So, we've reached the early bits of the 21st century, only to find TV companies (Sky) selling themselves using door-to-door salesmen.
To me, this says less about the viewer than about the ability of TV to market itself.
If you don't want sports, most TV is available free in the UK (as long as you don't live in a Welsh valley as I do - where you have to pay a TV licence despite being incapable of receiving digital or analogue TV or radio), so why do nigh on 9 million households pay Sky ? Well, because they're willing to put people on the pavement. They sell their service like no one else.
The BBC doesn't need to sell - it just needs to terrify the population into paying their licence fee through their obnoxious ads; ITV isn't sure where it stands in all of this and is seeing its audience disappear to more savvy operators. But as the recession bites, why spend that £20 - £50 a month when you can get it for free ?
Sky's pounding of the pavements is a smart move, but may not be enough in the face of 'free' competitors.
To me, this says less about the viewer than about the ability of TV to market itself.
If you don't want sports, most TV is available free in the UK (as long as you don't live in a Welsh valley as I do - where you have to pay a TV licence despite being incapable of receiving digital or analogue TV or radio), so why do nigh on 9 million households pay Sky ? Well, because they're willing to put people on the pavement. They sell their service like no one else.
The BBC doesn't need to sell - it just needs to terrify the population into paying their licence fee through their obnoxious ads; ITV isn't sure where it stands in all of this and is seeing its audience disappear to more savvy operators. But as the recession bites, why spend that £20 - £50 a month when you can get it for free ?
Sky's pounding of the pavements is a smart move, but may not be enough in the face of 'free' competitors.
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