Television changed dramatically for all Australians this week with Communications Minister Senator Helen Coonan detailing a new ‘media framework’. Largely the media have focussed on the relaxing of media ownership laws (as if they’re not in the toilet already), however there were a few points that struck a cord with me:
*Develop a Digital Action Plan to drive the take-up of digital television services and help consumers make the transition from analogue services to the new digital environment.
I love my digital television signal. I enjoy watching programming with nicer picture clarity and furthermore, in a widescreen picture ratio. HDTV I find to be too damn perfect, but I digress. Now, while I love digital television, I can certainly understand why most of the rest of Australia don’t give a damn. First of all, unless you have a strong TV reception, digital television (with all of its beeps, pips, and bleeps) is irritating as all heck to watch. I’d much rather constant snow than the picture freezing, or sound defects every two or three minutes.
Secondly, what is the motivation for people to upgrade? As it stands, they’re not receiving any services they cannot already access. Content drives the consumer, not the technology.
*Open up two reserved digital channels for new digital services such as mobile television or new in-home services
In the greater scheme of things, these services will amount to nothing. The real advances in mobile television will come from mobile phone carriers and not a through opening up the spectrum like this. Why not open the industry up to a fourth network. I appreciate that television is expensive to produce and population-wise, we’re a small market, but as it stands, we’re not exactly getting remarkable quality from the three commercial networks. Surely more competition can\’t hurt in getting them to lift their game.
Oh, and heaven forbid that they offer spectrum to any of Australia’s community television stations.
*Permit commercial free-to-air television stations to broadcast one standard definition multichannel from 2009, and to allow full multichannelling no later than the time of digital switchover.
Hooray! Finally a move that *may* drive up the take-up rate somewhat. In my heart, I’d like to believe this means Channel Nine may actually play the Gilmore Girls with regularity, but I just know that they will still try and stiff me by running a continual 24-hour loop of Hey Hey By Request. Heck, people need to see that damn Raymond J. Bartholomew poem again. And again. And again.
*Remove the genre restrictions on the types of programming which can be shown on ABC and SBS multichannels
In my eyes, this is the most exciting element of the overhaul announced. The ABC, in particular, have a vast library of archived content that they have previously been prevented from screening on ABC2.
Ultimately, I know a lot of these changes will mean very little to the Australian media landscape. I’m not entirely convinced that the companies that currently have control of television licenses are doing all that great a job in keeping us informed, or in any way mentally enriched, so all the protectionism put in place to allow them to continue baffles me. That said, at least I may get a few pennies more worth of value from my digital STB in the years to come.
