Its the end of the day, and youve just settled down to take in your favorite chatshow. But whats this? Your remote seems to have gone all wonky and wont tune in the channel as it has for years. You click over to another channel and–blast it; the same thing is happening.
Theres nothing wrong with your television set, and you neednt dash out to buy new batteries for the remote. Whats happened is beyond your control, and you have the internet to thank for it.
Popularity of Broadband
The need for speed and the desire to be connected online 24/7 is growing exponentially. Broadband is the name of the game, with fibre optic broadband being the (current) holy grail of lightning fast connections. Because of this, over 800,000 freeview television viewers in Derby, Leicester, Melton Mosbray, Nottingham and Waltham will now find their remotes rendered inert, as airwaves in those locales are being cleared in order to make way for the new king of communication: broadband.
Tossing out the old analog style of communication makes way for increased usage of broadband by more people. This ends up serving more people overall, as the latest statistics show that more people are watching television shows and movies online rather than on–dare we say it–antiquated television sets. And the prime mode of accessing entertainment shows today is via mobile tablets, even more than via laptops or desktop home computers. Watching the telly is still big business; its just not big on the telly itself.
The numbers are even more skewed when assessed by targeted demographics. Younger viewers are going online for their entertainment, but more and more of this group are tuning into indie shows and music, and not giving traditional television shows their attention, even through online viewing.
Technology is amazing in that, as time passes, the ability to access more of the web faster and for less money continues to improve. And, like a ladys purse, the larger it can grow, the faster users seem to fill up the available space to overflowing, upping demand for yet faster access, more speed, more power and more space. Fibre optic broadband once seemed to be the final word in net access; then game developers upped the ante, taking advantage of better broadband to create sharper rendering of more complex code, which in turn upped the demand for even better broadband. All the innovation only pushes the envelope further. In the US, Google has initiated Google Fiber in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri, bringing customers 1 gigabyte upload and download speeds, and a full terabyte of cloud storage. The service will soon be rolled out to other towns, including Provo, Utah and Austin, Texas. This level of speed and storage will make other fibre optic connections look like the 8-track tapes of yesteryear.
Worldwide Growth
Its not just the UK. Several years back, a similar phenomenon took place in the US, when over-the-air broadcasts all but went the way of the dinosaur when broadcasts went digital in 2009. This mode of communication dissemination has grown popular because more data can be transmitted through less bandwidth digitally when compared with traditional analog waveform transmission. Converting to digital therefore opened up a huge amount of bandwidth for new channels to be created. This allowed newcomers into the field, which welcomed a host of commercial ventures, while also adding valuable space to the communications spectrum for governmental and emergency use.
Once upon a time, so few channels existed, they could be counted on one hand. Those few channels held the reins for decades. Today, not only do those channels have to compete against hundreds of other channels, they are in jeopardy of extinction themselves, particularly as Big Label networks continue to shrink in relevancy when compared with independent and crowd-sourced entertainment.
To Go Back, Look to the Future
To get that chatshow back, youll need to reset your set. Turn on your freeview TV or digital box and go through the installation process as if you were setting your equipment up for the first time. When prompted for a code, try 1234 or 0000. If you need additional assistance, consult your television provider for complete details.
Or, you might instead spend your time comparing broadband packages, and toss your telly once and for all. You may find it easier to watch your older favorite shows via the newer medium of online broadband.
Sam Jones advises people wanting to know what is broadband, the comparison site uSwitch.com website provides a very informative guide.
This article is copyright free.