Watch again

The latest figures from Ofcom on tv consumption reflect the widening gap between rich and poor seen in other UK statistics.

The monster that is SVOD (Subscription Video On Demand) is an extra for most users. 70% of the UK's 15.4m SVOD subscribers (usually Netflix or Amazon Prime) already have a traditional pay tv service - Sky, Virgin, BT etc. Half of the UK's SVOD subscribers have two subscriptions.

Consultants Ovum think Netflix may have peaked in the UK. It may be a bad time for the BBC, ITV and C4 bring a new dongle to the market. But remember, it's the content, stupid. The BBC cannot be entirely a bystander in the dispute between UKTV and Virgin, over access to box sets and deep archive. The BBC must, internally, be considering how far it takes the Winter and Summer experiments of 'free' access to selected box sets and series on the iPlayer, when a new pay-product is just around the corner. It remains more likely than not that licence-fee payers will in future have to cough up again to see the programmes they've funded a second time, rather than watch them regularly on UK TV funded by adverts. Unless, of course, it's August, when they'll be on BBC1, 2 and 4.....