This article was taken from the October 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Kim Shillinglaw, Controller, BBC Two and BBC Four
"Don't start with the technology, start with the audience. How do they want to spend their time? I think viewers want three things. First, they want to relax, to escape and to feel part of something. This is what narrative-driven and event-led TV does. Those types of programme will only become more popular. Second, I want to watch what I like when I like -- control is important. Third, although I want to be in control, I want it to be easy. Technology often asks us to work too hard. Recommendations need to be as good as a great curator. Netflix's algorithm is very smart, but in the next decade new algorithms will start to recognise me and my interests, and aggregate from games that I play and websites that I read as much as from shows I've watched."
Neil Hunt, Chief Product Officer, Netflix "TV will be smarter and more personal. It will be all about watching what, when and where viewers want -- they're turning away from the traditional TV grid and using tablets and laptops to tailor their own experiences. You'll see recommendations based on your mood, or who's in the room with you. There will be a revolution in picture quality. We'll see a range of richer colours, as well as faster frame rates."
Roy Price, Director, Amazon Studios "We will be in the next era of personalised TV. It will function more like a personal playlist. A network's shows will be prioritised for each viewer. The concept of a strictly scheduled broadcast will disappear. Individual shows may appear on multiple networks just as songs can be in many curated playlists now. TV will be fully social: you will know what your friends have watched and what they think."
Eli Holzman, CEO, All3Media America "Projection technology should allow us to privately watch and publicly share in new ways. As we break free of the embedded-ad model, we will see experiments with show formats and running times. We will be playing, appearing and participating in a blend of what we see today as gaming, surfing the net and watching TV. We will meet and gamble and shop in new ways."
Cecile Frot-Coutaz, CEO, Fremantlemedia "TV will move from the corner of the room to our pocket.
Live event TV -- sport, politics and entertainment -- will drive ratings, and the schedule will be irrelevant. People will watch where and when they want to, and will be prepared to pay for great storytelling. But as choice expands, content will need to be intelligently curated; that's where networks will continue to play a role."
Keith Underwood, Director of Strategy and Technology, Channel4
"Today, 90 per cent of total viewing time is traditional live TV; video on demand accounts for less than five per cent of viewing time. Although C4 was the first broadcaster to offer long-form VOD, TV is fundamentally a social phenomenon and humanity is a collective which prefers to share experiences in the moment.
Scheduled TV will shape the nation's conversations for decades."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
