2 February 2007
The BBC's forthcoming on-demand internet TV has been predicted to become popular by broadband experts and TV analysts alike, but some critics have raised the concern that it may push the cost of broadband up.
Telecommunications regulator Ofcom has said that it expects linear TV to be reduced by up to 30% over the next five years as a direct result of consumers opting for picking and choosing which programmes they want to watch.
BBC Director General Mark Thompson has already described the broadcaster's on-demand service as "one of the most important projects undertaken by the corporation" but one expert at Tech Digest has warned that internet TV could result in a price rise for broadband tariffs.
Andy Merritt believes that due to the large amount of bandwidth needed by internet TV, consumers who want to take advantage of the new technology could find themselves going over their download limits and being penalised as a result.
This is something that the BBC recognises, with the BBC Trust admitting to Tech Digest: "As licence fee payers start to download larger and a wider range of files, broadband providers will face increased costs in transferring the additional data. It is possible that providers could pass these costs onto consumers in one way or another."
However, the trust is adamant that any potential constraints "should only be a medium-term issue in a competitive market while broadband capacity adjusts" to the new technology and that in the long-term, consumers will not be penalised for choosing to download television content.
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