With more and more TV becoming available online, will streaming soon supplant traditional television? Is TV moving online good or bad? The outgoing and incoming TV Editors go tête-à-tête:

Carmella Lowkis (Outgoing Editor): “A world of creative opportunity”

Yes, BBC Three’s online move was a sad occasion – but not because TV moving online is a bad thing!

When the BBC Trust made the decision to shunt the channel over to the web, they also halved its budget, meaning that we’ll be seeing fewer original dramas and new acquisitions making up its content. But, amazingly, the channel’s move actually saves the BBC £30m a year – money which has been redirected to funding excellent drama on BBC1 and BBC2.

In times like these, we’re all feeling the pinch, and the BBC is no different. As a public service, their budget has been cut under austerity measures just the same as any other public service. If moving channels online helps to stretch this money further, and keeps the BBC away from the need for privitisation, then surely it’s a good thing?

What’s more, online services are far more suited to the needs of today. Who has time to schedule in their viewing sessions based on the TV timetable?

Particularly for channels like BBC Three, whose content is aimed at the under-25 market, airing popular programmes at 9PM on a Friday night (when everyone’s too busy with pre-drinks) is never going to be the best way to maximise viewing.

Carmella Lowkis, outgoing TV Editor. Image: Carmella Lowkis

It’s long been the stereotype that young people spend all their time watching TV, but this quickly changing. A recent survey conducted by Childwise found that, in 2015, for the first time ever, the average amount of time young people spent online overtook the amount of time spent watching television.

Who knows – in just a decade’s time, maybe traditional TV will have met the same fate as the cassette player and the VCR. Online is clearly where it’s all happening, and TV broadcasters would be unwise not to ride that wave.

But it’s not just about maximising revenue: TV moving online also opens up a world of creative opportunity. Gone are the days when pressing the red button was the peak of interactivity. Online, there’s all the space in the world for additional content, such as cast interviews, character profiles, ‘behind-the-scenes’ exclusives, in-world social media accounts – TV suddenly becomes a cross-media phenomenon.

This is what All4 gets so right, with its modern, user-friendly website that makes watching Channel 4 shows online even easier than turning on a TV set!

I’m not saying that I think traditional TV should be phased out just yet (we’re only just getting over the digital switchover, after all!), but it certainly looks like things are headed in that direction. But let’s not see this as the inescapable march of modernity; let’s see it for what it is: an exciting opportunity that will undoubtedly revolutionise the way we view TV.

Beth Thomas (Incoming Editor): “TV would be sorely missed”

It’s undeniable; with everything moving online, the way we watch TV has dramatically changed in the past decade. While this may be convenient, especially for students who want to avoid paying a TV license, I still can’t help feeling that the old way of watching TV would be sorely missed.

Beth Thomas, incoming TV Editor. Image: Beth Thomas

I felt that a little bit of my childhood had gone when BBC Three – the channel that brought us Gavin and Stacey, Being Human, and Torchwood – recently moved online. It’s mostly targeted at young people, so moving it online shouldn’t be that much of a problem – unless you’re a technophobic 90 year old who happens to love Family Guy – but part of the magic of BBC Three being on TV was that I stumbled across a lot of these wonderful shows just by flicking through the channels, rather than actively searching for them online.

A lot of the best moments in TV history have happened live, and I doubt that you’d get the same effect with on-demand channels.

For me, the brilliance of live TV came across most strongly in the Olympics. Let’s face it; watching Mo Farah win the gold medal in the 10,000 metres, hours, even days, after he’d completed the race just wouldn’t have been the same. When watching it live, my mum and I got completely swept up in the moment as we watched him cross the finish line, an experience that TV on-demand just doesn’t offer in the same way.

Sure, being able to watch your favourite shows whenever you want is great, but this often means being holed up in your room, hunched over your laptop as your bed slowly begins to smell of Doritos. Whatever happened to watching TV with friends and family?

Gogglebox, love it or hate it, really does show one thing; that watching TV is a social occasion that brings people together and sparks discussion

Of course, my housemates and I still sit down together to watch films on Netflix, but this often involves someone running to get their laptop charger halfway through.

I’ll admit that I think more and more channels will eventually become on-demand, which isn’t a huge problem for our technologically savvy generation. But for those less acquainted with the Internet, namely the elderly, this could be more of an issue.

Yes, it’s possible to teach older people how to use Netflix, but personally, none of my grandparents own computers, so having channels move online would be daunting for them.

Ultimately, I think more channels will become on-demand, but with many people who rely on the conventional way of watching TV, I don’t think we’re ready to see a complete move online just yet.