The digital landscape – Nine pops its head in

Yesterday, something funny happened on the way to the digital convergence revolution. Nine, akin to the older neighbour living next door, decided to pop its head in and try to keep up with the Joneses. While asking for a cup of sugar, they have unveiled their lofty plans for their soon-to-launch general entertainment digital multi-channel.

For those of you who read Televised Revolution with any regularity, you’d be aware that we’ve gushed over Channel 10′s launch of One HD. While we at Televised Revolution are in no way sports guys, we are impressed that Ch 10 have chosen a subject that will serve the network well into the new digital future. Sports programming is one of the few television subjects that require the viewer to watch the program live. In the day of PVR’s, peer to peer, and direct downloading of content, it seems almost foolish to stake a long-term business plan on the idea viewers will still be watching broadcast television as their primary method to watch Two & A Half Men.

The fact Channel 9 have announced plans for a general entertainment station surprises very few people. For a network that has faced financial problems, diminishing viewers, and generally tries little in the way of innovation, a general entertainment channel is a relatively low-cost proposition that would hold great lure to the organization. Playing it safe, however, may simply cause the network to disappear with irrelevance.

Playing devils advocate for a second, however, is there any other real option for the Nine and Seven networks? Freeview have reportedly entertained notions of launching a Hulu-like content distribution service, which isn’t a bad idea. What could be a problem would be if US distribution companies decide they could maximise profits by simply launching an Australian version of Hulu, cutting out their reliance on third party vendors? For Seven and Nine, at this point, the only way to ensure their long-term viability is to offer content that demands immediacy. For the Nine Network, a 24-hour news channel would make perfect sense. Such a move, however, would require a massive investment of money and resources into a service that would cannibalise the viewership for their Sky News service.

Can a FTA network make the same profits by moving a service delivered on cable platforms to a FTA digital multi-channel? One could easily imagine SBS doing something similar with their World Movies station.

Other than news and sports, is there really any other programing genres that demand the same level of immediacy? Ultimately the Seven Network and the Nine Network need to be innovative in developing the foundations for their digital future. A General Entertainment digital multi-channel is not the answer to their future woes, but perhaps there simply is not another choice.