The future of TV is….TV

We are making some changes to how we deliver our channel at the end of October. 

Our catch-up apps – which we have run for the last two years but get very low usage – are closing so we can focus our efforts on delivering what you, our viewers, want. This is namely telly, delivered as telly. 

In practice this means finding better ways of delivering live-streamed versions of our traditional TV channel, particularly on Freeview, and we hope in time more platforms. 

We have already been delivering an IP (internet protocol) -based version of the channel on Virgin Media and its predecessors since 2007, and we were a launch channel on Sky Glass three years ago in October 2021. 

The migration to internet-based delivery is a challenge all broadcasters are facing - and something that has been with us for nearly twenty years since 4OD, BBC iPlayer and ITV Player launched. 

Over the years we have put our programmes on Brightcove, YouTube and DailyMotion as video publishing platforms, we’ve been a BBC iPlayer third-party partner, had content distribution deals with BT Vision and My5, and more recently run our own-brand streaming apps. Television placed on a television stand. Text reads: We're always working hard to bring you great TV. There is a house plant next to the television stand.

We have learned that two things are clear – firstly it is very hard for smaller, independent channels to gain a foothold in the app world when there is such competition for prominence and attention – and secondly that our viewers still really prefer telly as telly – not as catch-up, not as video-on-demand – but as something very familiar and straightforward. 

It should just work. No faff, no bother. 

This is something all broadcasters are waking up to – and the new pan-industry platform Freely is leading this charge.  

So for us at Together TV we will be spending the next few months improving our Freeview simulcasts to be a smoother, easier experience for our viewers.

Now this is not as simple as it sounds. Unlike an app on Apple, Android, Samsung or LG, our simulcast needs to work with all makes and models of TVs – all with very different capabilities – going back several years. 

Some TV chipsets just can’t handle the video specification we are using. A lot of our viewers have TV sets that aren’t connected to the internet. So we recognise this won’t work for everyone – but from extensive testing and real-world usage we know our simulcast works for the majority of TV sets from the last few years. If it doesn’t work for you please let us know – as we’re doing all we can, daily, weekly, to make it work for as many people as possible. 

The TV industry is going through some rather treacherous waters. As we sail on this very bumpy sea we’re trying to navigate our way through by going back to the future and providing our viewers what you want – in this case internet-delivered telly which is, well, just normal telly. 

Happy viewing!

Alex

Chief Executive, Together TV

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