thought that such a proposal could be fully operational within three years, and part of the broadcasters structure by the time they renew their official charter in 2016.

An industry source said of the plans: “The costs involved in opening up the archives are such that the BBC needs to think about ways it can charge for access.”

A BBC spokesman confirmed that an ‘additional licence fee’ proposal was being looked into by the public service broadcaster. He said: “This is one of a series of ideas we are considering. A lot of careful modelling will have to be carried out, and we need to talk to the industry to ensure we are doing it in a way that works for everyone, so it is not imminent – but it is something we are looking at. We need to talk to the industry to ensure we are doing it in a way that works for everyone, so it is not imminent but it is something we are looking at.”

While the BBC already charge for iPlayer usage around the world, will a pay-based archive operation go down well on home turf?

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Sky Sports News app for iPad

Although Sky Sports News had a previous app, that version only let users watch the Sky Sports News channel, the new version ups the want-ability factor ten fold. New features include video highlights of sporting events, streaming radio, news and photo galleries. Users can even customise the homepage so they can follow news from up to four football clubs of their choosing.

Speaking about the new app, Andy Cairns, Executive Editor of Sky Sports News said, “The Sky Sports News App is the latest exciting development in the evolution of Sky Sports News, which is now bigger and better than ever before. We aim to be the ultimate sports news service for our customers, and thanks to this new app we can provide them with the latest sports news and in-depth coverage, wherever they happen to be.”

Speaking in a blog post about the app David Gibbs, BSkyB’s director of mobile said that tablet pc’s are being brought primarily to watch video content which may explain why Sky are hitting this medium so hard. The research commissioned by Sky and carried out by Mintel shows that, “one in three respondents” say watching films, TV shows and other video is the main reason for buying a tablet. Next came internet access (67%), listening to music (48%), social networking (48%) and news (40%).

Gibbs said, “Despite the generally gloomy economic outlook, the data shows the British public’s appetite for mobile tablets shows no signs of slowing down. 8% of respondents in our research received a tablet over Christmas, which is on top of the 9% of the British population who already own one (according to Ofcom research released last year). Additionally, 16% intend to purchase a mobile tablet in the year ahead.”

The app called Sky Sports News App can be downloaded now from the iPad App Store.

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Lovefilm get to stream BBC and ITV content

LoveFilm owned by Amazon are the leading UK streaming company, who will shortly face some stiff competition from rival Netflix who plan to launch in the UK. The two companies have been busy securing content deals as the market becomes more competative. Netflix have already secured a deal with the BBC back in December.

Speaking about the deal, Simon Calver, CEO of LoveFilm said, “We are thrilled to be bringing together great British TV content with Europe’s leading film subscription service. This gives LOVEFiLM an even more powerful, unique offering of instant programming for our members to view across a growing number of platforms, for one low monthly price.”

For BBC Worldwide, Lisa Rousseau, Head of UK and Irelan said, “We’ve had a content partnership with LOVEFiLM for several years now and it’s great to see this evolve digitally. We’re delighted to give LOVEFiLM’s subscribers the opportunity to instantly watch their favourite British shows, wherever and whenever they wish, alongside a diverse range of great programmes and films.”

LoveFilm were acquired by Amazon back in February 2011 and boast around 1.9m members in the UK, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The Lovefilm Instant service allows subscribers to watch streaming on a number of devices such their computer, PS3, Xbox 360, Apple iPad and connected TV sets. They also offer members the option of a DVD by mail service, which Netflix UK, has abandoned.

The deal from the two TV networks is both non-exclusive and only applies to older content as both the BBC and ITV keep the premium and current content for their own catch-up players, the iPlayer and ITV Player.

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Online TV in the UK on a plateau?

The study was carried out by the Barb, who measure the UK’s broadcasting audience. The study comprised of 4,000 viewers who were asked if they had watched UK online TV content on a computer, laptop or tablet during the previous week.

The result back in December 2010, of the same survey had a yes percentage of 14.4%. The results for 2011 were 14.9%, a rise of just 0.5%. When compared with the same results in 2009 (which was 11.2%), the growth has shown a massive slowdown.

In a statement Barb said that the “plateau” effect can be attributed to the growing popularity of connected set-top boxes and Internet-connected TV sets that both carry catch-up content

One area of online viewing still on the rise is smartphones which have doubled amongst the 15-34 age demographic. The figure for 2011 of 9.8% compared to the 2010 figure of 5.8%.

The figures are a little misleading though, although the week comparison between years showed little growth, the actual increase of all adults watching TV on PC, laptop or tablet device was 36.2% for 2011, showing an increase from the 2010 figure of 5.1%.

