I wrote about this change coming over two years ago: A two-tier Internet service, though the way Britain is doing it isn’t what I predicted, and this isn’t the same thing as net-neutrality. No, the burden here goes on the web sites themselves: Pay more and get on the Internet faster. But don’t tell me that this gives an advantage to the big media companies.
Here is the blog post I wrote on a similar subject in 2008.
I really think that the BBC will be integrated into an internet experience in the foreseeable future. Given the fact that if you own a TV set you have to pay a license fee here, more and more people are simply using iplayer to watch their favourite programs. Unfortunately the quality of programs nowadays for the BBC is very poor indeed there are no adult drams like there were in the 1990’s, and good documentaries seem to be dwindling there are still some good ones but the BBC used to be the best for this type of programming not any more. I like watching American TV programs that aren’t shown in the UK unless you pay for Sky which is a lot. They will have to find a solution to this because people will continue using the internet for entertainment. If ISP’s started cutting services they would lose so many customers that it would be bad for them to do it. Lets hope they make it easier to switch providers as it says it is a real hassle finding one that suits your needs, then they change it or keep charging more for the same service, which means you have to wait till the contract runs out, which is a long time to wait with a crappy ISP.
Comment by chiefnoobie — January 23, 2011 @ 12:07 pm
Do you get Hulu in the UK? Is there something similar to it?
Comment by admin — January 23, 2011 @ 5:25 pm
No we don’t I can use a VPN like hotspot shields but it’s so slow that it’s not worth bothering really. I like the amount of free programs on Hulu and I don’t mind the adverts because it’s free. The only thing I seem to be able to use are sites like sidereel that stream American TV. I have heard that iplayer might be coming to the US at some point, in case case why can’t we do a swap and get Hulu?
Comment by chiefnoobie — January 24, 2011 @ 2:21 am