The
BBC and Channel 4 are refocusing their output to keep up with on-demand services – but don’t bin your TV just yet
Nobody wins a prize for predicting that streaming TV will move up a gear in any upcoming year – but television on demand really is about to hit a whole new level in 2021. How much of the telly you watch this year will be on a live, linear channel, at the scheduled hour, with millions of others tuning in at exactly the same time? For many of us, the answer is getting dangerously close to none.
The stay-at-home atomisation of culture has been accelerated by the pandemic, which has boosted streaming. And a flurry of recent announcements has shown that, in 2021 and beyond, it will undergo another major expansion. Disney+ casually revealed that it has more than 50 Marvel,
Star Wars,
Disney and Pixar originals in the pipeline, to follow on from its already announced Marvel live-action series, and a Boba Fett-focused show to capitalise on the enormous success of The Mandalorian.