Will digital TV change with a change in government?

[mattabat]

Hello,
As Digital Broadcasting Australia puts it, "Digital television
legislation prohibits the commercial television stations offering
additional program channels."
Does anyone know if this situation will change with the ousting of the
Howard Government?
Will competition in digital broadcasting and removal of restrictions
on datacasting occur, say if Mark Latham becomes Prime Minister?
What might we might see happening on the commercial networks if this
happens?
Wouldn't mind seeing things like movie channels on FTA :)

--
mattabat <youfreaks@spammers.org.nospam>

[William Walker]

"mattabat" <mattabat@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:36b480ff.0403172224.7fa6f1d6@posting.google.c om...
> Hello,
> As Digital Broadcasting Australia puts it, "Digital television
> legislation prohibits the commercial television stations offering
> additional program channels."
> Does anyone know if this situation will change with the ousting of the
> Howard Government?
> Will competition in digital broadcasting and removal of restrictions
> on datacasting occur, say if Mark Latham becomes Prime Minister?
> What might we might see happening on the commercial networks if this
> happens?
> Wouldn't mind seeing things like movie channels on FTA :)
>

No i don't think so. Whatever government is elected i believe things are
bound to stay as it is, unfortunately

William Walker

[TrUlY WoNdRoUs YeS SiReE YeS InDeEdY Do]

mattabat@hotmail.com (mattabat) wrote in message news:<36b480ff.0403172224.7fa6f1d6@posting.google.com>...
> Hello,
> As Digital Broadcasting Australia puts it, "Digital television
> legislation prohibits the commercial television stations offering
> additional program channels."
> Does anyone know if this situation will change with the ousting of the
> Howard Government?
> Will competition in digital broadcasting and removal of restrictions
> on datacasting occur, say if Mark Latham becomes Prime Minister?
> What might we might see happening on the commercial networks if this
> happens?
> Wouldn't mind seeing things like movie channels on FTA :)

================================================== ===========================

Hope so !!!!

Think I'll have a little chinwag with Simon Crean's Office so they can
pass it on to Latham !!!!

;-)

================================================== ============================

[-db-]

mattabat wrote:
> Hello,
> As Digital Broadcasting Australia puts it, "Digital television
> legislation prohibits the commercial television stations offering
> additional program channels."

The ABC used to run FlyTV and ABC kids until a funding stoush closed
that down. SBS have their world news channel

> Does anyone know if this situation will change with the ousting of the
> Howard Government?

AFAIK, the ALP have no policy on digital tv on fta. I couldn't find any
references on their web site.

> Will competition in digital broadcasting and removal of restrictions
> on datacasting occur, say if Mark Latham becomes Prime Minister?

The current govt chose to promote HD TV instead of going for a
multichannelling approach. The result has been a slow take off for
digital TV but it does seem to be starting to take off now (3 years
later). This has mainly been due more to the impact of other
technologies like DVD and home cinema. I think the take off of DTV
would have been much faster if the govt had allowed some form of
multichannelling on the commercial networks.

Multichannelling on commercial tv was never going to happen. Media
interests govern a lot of goverment (& opposition) policy. Foxtel
certainly would not be keen on the extra competition.

You also have technical constraints like bandwidth. It would be
extremely difficult to put on an extra channel and run the SD/HD
similcast all within 7mHz. Basically, it is HD or Multichannelled SD.

> What might we might see happening on the commercial networks if this
> happens?

This might be scary. Imagine if Nein set up a dedicated Channel Eddie
for Eddie McGuire:)

> Wouldn't mind seeing things like movie channels on FTA :)

Don't go holding your breath. Mind you, I would mind an Australian
version the the UK's Freeview (http://www.freeview.co.uk/) but I'm not
going to hold my breath either.

cheers
-db-

[TrUlY WoNdRoUs YeS SiReE YeS InDeEdY Do]

-db- <widepope.at.email.dot.com@foo.bar> wrote in message news:<77O6c.111568$Wa.68635@news-server.bigpond.net.au>...
> mattabat wrote:
> > Hello,
> > As Digital Broadcasting Australia puts it, "Digital television
> > legislation prohibits the commercial television stations offering
> > additional program channels."
>
> The ABC used to run FlyTV and ABC kids until a funding stoush closed
> that down. SBS have their world news channel
>
> > Does anyone know if this situation will change with the ousting of the
> > Howard Government?
>
> AFAIK, the ALP have no policy on digital tv on fta. I couldn't find any
> references on their web site.
>
> > Will competition in digital broadcasting and removal of restrictions
> > on datacasting occur, say if Mark Latham becomes Prime Minister?
>
> The current govt chose to promote HD TV instead of going for a
> multichannelling approach. The result has been a slow take off for
> digital TV but it does seem to be starting to take off now (3 years
> later). This has mainly been due more to the impact of other
> technologies like DVD and home cinema. I think the take off of DTV
> would have been much faster if the govt had allowed some form of
> multichannelling on the commercial networks.
>
> Multichannelling on commercial tv was never going to happen. Media
> interests govern a lot of goverment (& opposition) policy. Foxtel
> certainly would not be keen on the extra competition.
>
> You also have technical constraints like bandwidth. It would be
> extremely difficult to put on an extra channel and run the SD/HD
> similcast all within 7mHz. Basically, it is HD or Multichannelled SD.
>
> > What might we might see happening on the commercial networks if this
> > happens?
>
> This might be scary. Imagine if Nein set up a dedicated Channel Eddie
> for Eddie McGuire:)
>
> > Wouldn't mind seeing things like movie channels on FTA :)
>
> Don't go holding your breath. Mind you, I would mind an Australian
> version the the UK's Freeview (http://www.freeview.co.uk/) but I'm not
> going to hold my breath either.
>
> cheers
> -db-

Yeppers :-) Freeview looks like a good idea !! 25 tv channels, 3
interactive tv channels and 21 radio stations offers more choice than
what is normally available on analog free-to-air -- and the one off
payment is also a really good idea -- would be ideal for those who
cannot afford Foxtel, Optus or Austar's so-called "basic" packages
which are really quite exorbitant....

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