As cheap TV sets become, well, more affordable to the average punter another shift in the way that we watch football is quietly occurring up and down the country. It only takes a quick look at the cheap TV sets now available from suppliers like dixons.co.uk to see that the relatively novel technology of the 3D TV has already been slashed in price by an industry keen to find a wider market for these products. As with all new technology, when 3D TVs were launched just a few years ago they came at a premium, as the cost of small production runs and the Research and Development budget was recouped in the time honoured fashion while manufacturers waited to see if the product took off. The majority of these sales were focussed on those businesses – primarily sports bars and pubs – that could justify the expense of buying 3D TV as an investment that would bring in customers. While public houses still proudly advertise the acquisition of a 3D TV, a technology that has revolutionised the way that we view set pieces and corners in a game, the recent drop in price for these units may be about to further undermine the way that we have come to watch football in this country in the last couple of decades(which is on TV, of course).
Televised football is a massive driver of both week night and weekend business for pubs in the UK, and watching the game down the local has become the only way that many people ever watch a match. With actually going to the game now considered by many of the younger generation to be a hard core option for the truly devoted – while creature comforts and readily available alcohol claim many who previously travelled to stadiums – watching football in the pub has become a supporting ritual in its own right, but for how long?
The continued demise of the Great British pub has been a regular feature of the news for several years now, with the standard explanation of this downward trend being the effect of the ban on public smoking now in force throughout the UK. While the immediate sales figures from the licensed trade in the wake of the smoking ban supported this explanation, the effect that the continued spread of satellite and cable TV to residential homes has frequently been downplayed.
Cheap supermarket alcohol, and the availability of exactly the same coverage as is being shown in the pub has made the home the venue of choice for many increasingly sedentary football fans. And now the pull to the pub exerted by the novelty of 3D TV may be on the wane, thanks to the increasing affordability of this technology for the home. Progress? You decide. For more debate about the effects of TV technology on the way we view football try looking at: http://www.ahfcchat.com.
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