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fieryphoenix2501
Guest
Will LOST be "fast tracked" or will I have to wait until after the Aus Open?
M
Miajahar
Guest
It returns to US screens on January 21st with a 2 hours season premiere. No word yet on when Channel Seven will air it here. Knowing what Seven are like, I think I'll just continue 'acquiring' it as I've always done.
D
Dave
Guest
doesn't everyone acquire lost these days?!
i can't wait - not long now
i can't wait - not long now
Freeview 'digital mutton dressed as lamb': experts
Snooze buttons … the 15 free-to-air digital channels. Critics say there is little new programming and it is a marketing ploy to slow the drift to pay television.
Rachel Browne
January 11, 2009
IT'S being touted as the dawn of a new era in Australian home entertainment but media experts have derided it as "lipstick on a TV pig".
Freeview is the umbrella term for the free-to-air networks' new channels. The 15 free digital channels are made up of the existing five networks, their high definition (HD) versions and their new standard definition (SD) offshoots.
But only the SD channels are new. The five free-to-air channels have been around for decades and the first HD channel was launched on January 1, 2007.
Rather than offering viewers greater choice, Freeview is a marketing ploy designed to encourage viewers to switch from analog television to digital and slow the flow of viewers to pay television, some television experts say.
"We are a bit pessimistic about it," said media analyst Steve Allen of Fusion Strategy. "It is little more than a marketing tool designed to staunch the onward march of pay TV and encourage people to switch to digital."
Digital television has existed in Australia since 2001 but the take-up has been low. About 40percent of Australian households have made the switch.
The Federal Government announced recently it would cut off the analog TV signal in 2013, requiring all Australian viewers to have a digital tuner or set-top box to receive a signal.
"That will entail some expense for everybody and that's what the Federal Government and the networks are worried about," said media commentator David Knox, of tvtonight.com.au.
"So they are making Freeview sound like this wonderful new service when in fact it's not offering anything particularly different."
Of the SD channels, only ABC2 is well established, with new programming as well as time-shifted programs from ABC1.
The proposed World channel from SBS is dependent on government funding. Of the commercial networks, only Channel Ten has announced plans for its new SD channel. Called One, the 24-hour sports channel will begin broadcasting between April and June this year.
Mr Knox said: "Ten is fairly well advanced with its plans [but] I find it staggering that Seven and Nine, who have known for a long time that as of January 1, 2009, they would have all these extra channels, are yet to announce what they are doing. I think it's a case of each one waiting to see what the other guy is doing."
The commercial networks are also wary of further fracturing their audiences, which have been in slow decline over the past decade due to the advent of pay television and the internet.
Mr Allen said: "Content is the biggest problem for anyone launching a new channel. Are we to believe there are all these hidden gems out there in the world that we haven't seen? I don't think so."
Mr Knox is also sceptical. "I can't see the networks making loads of new programs for these channels. And I can't see them cannibalising the main channels to provide extra entertainment on the new ones. It's just mutton dressed up as lamb."
Foxtel also questioned the 15-channel claim, saying only three of them - One and the yet to be announced channels from Nine and Seven - were new.
But Freeview chairman Kim Dalton said: "[Freeview] means more channels and that means more content and greater choice."
"The digital service also offers better picture quality and better sound quality."
But he admitted: "The reality for the commercial channels will be that new local content will be limited because of the cost of producing new programs."
[email protected]
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technolo...-about-freeview/2009/01/10/1231004355103.html
Mud Cake
God
Freeview 'digital mutton dressed as lamb': experts
Snooze buttons … the 15 free-to-air digital channels. Critics say there is little new programming and it is a marketing ploy to slow the drift to pay television.
Rachel Browne
January 11, 2009
IT'S being touted as the dawn of a new era in Australian home entertainment but media experts have derided it as "lipstick on a TV pig".
Freeview is the umbrella term for the free-to-air networks' new channels. The 15 free digital channels are made up of the existing five networks, their high definition (HD) versions and their new standard definition (SD) offshoots.
But only the SD channels are new. The five free-to-air channels have been around for decades and the first HD channel was launched on January 1, 2007.
Rather than offering viewers greater choice, Freeview is a marketing ploy designed to encourage viewers to switch from analog television to digital and slow the flow of viewers to pay television, some television experts say.
"We are a bit pessimistic about it," said media analyst Steve Allen of Fusion Strategy. "It is little more than a marketing tool designed to staunch the onward march of pay TV and encourage people to switch to digital."
