Live Scripted TV Is No Longer Necessary

By Matthew Nemeth

With the rise of subscription and free streaming and on-demand services, live scripted television is no longer really necessary. I am of course talking about multiple different services such as Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime Video, All 4, Demand 5, ITV Player (the least original name), Now TV which is Sky‘s much cheaper streaming service and Hulu. with all of these services having an on-demand option and others channels probably able to have it in the future (i heard recently about Fx getting an app) as well as DC and Disney having streaming services coming in the future which both still don’t have names live TV simply isn’t necessary anymore and in a way is hurting some shows because of the need for live ratings for revenue ect. so is it time for scripted live TV to go away?

Of course, this doesn’t mean for things such as live sports ect. as everyone needs to be in that stadium at a particular time for it to start ect. but this isn’t what i’m talking about as that’s not scripted TV.

The need for something to be on at 8, 9 or 10pm simply isn’t necessary anymore, take Netflix for example, they don’t even have “live TV” if (just an example) the newest season of Stranger Things drops on March 31st 2018 it’s not on at 8, 9 or 10pm, it’s just there on that day usually added at some point during the morning. Another really interesting and different example is BBC iPlayer, it’s got the option to play a show from the beginning if it’s already started. For example, if the latest episode of Doctor Who starts at 9pm and you can’t get to your TV until maybe 9:15pm you have the option to watch from the start.

It’s all of these options that make is clear that live scripted television is just not necessary anymore and i hope you see where i am going with this. Let’s use Netflix as an example again, if that season of Stranger Things drops on whatever date there simply is no “what’s this week’s ratings?” but obviously Netflix knows how many people are watching what shows it’s just not released to the public.

I’ve got just 1 more example to mention, the 1st is what Now TV has been doing lately and Britannia and Save Me are 2 examples of this. Britannia was listed on a Thursday at 9pm for it’s season 1 run, but, the show was also all added to their box set collection, so already there is an option for live TV which again in this scenario is unnecessary and 2 if you really want to watch it live at 9pm, you can. This is very interesting going forward and i’m looking forward to seeing how all of these methods adapt in the future.

What do you think and how do you think all of this could turn out in the future? Let me know using the Twitter, Facebook, Email and other options below.