PwC finds most Canadians confused over digital television service offerings

The concept of digital television is confusing Canadians, and as such, not many are planning to buy it, according to a new survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers. But the firm’s principal consultant in the area says that uncertainty won’t last long as people begin associating the technology with a flood of new interactive services coming online in the next few years. Reasons for Not Using Broadband to Access Too expensive43%Don’t need22%Satisfied with current method3%Don’t understand technology1%Don’t see the benefits4% Hassle to switch8%Other9%PwC Consumer Technology StudyThe Canadian Consumer Technology Study 2000 conducted by PwC indicates that while only five per cent of Canadians say they know a lot about DTV, fully 25 per cent claim to be subscribing to it. That’s little wonder, says PwC’s Mark Allen, when the term currently covers such a broad range of services and devices. According to the study, when Canadians think "digital", they associate the term with sound and audio quality. Some 30 per cent believe DTV provides sharper pictures, and 15 per cent say it results in better sound. Another 15 per cent responded "other". "I think it’s reasonable for them to be confused about digital TV right now. It’s principally because it means a lot of things. You’ve got your DVDs. You hear about digital broadcasting in the U.S. You hear about digital cable and digital satellite, and then you get things like TiVo, personal digital recorders. Yes, I think it’s very reasonable that consumers are confused about digital TV," says Allen. It’s likely that confusion will continue for the near term as even more digital services are rolled out, and as new DTV licence-winners begin promoting their stations. But Allen doesn’t expect it will last long. "I think in the future what you’re going to see is this whole question of what is digital TV and what isn’t digital TV is probably going to go away. It’s going to be more, ‘what is the service?’" Digital TV, as currently offered by cable operators and satellite companies, has more to do with quality than interactivity. But a new generation of set-top boxes to be rolled out over the next three years will offer shopping, Internet access and email, among other things. Allen says television will eventually overtake other devices as the preferred way of gaining access to broadband content, and that Europe is beginning to lead the way. "Everyone always asks, when is the Internet going to take over TV? The landscape is really starting to shake out now where TV is the real broadband medium with devices that make that an interactive experience – or there’s a greater control over that – like TiVo devices and shopping on your TV," he says. "You can really see over the next five years TV’s going to stay the real broadband device… In the long run, who knows the Internet? They may release a technology that makes TV on the Internet as easy as pie." The Consumer Technology Study also found that 74 per cent of Canadians are not downloading or streaming music from the Internet. Nearly 48 per cent of those say they have no desire to do so, while 12 per cent don’t know how and 19 per cent feel it takes to long to search and download. Only 12 per cent of Canadians surveyed are downloading or streaming videos and short films, with less than 25 per cent believing the experience is as enjoyable as other access means. As with music, nearly half of those not watching shorts and videos online have no desire to do so.

PwC finds most Canadians confused over digital television service offerings

Broadcast | November 29, 2000

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