On Thu, 24 May 2012 21:54:01 +0100, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 21:37:25 on Thu, 24
May 2012, Graham Nye remarked:
(But younger people now might dispense with a TV and just watch
programmes on a laptop.)

My children are much more likely to "watch TV" by using BBC iPlayer, and
the several similar sites for other channels, than having to sit in
front of a conventional TV at exactly the right time.

We have a PVR, but that needs setting in advance, and almost everything
they might have recorded is available online for a week or more.

On the other hand, they are quite likely to use a "TV" as the monitor on
the PC, because that's what we happen to have a surplus of.

The problem with this business model is what's also afflicting Facebook
delivered onto smartphones. There is so much less opportunity to
advertise to the users, that it's not clear where the long term funding
is going to come from.

Drifting OT here, but it was amusing yesterday, to see the mask slip at
Facebook, when a FB exec jokingly said that they *really* needed people
to click on ads, now they are expected to make a profit:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05...facebook_exec/

for my money, I agree with the commentators on the story, that FB will
have to find a way to charge users - probably by introducing a "FB
premium" account.