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Watch Irish TV on the web

Although the United Kingdom is a collection of several smaller countries and territories that make the whole – England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. When it comes to TV production the British Isles are a lot more unified.

However, Ireland does still have it’s own unique selection of content in both channels and TV shows, including a selection of regional-based programming.

RTE One – the national public broadcaster of the Republic of Ireland. With content designed to fit a range of interests, stand-out shows on the network (which is responsible for 6 TV channels and 12 radio stations), and main channel RTE One, include The Late Late Show, Crimecall, and the All-Ireland Talent Contest.

TV3 – Ireland’s first commercial broadcaster, TV3 also goes out to Northern Ireland, having begun broadcasting in 1998. The channel’s contents are generally entertainment-based, and original shows on the network include Xpose, School Run, and Ireland AM, although a majority of content is imported.

RTE Two  -  RTE Two is the secondary channel of the national public broadcaster of Ireland, RTE. Programmes on RTE Two include Hollywood Trials, RTE News on Two, and live sporting coverage. Shows across the RTE channels can also be found online via the official on-demand service, RTE Player.

UTV (Northern Ireland) – UTV is a TV network in Northern Ireland formed as a national offshoot of ITV. The content on the digital terrestrial channel (available on set-top boxes in Northern Ireland (with some reach to the Republic of Ireland)), is mainly the same as its parent channel, along with a selection of UTV in-house productions.

TG4 – TG4 is an Irish-language TV network operating in the Republic of Ireland on terrestrial TV. Key content on the mainly public-service network covers reality TV, sport, and news coverage, amongst others.

Setanta Sports – Irish sporting channel Setanta Sports is a premium broadcaster in the Republic of Ireland, and while a foray into UK television was unsuccessful, the native version is still running strong, with big-name broadcast rights including club football from across Europe and South America, MotoGP, and the GAA.

There are many UK channels that can be watched by the Irish populace such as Sky, Channel 4, E4, Comedy Central, Discovery, Nickelodeon, MTV and others.

You can find more details on Online TV networks in Ireland on this page, and for additional in-depth information on the Irish TV market in general can be found here – link to Wikipedia.

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Whilst the HBO Go service does not allow live streaming of channels, the latest shows will be available same day and archived content will also be available on the service.

Speaking in a joint statement, the two companies said that viewers “will have free, unlimited access to the corresponding online services at any time, on any computer in the U.S. with a high-speed Internet connection, as well as a host of other devices, including the iPad.”

Time Warner have indicated that the HBO Go and MAX Go will begin within the next month. The MAX Go service offered by HBO’s sister channel, Cinemax, has around 400 titles on offer.

The HBO Go is a response to the threat and growth of streaming companies such as Netflix.The TV Everywhere service lets HBO subscribers stream over 1400 programs via the web using computers, smartphones and tablet computers. The app has been downloaded over 5 million times.

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Hulu Latino Launches

The new Spanish language content is supplied by Univision (which was signed up in October), and new providers which include Azteca America, Butaca, Caracol Televisión, Comarex, Estrella TV, Imagina US, Laguna Productions, Maya Entertainment, RCTV, Todobebe Inc, and Venevision.

Hulu said in a blog post that there will be hundreds of hours of Latin content available for users of both Hulu and Hulu Plus including complete seasons. The new content can be accessed by clicking on the Hulu Latino link on Hulu’s homepage.

Speaking about the move, Andy Forssell, Hulu senior vp of content said, “The demographics of the U.S. Latino audience are very interesting to us, and until now there was so little Spanish-language content available online in an aggregated form.”

Hulu seem to be following the success of rival Netflix, who also have a streaming service available in Latin America.

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When it comes to watching online TV or doing anything else on the web. The UK is officially number one in Europe, according to a new report from Ofcom.

The UK cannot get enough online TV

Not only do UK residents watch more TV online, they also shop online more, own more smartphones and DVR’s, and even play more games says the report titled, sixth International Communications Market Report which studied web useage in 17 countries.

The Brits are online for an average time of just over 12 hours per week, which is more than any other major Country in the world, except for the USA. DVR ownership is also tops in the UK compared to the rest of Europe at 36% compared to France (21%), Germany or Italy at (22%).

When it comes to watching Digital TV, the UK is the biggest in Europe at 97% of homes receiving it. Second place goes to France with 93%, and the US comes in at 87%.

Thanks to a great choice of UK catch-up services such as iPlayer, 4OD and ITV Player, 27% of Brits are viewing online TV each week, even more than in the mighty US, where the figure is just 23%.

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The ACMA report, entitled ‘ACMA Communications Report 2010-11‘, claims that for June 2011, around 1.1 million unique users viewed TV content via an official catch-up service, up from the the figure of 568,000 recorded in June 2010.

