Believe it or not, the fact is that when it comes to technology I am perpetually late to the party.

I’m not an early adopter – mostly because I’m not a sucker – and I’m always mindful of the words of one of my mentors: “Never buy the first generation of anything.”

That’s just preamble though, and you probably already knew that. So let’s get to the point.

I’ve only recently began watching network TV shows via iPad apps. Since the experience is fresh, I’ve noticed a few things.

The first is that not all apps are created equal.

In fact, they vary wildly, and have a huge impact on the viewer’s user experience.

I’m going to pick on Canadian broadcasters in this blog post. Your experience with US broadcasters may vary, and I’d be keen to learn from your experiences in the comments section.

I’ll start with handing out the tummy rubs: Global TV’s iPad app is slick, with clear navigation, the videos load quickly and most importantly the resolution and quality of the video streaming is excellent. I also notice when listening with my high-end headphones that the audio mix is surprisingly high quality.

By contrast, the CTV app is glitchy and terrible. Half the time the videos are unavailable, and you have to close out the app and reopen it to try again. When the videos do load, they take forever, and the quality of the streaming video is noticeably lower res and more prone to artifacts than Global’s app. The audio is also noticeably flat.

It’s especially disappointing because CTV belongs to Bell Media, a vertically integrated giant that covers broadcast, satellite, internet and telecom. If anybody has the money to develop a decent app, it’s them.

The lesson here is that apps matter, and broadcasters, if they want to play in the streaming video space, and hold on to viewers who, more and more, are abandoning their TVs, some effort and money have to be spent to make sure the user experience encourages viewing rather than discouraging it.

Notably, in both apps after 30+ years of TVs with mute buttons and VCRs with Fast Forward functions broadcasters have finally found a way to make views watch advertisements: disable the ability for app users to skip the commercials.

Good for them, I suppose.