PSB must be front of the queue says Steven Barnett

Wired recently published an article outlining the problems for PSBs in achieving prominence on Smart TVs. At present, public services broadcasters (PSB) have their position in the TV guide protected by law. But smart TVs are outside of this regulation.

In the article, Prof. Steven Barnett argues that “as there’s public money and regulatory obligations involved, [PSBs] should not be hidden at Number 723 on the EPG,” instead, he says, “they should be at the front of the queue so that they are easily found.”

The problem, Barnett notes, is that smart TVs don’t have an EPG. They have an array of application tiles for various TV channels and video-on-demand services, featured side by side. “We’re moving from a multi-channel framework to a dashboard framework.” Prominence, in this context, should mean being conspicuously visible on the smart TV’s homepage. But in reality, prominence in this context currently means nothing, as smart TVs are not bound by the EPG rules established by the Communications Act 2003.

The full article is available on the Wired Website.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash