Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy today announced that the 2000th eligible household in Mildura had received help converting to digital TV under the Government’s Household Assistance Scheme.

Now, the release focuses on a jolly looking old man, a Mr Jamieson, who we could imagine to be our own grandfather, sporting a jolly old man collared shirt shirt and cardigan. What a wonderfully jolly old man he is (nice coincidence that this jolly old man was the 2000th as well, great photo), and we feel that by helping him, the lovely Household Assistance Scheme has helped our own grandparents. Makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Helping people isn’t my complaint with this scheme, but before we get to that, who exactly does the scheme help?

Senator Conroy said the Government was aware that some people may require help to switch to digital television. … “This is why we have put in place the Household Assistance Scheme – firstly for the Mildura TV licence area and then for eligible households in the next regions to make the switch to digital-only television. … “The scheme involves a government contractor visiting an eligible household to supply, install and demonstrate a high-definition set-top box – specifically chosen to ensure that it meets the needs of the elderly and people with a disability – and conduct any necessary antenna and cabling work if required,” Senator Conroy said.

The list of people eligible includes a category that I could technically fall into, so it’s not overly exclusive. Now, it’s a good thing to “supply, install and demonstrate a high-definition set-top box” but, there is something with the numbers that should be seen as a major warning, not as a moment to celebrate. The fact that the release (perhaps erroneously) states that TWO THOUSAND households required assistance in MILDURA is what rings warning bells. I don’t know if I am correct in saying this, but from the wording of the release the 2000 seems to not include the wider Sunraysia area that is part of the switch off.

The area has been reported to have been the focus of a long running and very intensive campaign as the pet-project for areas switching off analogue TV. There has been saturated advertising, community meetings, education sessions, the involvement of local media, as well as the Household Assistance Scheme. For an area that is so bombarded and given special attention, TWO THOUSAND seems like quite a large number. My inner-sceptic then thought “How big is Mildura anyway?”. When have you ever heard a fashion label advertise “Paris, Milan, Mildura”?

To do the most basic of research, the Mildura Wikipedia article quoting the ABS gives Mildura 13,053 households in the 2006 census. With TWO THOUSAND (maybe more with the switch over still coming up?) households out of THIRTEEN THOUSAND requiring assistance, my calculator comes up with a number of over FIFTEEN PERCENT of households requiring assistance. I wonder if that 15% will apply to all households across Australia? The same 2006 census puts the number of occupied households in Australia at 7,596,183. If so with this assistance rate, that’s going to be ONE MILLION ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY THREE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND NINETY EIGHT households in Australia that may potentially need assistance.

These are very loose, un-scientific numbers I have deliberately made to be sensationalist (notice my use of all caps, I’m a stirrer through-and-through) but they do raise some interesting some interesting observations.

• Obviously, the easiest explanation is that this is a rubbish media release that is easily misinterpreted. If that’s the case, Mr Conroy I offer my services (Tweet me!)
• With so many adverts and information sources out there, this may have been a campaign that is confusing and has been a major waste of money and time.
• The switch over shouldn’t be this difficult, but have we fully realised how many people in Australia will need assistance doing this?
• How much does it cost to supply, install and demonstrate a high-definition set-top box –  … and conduct any necessary antenna and cabling work if required per household assisted? With the contractor, transport, administration, advertising, equipment, insurance etcetera, for potentially a million households, surely this is going to be a big deal.
• How well are we going to be prepared when we move on from this regional area to larger cities? How confident do we become in meeting 2012/2013 switch off dates with these assistance rates?

Last month I purchased a Beyonwiz DP-P2 PVR (thanks to the Global Financial Crisis-inspired stimulus payments issued by the Rudd Govt). The unit is a dual High Definition tuner with a 500gig hard drive. This is not the first PVR I have owned. About 4-5 years ago I purchased a no-name standard definition single Tuner PVR. While that was okay for recording the occasional TV show, the Beyonwiz has radically altered the way that I watch television.

Before I go into depth on the Beyonwiz unit, or how its altered my viewing, I feel it’s important for me to outline how I consumed television.

The Former Television Consumer
I’m not much of a fan of reality television or sports programing. Primarily, my viewing consists of scripted dramas and comedies, with the occasional news, light entertainment, or panel program. Over the past ten years, we’ve seen a strong shift on Australian TV to whats deemed to be reality fare. Scripted programs either didn’t get screened locally, or when they did, very few of them were in prime time. And when they did, the shows were rarely screened in a timely fashion (against the original US/UK airdate), or there was no guarantee that we’d see more than a handful of episodes before being pulled due to bad ratings. For a quality television experience, most of the TV I watched was downloaded.

