How England Watches Television Online

A recent study finds that nearly 40 per cent of British citizens admit that they no longer watch live TV on their set top box, instead choosing to access their favourite television episodes online through video sites, personal video recording devices (PVRs) and file sharing sites like the ill-fated MegaUpload taken down earlier in the year.

More startling is that the new stats came out amongst the announcement that Xbox 360 owners can now watch BBC TV shows online through the console. Over 2,000 viewers aged eighteen and above were polled to figure out how widespread on-demand viewing and time-shifting TV is amongst UK video watchers. 98% said they owned a television, while the remaining 2% said they didn't and found no reason to have one since they could watch it online through their desktop machine, tablet device or through a lap-top/mobile device.

Roughly half the respondents also said they preferred watching television online as they didn't have time to watch the shows during the scheduled broadcast hours. More than 15% of those surveyed said that work obligations and over time prevented them from watching TV shows during the week-day. The survey originated from the UK, so the results found that the majority of respondents chose to watch British channels (BBC and Channel 4), followed by American TV channels like ABC, NBC, CBS and ESPN.

A final segment of the report dove into what kind of TV set box UK tube watchers had. Nearly 68% had some form of HD or LCD/Plasma screen set, while 20% had some form of IPTV set up, and more alarmingly 15% had an old cathode-ray tube television set (a relic of the 21st century).