The box in the corner still captures sport’s biggest moments
A crucial detail to emerge from the ongoing row in the UK about the BBC taking away free TV licences for over-75s concerns the age of people who actually watch TV. The average age of a BBC1 viewer, it turns out, is 61, and a year older for BBC2. In other words, a large proportion of the Beeb’s customers do not pay for the service, hence the decision to make Grandma stump up for the Antiques Roadshow.
Putting aside the political firestorm the decision has sparked — coming in the middle of a Tory leadership contest, which will eventually see two candidates put before the famously Jurassic party membership — the numbers suggest that traditional TV is drifting off into its sunset years, gently snoozing its way into irrelevance.
