Television as we know it will be practically for live events and platforms that do not have them exclusively, must change to Streaming, or become hybrid, or disappear.
Hector Gomez Maciel
The way of watching television from its invention until the beginning of the first decade of this century, had been the open or free signal, in the VHF and UHF channels. Subsequently, the expansion of the signals of different parts of the country with the local television stations, taking the transmission to other points of the nation Via Satellite. Television as we knew it, is now in decline.
Later pay TV is generated, selling content directly to homes via CATV and also opened channels in satellite channels, well, history already known, until the digitization of the image and the transmission of signals.
Next, the consumer seeks to govern his taste, content, what he wants to see and when he wants, when he can, where he wants, not when the television stations want it, in demand. Emerged by the type of PPV, or On-Demand, creating the Streaming transmission, taking advantage of the improvement of the signals via the internet, but the particular thing is the technology, but, what technology?, Which is the best?, Is it regulated internationally or regionally?, By geographical areas or by commercial power?, the current technology supported by the providers supports the bandwidths and speeds required for an HD video?, it is no longer said 4K or much less 8K, maximum in contribution, but, does the user have that technology in their homes?. They have to have the service provider, with enough support, if it is a television station, the sufficient resource for the transition, well planned and of course, elaborated of excellence. With solid networks. Current technology does not allow it.
Streaming platforms emerge in great popularity to the above mentioned, and television stations are experiencing a great change, having less relevance in the taste of the viewer, due to the growing demand for content, better content, and now, we can select which platform, or get to the point stop on a large screen scenes of multiscreen or multi-screen or multiviewer type, the simultaneous vision, to see all at the same time, as in the film of Back to the Future II* or different ways of consuming them.
Currently the generations born between 1997 and 2003, can still tell that they watched videos or programs in both technologies, television or Smart-tv, young people can hardly be in front of a TELEVISION for more than two hours and would not watch more than two channels. Streamnig services offer you at least 100 channels, and ironically you can watch more than two channels for more than two hours on your devices, tablets, Smart-phone or Smart-tv. Television as those born in the last century are known is in decline, and will remain at least until the third decade of this century, when there is no technology to support it or individual who requires it.
Television as we know it will be practically for live events, such as news and that platforms do not have them exclusively, such as Formula 1, Olympics, etc., leaving these that have news or sports, to change to Streaming, or become hybrids, or disappear.
Faced with the fact that the contents could be purchased at the same time by the platforms and not to exhibit the same content, the idea of creating their own content arises, both in films and series.
The reality in Mexico is not clear, since the Spanish-speaking giant is not having the same economic entries as before, they are changing their exclusivity policies in telenovelas, series and mainly artists, advertisers no longer paid anything to advertise, now they dictate how much they pay. When this situation of transformation or adaptation arises, for television stations there are no longer enough resources to invest in updates or new technologies that are still not economical; or they have to manage and maintain what is currently available or make staff cuts that for television stations, is the simplest.
But what about manufacturers or technology innovators?
What about the technology fairs that are considering the possibility of presenting every two years or interspersed, a year in Las Vegas with NAB Show and another year with IBC in Amsterdam, so the note is a difficult situation in the world, not only in Mexico, and on the other hand, the austere government that will not invest in technology, does not see with good eyes to integrating companies or solutions in television, to modernize the state channels, they will continue with scarce resources, applying them in maintenance and spare parts, only in the Streaming market, whether fiber optic, CATV or satellite, which for obvious reasons, having income, may have resources to be updated, modernized or even, will be at the forefront.
The promising sector is Streaming and the technology to be developed, it would involve all these technologies of encoding, decoding, transcoding, PON, Fiber, headers, mini - headers, STB, Smart Home, FTTH, OTT ́s, etc.
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