The explanation for this near-doubled figure is that along with an increasing popularity of online TV services, Australian Internet service providers (ISP’s) now offer higher-speed and improved services with larger data usage allowances, potentially encouraging potential online viewers now that they have the proper means to do so.

National public broadcaster ABC’s Georgina Waite had claimed last month that the ABC iView (an Australian service with a number of similarities to the BBC iPlayer) was experiencing strong growth, with the channel’s comedy series Angry Boys getting 1.4m hits during the time it was on, with the iView website itself on a total of 1.6 million.

Meanwhile, commercial service Multi Channel Network recently announced that providers Foxtel and Austar would be coming together to launch a multi-platform catch-up TV service (free to subscribers) of their own in 2012, in a bid to rival the free-to-air iView in the online market.

Online TV, as well as social networking, are thought by ACMA to be the two main contributions to an increase of 76% in the amount of downloaded data in Australia, at a total of 274TB downloaded across the nation during the Q2 2011 measurement period, at an average rate of 25.1GB per Internet user during that time.

ACMA said that the destinations of these downloads was slowly seeing a growth of mobile services, stating: ”While mobile Internet use is increasing, fixed-line networks continue to do the heavy lifting of the digital economy, carrying an estimated 93% of total data downloaded via the Internet.”

With online services and viewing options certainly on the rise in Australia (like much of the rest of the world), will the huge rate of increase continue into 2012?

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Community streaming comes to Hulu

The exclusive streaming deal means that other companies such as Netflix and Amazon will not be able to show the program. Community, which stars Joel McHale, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, Yvette Nicole Brown, Donald Glover and Chevy Chase. The show follows a smarmy lawyer whose education is deemed void by the bar, and is forced to attend a local community college. The show airs on NBC on Thursdays at 8 pm.

Hulu reached the deal on Friday, and now all three seasons of the comedy can be seen on Hulu Plus using next-day access.

but only a few episodes can be viewed on free Hulu. The company said of the deal, “Hulu is all about finding a specific show that we know will resonate with a specific audience segment on Hulu. We want to create a place where ‘Community’ fans can watch the show and share your favorite hilarious moments with your friends using Hulu’s social features.”

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iPlayer catch-up viewers may soon need to buy a license

The UK government are said to be looking into the idea and circumnavigate current regulations, which only requires viewers to own a TV licence for live broadcasting of TV via television or streaming.

Because catch-TV is not live, some viewers have been using the service to avoid the £145 yearly charge. The iPlayer is getting very popular though, more than 153 million TV and radio shows were streamed in September, add to that, tablets and connected TV sets which can all run iPlayer are getting more popular.

Although the BBC claim that the numbers that watch catch-up only are around 0.2%, the influx of connected hardware coming and the expected launch of YouView in 2012 will just enhance the problem.

The government are expected to look into the matter and publish their findings by the year end.

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SeeSaw finally bites the dust

The streaming website offered a free aggregated catch-up service from content providers such as the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel Five. But providers Channel 4 and Channel 5 pulled their content and concentrated on their own streaming services. Visitors to the site are now met by the message, “Thanks for your support but SeeSaw is no longer available.”

The service was saved by Criterion Capital Partners back in July but they have struggled to gain funding or makle any money from the service.

Speaking to the BBC, Ariva said it was, “very disappointed by the failure of the new investors to provide their committed funding.”

The UK has recently become a hotbed of streaming services and competition is mounting. LoveFilm, owned by Amazon have a good foothold in the market, YouTube have launched an online movie rental service and Netflix are set to launch in early 2012.

So is it the end of SeeSaw? Probably, unless someone thinks they can succeed where everyone else is failing that is.

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Online viewing and revenue on the rise

No surprise that Google owned websites ruled the show with YouTube in top spot getting 161 million unique viewers. VEVO came in second getting 57.3 million unique viewers for the month.

Microsoft had a good month sitting in third position with 54 million viewers, then came Viacom Digital with 53.4 million and Facebook.com getting 49.9 million. Top catch-up TV website, Hulu came in 10th position with 27.1 million viewers.

With the increase in video views came an increase in the number of ads watched. It was the first time video advertisements were viewes by half the population as 50% of online US viewers saw ads.

The number of ads seen increased 36.7% for the year to 6.8 billion, with Hulu leading provider with approx 1.02 billion advertisments. The figures did only include streaming video ads.

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Netflix Streaming coming to UK in 2012

Netflix who boast 25 million subscribers, have also recently been rolling out on an international scale in recent times, they are streaming in Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The streaming service which allows viewers to watch shows and movies on a variety of connected devices, has a message on their global site saying:- We’ll be available in the UK soon.Enter your name and email address and we’ll email you when Netflix is available.

