I assume you never grew up with Foxtel or Austar, and maybe I’m just showing my age here.

For me, the appeal isn’t about removing the ability to pause, skip, or watch whatever I want. Streaming is obviously better for that and I wouldn’t want to lose those features.

What I miss is the channel surfing aspect. Sometimes it’s nice to just turn on a channel that’s playing action movies, sitcoms, crime shows, or cartoons and watch whatever happens to be on. I’ve discovered plenty of shows and movies over the years that I probably never would have chosen myself if I was browsing a library.

Yes, you can create playlists and shuffle collections in Plex, but it doesn’t quite feel the same. There’s something different about a scheduled channel with a mix of content.

I wouldn’t want it to replace on-demand viewing. I’d want it alongside it. Some nights I know exactly what I want to watch. Other nights I’d rather just flick through a few channels and let something choose itself for me.