The BBC's recent announcement that viewers will be able to watch BBC channels live on their computers was met with great excitement from many people across the United Kingdom, particularly those who do not always have access to a television set, including students at numerous Universities. Viewers are already able to watch live streaming of programmes on BBC Three, BBC Four, and BBC News, as well as the more minor channels which are popular with young children, CBBC and CBeebies.
However, other people have expressed their concern at the news. Streaming television programmes live over the Internet will obviously increase traffic over the web. Previously, viewers could watch BBC programmes after the time of live broadcast via the iPlayer option. However, the live streaming option is set to drastically increase the traffic in comparison to the previous option. Downloading a television programme is a more efficient means of viewing over the web because it can be done between other network traffic. On the other hand, when viewers stream a programme, it takes up a very specific amount of capacity.
An Internet researcher, Francesco Caio, believes that the new move from the BBC could seriously impact upon the cost of monthly broadband in the future. In areas which are heavily populated, broadband performance could be harmed and this could result in price increases within three to five years from now.
The scheme has also come under fire from those who believe that it throws the relevance of TV Licensing into fresh doubt.
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