Articles about Television

The UK government is considering introducing an additional tax for subscribers of streaming services such as Disney+ and Netflix. The money raised in this way could be used to help fund the BBC, which has been struggling financially for some time.

Several ideas are being floated to try to top up the coffers of the public service broadcaster which is largely funded through the television license fee. With the license fee already somewhat controversial, the idea of charging users of non-BBC related streaming services is likely to provoke angry reactions.

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According to a new study 59 percent US and UK consumers are now more cautious about trusting others online thanks to having watched fraud documentaries.

The report from Onfido looks at the impact of popular shows like Inventing Anna and The Tinder Swindler and finds that 67 percent of consumers admit they have changed their outlook on fraud.

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Thank God for streaming live television services, which have freed us all from cable TV's stranglehold. While streaming isn't always more affordable than cable, it is absolutely beneficial to have more options. My household uses YouTube TV, for instance, but there are many other streaming TV options too, such as fuboTV and Sling TV.

Speaking of Sling TV, today, consumers get a new platform on which to watch that service -- VIZIO SmartCast. Yes, if you own a compatible smart television from that company, you can watch Sling TV without the need of an external media box, such as a Roku. How cool is that?

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It’s been rumored for a while that Amazon was planning to make its own smart TVs -- rather than just partnering with other television manufacturers to offer 'Fire TV Editions' (sets with Fire TV and Alexa built-in) -- and today the retail giant confirms this with the announcement of two new 'Amazon-built' smart TVs -- the Amazon Fire TV Omni Series and Fire TV 4-Series.

The Fire TV Omni Series is Amazon’s premium offering and it comes with far-field voice controls so you can talk to Alexa from across the room. Alexa voice controls are always available, even if the set if turned off. Don’t worry though, you can disable this feature if you’re not keen on the idea of a television set listening to your every word.

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How is a television like a fax machine? They are both obsolete.

Remember a time when nobody had a fax machine? Then suddenly everybody had a fax machine. And now nobody again has a fax machine. What would have previously come by fax today is a PDF attachment to an e-mail or text or to one of a number of messaging services. Well the same transformation is happening to traditional television and for generally similar reasons. And just as fax machines seemed to disappear in just a few years, I’ll be surprised if broadcast TV in the U.S. survives another decade.

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