The introduction of video on demand to Sky TV, Sky broadband and Skype HD TV subscribers, is a major development for the UK online arena. There has been talk for well over 10 years of a closer relationship between media companies and ISPs in the UK, and around the world, but only now are we starting to see these dreams come true.
We already have a number of Internet TVs available on the market and once consumers have accepted these developments we’re likely to see a flood of new products. Even though the technology has been there for many years it is the ability to lock into superfast broadband which has led to this significant development over the last 12 months. BT broadband is still in the process of creating the UK’s main fibre-optic broadband network which will deliver much improved broadband speeds in the future.
The only downside for consumers is the fact that the billions upon billions of pounds with these new services and new broadband network will cost will need to be paid for, in due course, by broadband users. However, broadband providers would be unable to hit consumers with large-scale price increases in the short-term as this would reduce penetration levels which would ultimately reduce income and profitability in the short-term.