...as long as ISPs are capping download speeds in the evenings (when people actually have the time to watch TV) there's a limit to how effective VoD over broadband can be. That's before you take into account family homes, where people could actually be using the internet for multiple things at the same time. If you have VoD bogging down somebody else's MMO or other online gaming (both increasingly popular activities) or interfering with another person's web access because of limiting fair usage policies (or even simply because of a bandwidth-hungry VoD service) then this kind of thing won't ever take off.
Ultimately you would end up scheduling to download TV overnight or while out at work (when the connection isn't in use), essentially rendering it as little different to timeshift devices like Sky+ and its Anytime service.
Broadcasters might want people downloading lots over broadband, but ISPs sure don't.
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Surely...
...as long as ISPs are capping download speeds in the evenings (when people actually have the time to watch TV) there's a limit to how effective VoD over broadband can be. That's before you take into account family homes, where people could actually be using the internet for multiple things at the same time. If you have VoD bogging down somebody else's MMO or other online gaming (both increasingly popular activities) or interfering with another person's web access because of limiting fair usage policies (or even simply because of a bandwidth-hungry VoD service) then this kind of thing won't ever take off.
Ultimately you would end up scheduling to download TV overnight or while out at work (when the connection isn't in use), essentially rendering it as little different to timeshift devices like Sky+ and its Anytime service.
Broadcasters might want people downloading lots over broadband, but ISPs sure don't.