Cutting the Cord

With the increasing number of apps for BBC ITV etc is it likely or possible that OTA TV will be totally replaced by Apps?

It won't happen until rural areas (and even some parts of London) have an acceptable download speed to allow for such a thing to happen.

Personally I'd say I now stream about 75% of shows I watch either VOD or IPTV, including linear channels with the rest through Freeview. NOW TV and TVPlayer have helped me to receive pay channels legally through IPTV, but I'm lucky to live next door to a telephone exchange and the FTTC cabinet is 20 yards away from my flat, so I get the advertised speeds.

I watch everything on iptv (interference from traffic)

Not going to happen. It'll just be seen as a TV licence extension via the back door - pay £150 odd quid to the BBC for the right to watch live TV for a year, then another (on average) £420 a year to BT/Plusnet/TalkTalk/Virgin for a decent internet connection.

Not sure about 'apps' - but I do see an IP-based future long term. Multicast IP over fast broadband for live fixed TV, on-demand and mobile viewing via unicast.

Multicast will require some legislation though, and decent broadband penetration at a suitable price point. Broadband will eventually be like water, electricity and a phone - deemed an essential for living - particularly as fewer and fewer services will be accessible via other means.

I pay £330pa for my 76/20 VDSL broadband with TalkTalk. One of the cheaper options, but I get your point otherwise.

Have been using a not so legit iptv provider for the past 2 years and while it does have its problems it provides all the channels I could want in what appears to be better picture quality than Freeview and many of the channels are low quality HD.

Once the likes or Sky, Virgin and other TV providers add their reliability it will quickly take hold I would have thought.

I tried iptv but it’s still unreliable and the internet here is woeful so I will be complaining as I get no where the speeds advertised!

Illegal IPTV can be rather complex and a hassle to install. Different providers use other codecs, so you can find one channel won't work. There's also a plethora of apps that will or won't work, the best of the lot being Perfect Player which allows you to change decoders per channel.

There's also the risk that the provider you choose will close down without a refund or may be blocked during EPL matches due to the high court ruling banning those who aren't the rights providers from re-streaming football matches within the UK.

From a moral standpoint, the channels don't get paid, nor the copyright holders of the programming.

I considered that until BT Sport swiped the Champions League rights from ITV, closed their Showcase channel, and stuck it behind a considerably priced paywall.

While I don't condone piracy I can understand why IPTV is used for watching 3PM KO's, PPV etc. I also agree that the teams, producers etc should be paid but there should also be VFM and right now that doesn't exist IMHO.

The 3pm thing is no longer relevant in my view. It's not going to stop people going to lower league games, and the gate receipts are beer money for the top flight - TV is where their money is made. Given you need a mortgage for the subscription, you aren't going to bother unless you can follow "your" team.

IPTV can involve a bit of technical know how, but for what it is, legalities aside, it's good. You generally do have to put up with the footy (and other content) in 25p but a decent telly will have a mode to help overcome this.

It's become very popular with expats in Spain now satellite is no longer really the option it was a few years ago.