The internet has already had a far-reaching influence on all aspects of society; government, industry, media, the individual and consumer attitudes. The ‘push’ of technological advance and the ‘pull’ of increasing consumer demand for choice and control are a powerful combination. Together they are changing the way media are distributed and consumed.

Digital technology and the desire for greater choice have driven a phenomenal growth in the number of channels available, from just three in 1980, to well over 500 today, among them, new kinds of channels, serving niche content to niche audiences. Non-terrestrial viewing now accounts for 30% of all viewing and, according to BARB, that figure rises to over 50% amongst the 16-24 year-old demographic. 66% of UK homes and in excess of 40m people now have multi-channel television, proving that this demand for greater choice is already widespread.

However, TV content is still offered in the form of a linear programme schedule with specific start times for shows. For those who could be bothered, time-shift viewing has been available since the launch of the VCR, but made dramatically simpler in the digital era by the Personal Video Recorder (PVR). The growing penetration of PVR’s, whilst not breathtaking, is evidence of a steady increase in people’s preparedness to pay for greater control over TV viewing. Cable companies and Sky offer ‘near video on demand’ - the same movie shown on successive channels with sequential start times, but this is an expensive use of channel inventory. The bandwidth required for real video on demand – the ultimate expression of consumerled TV - is only available online. IpTV is the most convincing answer to audiences’ demand for greater choice and greater control.

We will not see an overnight transformation in viewing behaviour. Viewers are conservative – their behaviour does not adapt as fast as technological possibility. But this convergence of broadband penetration with changing consumer requirements creates the potential for significant change. Accordingly, broadcasters and video content owners as well as new entrants from related sectors like telecommunications and online companies are now evaluating the rights, marketing and technical issues involved.

An increasing number of households now own more than one type of device capable of receiving television. Two thirds of homes now have internet access, with nearly three quarters of these broadband enabled. As broadband service suppliers compete for customers on radically discounted terms, we can expect these numbers to grow. At the same time, penetration of mobile phones in Europe is greater than 100%. Again, the marketing strategies of mobile operators incentivise customers to upgrade their handsets regularly, growing the installed base of phones capable of downloading or streaming video content.

As Graham Lovelace, co-author of ‘ipTV: Broadband meets broadcast – Thenetwork television revolution’, puts it: “In this new and massively fragmented environment, control will flow from the supplier to the consumer as viewers construct their personalised schedules from a vast array of international providers and watch programmes whenever and wherever they want.”

These developments create opportunities for new aggregators, radically increasing the distribution options of content owners.