When I read about Simon Cowell getting all upset about pitting X-Factor against Strictly Come Dancing, my thought was "how old fashioned". In this day and age, more of us are watching television on Sky Plus boxes, on the various online "catch-up" services such as BBC iPlayer, ITV Player or 4oD.
Scheduled broadcasting is so 20th Century. Our lives are getting increasingly busier and we often do not have the time or inclination to rush home to stick the television on and sit glued to the TV watching X-Factor. And there are those that like both X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing but obviously can't watch both at the same time. PVR (personal video recorders) and VoD (video on demand) services are becoming increasingly popular ways to record and watch television programming at the viewer's leisure rather than at the convenience of the broadcaster.
Additionally, BitTorrent has shown that there is a huge demand for episodic drama from around the world – feeding people's needs for programs either before they've aired in their own country, or for those desperate to catch-up without waiting for it to become a re-run on come out on DVD. Unfortunately using BiTorrent in this way is completely illegal.
Additional benefits of (legitimate) video on demand include greater statistics and tracking of viewing habits, including audience ratings, etc. Advertisers can get interactive with the audience by inserting links directly to web sites for those viewing on a computer or set-up box which connects to the Internet.
So is linear/scheduled broadcasting dead? Not quite. Some genres suit themselves nicely for this type of broadcasting. Live sport, for instance, and home shopping. In fact, any live event at all.
TV is changing, and I don't think that Simon Cowell has much to fear from broadcasters airing popular programs live at the same time. Not unless he's into the sports or home shopping markets.