Digital television has existed in Australia since 2001 but the take-up has been low. About 40percent of Australian households have made the switch.
The Federal Government announced recently it would cut off the analog TV signal in 2013, requiring all Australian viewers to have a digital tuner or set-top box to receive a signal.
"That will entail some expense for everybody and that's what the Federal Government and the networks are worried about," said media commentator David Knox, of tvtonight.com.au.
"So they are making Freeview sound like this wonderful new service when in fact it's not offering anything particularly different."
Of the SD channels, only ABC2 is well established, with new programming as well as time-shifted programs from ABC1.
The proposed World channel from SBS is dependent on government funding. Of the commercial networks, only Channel Ten has announced plans for its new SD channel. Called One, the 24-hour sports channel will begin broadcasting between April and June this year.
Mr Knox said: "Ten is fairly well advanced with its plans [but] I find it staggering that Seven and Nine, who have known for a long time that as of January 1, 2009, they would have all these extra channels, are yet to announce what they are doing. I think it's a case of each one waiting to see what the other guy is doing."
The commercial networks are also wary of further fracturing their audiences, which have been in slow decline over the past decade due to the advent of pay television and the internet.
Mr Allen said: "Content is the biggest problem for anyone launching a new channel. Are we to believe there are all these hidden gems out there in the world that we haven't seen? I don't think so."
Mr Knox is also sceptical. "I can't see the networks making loads of new programs for these channels. And I can't see them cannibalising the main channels to provide extra entertainment on the new ones. It's just mutton dressed up as lamb."
Foxtel also questioned the 15-channel claim, saying only three of them - One and the yet to be announced channels from Nine and Seven - were new.
But Freeview chairman Kim Dalton said: "[Freeview] means more channels and that means more content and greater choice."
"The digital service also offers better picture quality and better sound quality."
But he admitted: "The reality for the commercial channels will be that new local content will be limited because of the cost of producing new programs."
[email protected]
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technolo...-about-freeview/2009/01/10/1231004355103.html
Very interesting article but why is there an email address for us to click on?
Oh and Freeview is crap just like Tivo
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rara
Guest
I noticed there is no Golden Globes coverage on FTA this year 
I'm pretty pissed off, I love awards season.
I'm pretty pissed off, I love awards season.
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jase
Guest
Yeah that sucks. It's on live on Foxtel, on Arena I think. I love awards season too.
Nice to get a look at all the distracting graphic logos that will be obstructing the bottom right corner of the screen when all these fake channels come online. Not.
If the arseholes would just treat the viewer first, and the advertiser second, by at least having consistency in their programming, people like me, who are loath to spend bandwidth on television shows, wouldn't be forced with no other alternative.
I have no urge to switch to digital. I think my old CRT produces a better picture than the various wide screen televisions I've seen displayed. The only advantage I can see, is the wide screen capability.
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ferdy
Guest
oh spew.. i was just watching oprah live, and she cried.
i almost vomited... serves me right for watching that fake..
i almost vomited... serves me right for watching that fake..
J
josephine
Guest
What did she cry over?? I used to be addicted to her shows for years...used to sing her praises to everyone but Ten started showing repeat after repeat and not keeping shows in order that I got pissed off with it. Now that I haven't watched her in about 2 years I agree...she is fake, especially when she interviews celebrities.
F
ferdy
Guest
i dont know, some poor unfortunate incident that she was milking for ratings..
i turned it off after that.. my heart was bleeding..
i turned it off after that.. my heart was bleeding..
Mud Cake
God
Indeed Oprah is fake.... No other talk show host tries to buy their audience the way she does, so shamelessly..... And speaking of the audience they sound like a pack of banshees sometimes.
Mud Cake
God
Yep she is. Not the richest, but I think 2nd richest. Her Harpo TV business and Empire is worth some $200 billion.
R
rara
Guest
Watched some food shows on ABC2 last night. Eataholics and America's Fattest City.
Second show was quite disturbing, these people just didn't care that they were obese. 5000cal burgers etc. Horrible!! They don't walk anywhere, one woman wouldn't let her son walk to the bus stop, which was 50ft away from their house.
You could actually see the bus stop from their house! Crazy people.
Second show was quite disturbing, these people just didn't care that they were obese. 5000cal burgers etc. Horrible!! They don't walk anywhere, one woman wouldn't let her son walk to the bus stop, which was 50ft away from their house.
You could actually see the bus stop from their house! Crazy people.
R
Ravenau1
Guest
^^ Was it somewhere in the 'Midwest'?