To the person born in the early nineteen fifties, the big entertainment in the home was the radio which may of been a music program, news and current affairs, weekly drama shows or sports and people would gathered by it listening intently.
By the end of that decade, with the second Commercial channel, Associated Rediffusion, for those here in the Midlands on channel 8, tv had made a grand entrance, taking a prime spot in the living room, pushing the radio to one side.
Probably why can be answered in that sets became cheaper and Commercial television provided more the shows people wanted to watch, quizzes, entertainment shows and drama for children where the BBC still felt it was in order to give viewers what it thought was good for them.
For a long time while we gained things like colour television, the information system, Teletext, stereo sound and wide screen pictures things stayed the same even as satellite television and digital services came in giving us more channels, potentially better pictures and even catch up channels.
Today it seems we are at a crossroads in how both consume television and on what as more people choose individual programs through streaming services and watching on tablets or the ever present smart phone and yet some are unable to get good mobile or fibre broadband services which makes the suggestion by some in broadcasting that one can just "switch off" television by antenna or a satellite dish one that would impact more remote parts of the UK and the least well off.
Access to news and current affairs, sports and at least some everyday tv shows is part and parcel of the shared culture of us all so to lose that would bring social costs and yet there is no clear vision by broadcasters on the way forward, how gaps in internet services can be reduced and what replaces satellite given many operators don't just wish to lose the costs of sending signals up to satellites but also the infrastructure costs of a network of tv transmitters for reception via your antenna.
Perhaps a report set by Parliament to examine this question making recommendations and a binding agreement by the stakeholders is what is needed because owners of facilities such as satellite services need to know now so they can commission the next generation of satellites which typically takes some four years ready for 2029/30.
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