"Broad"casting to get narrower

Many people have been talking for many months on the impact that IPTV will have on the television space.

Most of the discussion revolves around the various levels of nple play (Tri and Quadru) and what this will bring to the consumer in terms of bundling and choice around other forms of content.

There was an interesting article on the BBC a while back and further details can be found at Broadcasting & Cable that shows another dimensional benefit.

For some time Sky in the UK have been able to provide on-demand movies. Fiber-to-the-Home technology in the US and Japan have allowed for some aspect of on-demand TV programmes as well. The statement from the BBC, I saw something else yesterday buy cannot find a suitable link to share with you, was that it was their intention to be able to provide more than 80% of their programmes as downloads by the end of 2007. There would be a finite period of availability post broadcast, sorry Paul no Long Tail [yet], and the service would be payable.

This is a service I would pay for, being an Expat I do sometimes miss BBC programmes, and use.

It leads me to think about the future of "Broad"casting though. If many people begin to adapt to delayed viewing and proscribe their viewing schedule will this force many broadcasters to follow the download route.

Why not go one step further and become a majority "Narrow"casting operation, let most of the people choose their programme and schedule most of the time.