Channel Four Change the rules

Channel 4 yesterday became the first major UK broadcaster to simultaneously broadcast its programmes on television and online.

Think about that statement. It has some pretty amazing implications for the way we communicate. C4 may be the first, but they will most certainly not be the last to offer this service to their customers. Similar arrangements are being put in place by the other major broadcasters.

In short, more and more PC screens will be doing the job of TV screens.

So, you may ask, what does that mean for my business?

The answer, I believe, is quite a lot. Apart from any potential personnel issues over how best to encourage staff to stay tuned to their work in hand rather than the Big Brother house, it’s yet another example of the massive diversification of the communications sector.

I’ve said before, when the phrase digital highway was first coined, I am pretty sure very few people actually realised the scale, and scope of the digital age that beckoned.

C4 yesterday opened a new route on this highway. And there will be plenty more to follow.

In business terms, C4 clearly believe they have a valuable route to market. For them, it’s a call on whether they want to extract public as well as commercial value from their media system.

The technology – and legislation - that allows them to do this could have benefits for business. Think about the commercial application of this sort of technology. Think too about the opportunity it may give you to target very specific audiences with key sales messages.

Technological advances like this may sometimes appear limitless. If you’ve thumbed through any national newspaper magazine in recent months you’ll have seen dozens of adverts for TV’s described as being “HD Ready”.

For the uninitiated that means High Definition – a quality of TV picture the like of which we have never seen before, according to the words in the adverts.

I’ve seen some demonstrations of HD and have to say there is a clear difference in the quality of the image, and I can imagine it will catch on. While C4 are spreading their on line service, Sky TV, and others, are investing millions in HD technology.

As sister companies under the massive Murdoch global media banner, it was no surprise to see Sky TV and The Sunday Times joining forces to promote HD technology in last weekend’s edition of the newspaper.

Nor, I suspect is it any surprise that these advances in technology – including the new set top box for HD reception – come to market during the middle of one of the world’s largest televised events currently taking place in Germany.

Make no mistake TV technology is changing fast. – At a pace that leaves many viewers in the BBC camp. And that’s Bewildered, Baffled and Confused.

The trick is to make sure you – and your business - are not left there while the rest tune in elsewhere.