I've recently come across the following article in Media International Australia, and feel that it relates in many ways to my own research:
Messe, J. (2017) The domestic ecology of Australian subscription video on demand services, MIA.
It has attuned me to be more aware of my own choices and patterns of consuming sport domestically.
For example, since switching off the Fox Sports satellite, I've found that not only do I now watch all of my Fox Sports via OTT, but I actually watch a lot of free-to-air television via OTT as well, even though terrestrial free-to-air is still available.
In some ways, I do this through the want to be seen as an OTT consumer, and and early adapter in this space. Part of me also wants to consume in this way to force all broadcasters to see that this is where consumption is going and so to force them to improve their OTT delivery and performance.
The apps that I'm streaming through, usually to chromecast, are by and large rubbish. Usually glitchy, with latency issues, and unexplained drop-outs. While the Foxtel app is by far and away the worst app, the other apps still have their own issues. The Channel 9 app drops out unexpectedly. The Channel 7 app won't allow to stream to the chromecast. The workaround in that situation is that you can chromecast from the Freeview app, and Channel 7 offer their content on there!!
The Freeview app I believe has won a number of awards, and you can see why. It's good to navigate, and has good functionality and responsiveness. It carries most - not all - of the FTA content, and it's guide is also very good. ABC iView is not far behind, and offers good quality, although I've found some issues with the display. For instance, it doesn't always display the latest episode of a series in search results. Channel 10 and the SBS really need to pick up their act in this area - much of their content can't be streamed live.
I've also become a lot more aware of the linear nature of my viewing now, or outright on-demand consumption. I no longer have the set-and-forget series record of iQ on Foxtel, so I now have to remind myself what day a particular show is on, and try to watch it when it airs (with the ads as well!) For example, I now have to be at home at 7:30pm to watch AFL 360, or try and catch the replay at 9:30pm. By the time it appears on-demand on the app, it's over 24 hours old and effectively out of date. The same goes for MediaWeek on Sky Business, which can be difficult because it's at 2:30pm on a Thursday. Where content isn't available after first airing - such as MediaWeek, I've been forced to try and find that content on their own website, or on YouTube. I'm sure there may be notifications, or alerts that you can set up on the various apps to let you know when a show is airing, but I haven't looked into it yet.
There has been the loss of some channels as well SyFy and Fox Classics aren't channels I watched a whole lot of, but they were things I turned to during the summer or at other low points. Fox Classics always had Hitchcock and Eastwood marathons, and I can't find anything similar on other apps or in other libraries.
The other mode of my viewing incorporates binge watching of on-demand drama or doco content. For instance, I've revisited Louie on-demand, and East-bound and Down on demand, and lots of movies on demand. Because of the change in the previous paragraph I've had to now watch some shows this way instead of on a week-to-week bases. The Katering Show and Media Watch, both on the ABC, are examples of this. Previously watched from the DVR after they'd aired, I now watch them in binge-mode which isn't great because, especially with Media Watch, they tend to be based on events of the last week.
Probably another shift is a return to viewing content on FTA, but more so in the shape of watching shows on-demand via their apps. So for instance, Kath and Kim is a show I hadn't watched at all since switching to Channel 9. Because Channel 9 wasn't mapped onto my Foxtel service, I couldn't DVR shows, so it fell off the radar. When it was on the ABC I could DVR it. Now, I've turned back to it, because I've been forced to trawl through my available libraries to find content. These libraries include all the FTA apps, the on-demand on Foxtel, and Netflix.
A major drawback of my consumption now is the inconvenience of use - turning the TV on, launching the app on the iPad, then casting to the chromecast is a pain in the ass. And then changing the channel takes time and patience, due to latency. Also searching without changing channels is difficult. On iQ it was pretty straightforward, but it now involves switching between apps, guides, and so on.
In the morning there is nothing on - this used to be the time when I would watch programs saved on the DVR in the iQ that had been recorded overnight. So for example, I've hardly watched any episodes of The Jump or OTL since switching to OTT, because the Foxtel app doesn't offer these programs on-demand, possibly because they are ESPN native programs. These programs were a great way of getting the latest on NBA and American sports, and definitely my knowledge base in this respect in these areas has suffered as a result.
Much like the Messe article, I find myself watching the TV in the living room during the main part of the evening, then might go to bed and watch on the iPad, sometimes to finish what I've been watching earlier.
Also, since I've gone OTT, I've found my VPN use has probably dropped, and is used strategically on occasion, as also outlined in Messe. For example, I will use the VPN if I want to get a particular movie or TV show that isn't on one of my libraries. And I've also found the VPN less effective than it used to be, especially when run through the chromecast, also reflecting a finding of the Messe article, in that it seems that some formal structures are 'fighting back' against VPN use.
One other comment about the Messe article - I think it does some great observational work, but it fails to discuss in any great length the use of sports consumption in that space. There is one mention of NHL watching, without exploring the idiosyncrasies of sports consumption.
Finally, and I may have blogged about this previously, but I've found myself now sharing logins with others. This is talked about in the Informal Media Economy I think, but I share my Foxtel Now login, of which I have 5, and a mate shares with me his Netflix login. It saves money, and is an affordance of this type of delivery.
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