In a press release Netflix state that the streaming service will be launched in both the United Kingdom and Ireland in “early 2012.” It appears that there will be no DVD rental though as the PR only mentions streaming services and Netflix are known to be moving away from physical discs.

Here is the interesting part of the release:-

“Upon launch, Netflix members from the UK and Ireland will be able to instantly watch a wide array of TV shows and movies right on their TVs via a range of consumer electronics devices capable of streaming from Netflix, as well as on PCs, Macs and mobile tablets and phones. Further details about the service, including pricing, content and supported devices, will be announced closer to launch.”

Netflix may be looking abroad to help forget their recent problems with price increases and a botched attempt to split the streaming and DVD rental service. But it may not be all plain sailing as they face some competition in the UK streaming market.

LoveFilm, a streaming service owned by Amazon that offers streaming and DVD rental and boasts an established subscription base of around 2 million users. Then there is the Blinkbox service part owned by the the Tesco chain of stores, who see the streaming market expanding at the expense of physical DVD’s.

The launch is expected to be a precursor to the service launching in Spain and the rest of Europe. Specific details regarding content and pricing tiers will be announced nearer to launch date.

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The terrestrial channel market is led by commercial network Seven Network, which is usually followed in the nationwide ratings by Nine Network and Network Ten, respectively. In addition to this, Australia has a national public broadcaster, ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), similar in many ways to the BBC, except that it is funded entirely by annual government grants and official product sales.

All of these major channels, along with their affiliates, have a presence online, whether it be catch-up TV (such as the ABC iView), live streaming (often seen on news networks) or providing small clips and previews of popular shows. This can also be seen to a certain extent on websites of networks that feature on cable or satellite services, but some of these online TV packages are subscription-based along with their host channel.

A interesting feature for a couple of the major terrestrial networks is that their online services are provided in partnership with a big-name search engine (Seven Network on Yahoo, and the Nine Network on MSN), with all videos and channel information hosted on a website operated by the search engine that features branded promotion of both parties.

More information on networks and TV guides in Australia can be found on our Aussie TV networks page for the country. For a detailed look at the television industry in Australia, follow this link to Wikipedia.

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Tablets love the BBC iPlayer

The catch-up TV service had 153 million requests for TV and radio streaming across all platforms during September in the UK, and the popularity of new technology such as iPads and Android tablets was instrumental in driving the number of requests.

Tablet PC’s requesting content grew from 4 million in August to 4.6 million in September. This figure is still only a small portion of the overall 153 million monthly requests, and tablets accounted for about 3% of the total requests. But the figures still show that tablet TV is growing massively.

The BBC recently revamped their homepage to better cater for mobile devices. Other than tablets, mobile devices including smartphones, account for 6% of requests for programming content.

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The US loves internet TV more than Europe

The research findings show that in the US compared to Europe, watching web content on a connected TV is twice as popular. During the last month, 20% of US respondents watched internet content on the TV set compared to just 10% in Europe.

The reason for the large difference seems to boil down to Netflix and Hulu. The streaming services which bring premium content and movies from a single destination, this compares to European streaming which is less advanced and pretty much limited to catch-up streaming.

The report also looked at how consumers connect their TV sets to the net. Games consoles rule in the US, whereas European users like to connect the PC to the television using a HDMI cable. Both areas also stream using connected Blu-ray and DVD players as well as via the home network.

Other than streaming via the TV, the computer remains the top device for streaming followed by tablets and smartphones. Speaking about the report, David Mercer, Principal Analyst and report author said the results have important implications for the industry.

He said, “They demonstrate that television viewers are prepared to go to significant lengths to watch their preferred television shows or movies on the big screen. In spite of the technical challenges, many people want to be freed from the constraints of traditional, managed television services if their choice of content is not available when they want, where they want, and at a price they are willing to pay.”

The report also revealed that over 42 million houesholds in the US and Europe use streaming from the internet to watch TV shows and movies on-demand on their television.

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Watch online TV in Canada

The major TV networks of Canada (including CTV, Global, Citytv, and national public broadcaster CBC) all feature an online video service, while some lower-profile networks (including those on cable or satellite service) also feature a catch-up service to allow viewers to see what they want, when they want, as part of a system fairly similar to America, fitting given the level of interactivity the two national industries share.

One area that naturally refrains from the US influence a little more, though, is the province of Quebec, where the French-language community generally support their own channels with on-demand content, such as CBC Television de Radio-Canada, V, and TVA, though the English-speaking channels are still represented in the ‘French-Canadian’ areas.

To see our selection of Canadian online TV networks, please visit our Canadian TV guide page. A detailed look at the industry in Canada can be found on Wikipedia.

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