75 years of tv! (what has media convergence ever done for us)

It is worth also mentioning that the BBC has just had the 75th anniversary of then worlds first high definition broadcast (news story below)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15554368
time line of emergence of broadcasting as we know it on the bbc
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/keyfacts/stories/keydates.shtml
now apart from this just being an interesting fact, and something quite impressive it serves a purpose when discussing the attitudes of a modern day audience and how they have changed over time.
when the BBC was first launched there was no competition from other companies for view figures, arguably giving the BBC the most passive of audiences. The BBC decided what they wanted the audience to see and showed it to them. After the television act became law in 1954 it allowed space for a competitor to the BBC programming in the form of a commercial station, ITV started broadcasting in September 1955 as a result the audience were then able to make a choice of what they could view. This choice then inevitably was widened by the introduction of channels 4 and 5, and the introduction of Sky.
However although there was more choice and networks were having to work harder to increase viewing figures as an audience we were still very much under their grip. they chose how and when programmes were to be distributed and all we could do is to watch when told.
Now due to changes in new media technologies such as Tivo and sky plus we have the option to record several programmes at once and store many more hours of television than would have been practical on video. But it hasn't stopped there due to societies ever growing need and market push to have instant gratification, wherever whenever on demand programming was introduced allowing people to watch the programmes they want whenever they want, but also allowing companies to track viewing figures, viewing trends and also maximise advertising revenue buy featuring adverts in their on demand viewing.

All in all we've come pretty far in 75 years!