Every day I would finish work, come home, and my first duty would be to check out a bittorrent site and start the download my evenings viewing. By the time I was ready to watch TV in the evening, I usually had everything ready to be watched by 7/7:30pm. Transferring my files to a multi-media hard drive connected to my TV, I’d then sit down and enjoy my shows. I knew that there were shows going to air on local broadcast TV that I was missing. You’d be surprised at just how much good TV goes to air in the early hours of the morning these days. I wanted to access this very late night, fringe programming. I knew I had to buy a PVR.

Choosing a Unit
Being fairly aware of my options already, my research involved reading through a few websites (I strongly recommend checking out the DTV Forums), as well as bothering salesmen at various electronics stores. On a side note, it must be said that of every store in Brisbane, Harvey Norman at Indooropilly had far and away the most informative staff on the subject. This is not true of most Harvey Norman stores, but the staff there were particularly impressive.

My choice was down to three possibilities. Tivo, a Topfield (7100, I believe), or a Beyonwiz DP-P2 or Beyonwiz FV-L1. Tivo I ruled out quite quickly. The unit only has one HD tuner (with a second SD tuner inbuilt), plus I wasn’t particularly impressed with the software installed. Tivo is a perfectly fine product for your average consumer, but I am reasonably tech-savvy and wanted a machine with a bit more grunt and flexibility. The Freeview-branded Beyonwiz FV-L1 had some restrictions placed upon the unit, such as the inability to skip ads. The Topfield unit was tempting (and came with a strong recommendation from the Manager at Harvey Norman), however I’d heard a few grumblings from folks online. The Beyonwiz DP-P2 was the most expensive, but I just wasn’t hearing any substantial negative feedback. Besides, PM Kevin Rudd was paying.

The Unit
You can read up on the exact specifications on the Beyonwiz site, so I’d like to give a quick overview about the way I interact with my device.

Each unit purchased comes with a three month subscription to IceTV. The Beyonwiz has a perfectly fine EPG from which one can set up recordings from, but the unit is most certainly enhanced by using the IceTV service (which generally comes at a cost of $13 a month). The Beyonwiz unit has an ethernet connection which connects the unit to the Internet. Through the IceTV website, one can program the recordings on the Beyonwiz. Once logged in on the site, you no longer need to be physically close to the unit to record ones shows. One can also utilise their iPhone application to make recordings. All recordings offer the chance to record the single program, or to record the series each time it goes to air. Users can choose between recording every time the show airs, or just first run programs. Also, users can select it to favor the HD broadcast, if possible. Recording programs via IceTV cannot be made more simple.

Once a week I sit down for twenty minutes and thoroughly go through the online guide to select my weeks viewing (adding new shows, one-off specials, and movies). I’ve found the amount of free to air TV I watch now has soared. I’m sure this will vary on a week to week basis, but for the past month and a half, I’ve certainly found enough to keep me watching quite a hefty amount of locally broadcast television. I haven’t missed any episodes of Media Watch (in the past, I’d only remember it was on halfway through the show), and the late night recording of Channel 7′s Saved has introduced me to a little-seen gem.

I still watch a bit of downloaded content (there are a lot of great shows that simply do not get an airing locally). And I’m sure that when the US TV season starts up again, I’m going to find my viewing habits shifting slightly. The Beyonwiz has a great USB input which will play media from any portable media (including my multi-media drive). So far I’m yet to find a file that the Beyonwiz won’t play.

There are two functions that I am yet to really dabble with. The unit has a video input connection which enables users to record video onto the Beyonwiz’s hard drive. This can be used for a variety of purposes from digitizing home movies, your VHS collection, Foxtel, or even DVD’s. A trial of the functionality showed that it doesn’t have a problem with Macrovision encoding. So far I am yet to find I have much of a need for this (aside from digitizing the film Electric Dreams – not available on DVD in any region that I’ve been able to find), but it’s certainly nice functionality. Another feature enables users to export video from the unit across their home computer network. I’m still yet to use this, but again, it is certainly a handy functionality.

The Future
From Dec 28 this year, OzTam will be releasing data relating viewers using PVR’s. My experience in using my PVR has taught me just how much of an extension a high quality unit can make to ones TV viewing experience. Watching TV in this manner is the future of television and its heartening to see the industry now actively seeking audience measurement data on PVR audiences. Audiences aren’t going away. They just want more choice in the content delivery platforms.

I couldn’t be more impressed with the experience I have had in using the Beyonwiz PVR. The user interface took a day or two to get used to, but once familiar with it, the machine has been an absolute dream to use. With iiNet and Telstra mooted to be launching similar boxes in the near future with additional IPTV capability, one can only hope that the units are as flexible and feature-rich as the Beyonwiz has proven itself to be.

I just wish it had in-built wireless connectivity.

The Australian Broadcasting Commission are not willing to let their television audience whittle away. They continue to impress with the way they have taken ownership of the online space in distributing their content. With downloads available through iTunes and their own iView service, the ABC have provided considerable access to their content. Furthermore, the ABC have been proactive in ensuring that this access doesn’t come at a cost to its audience through the establishment of traffic deals with ISP’s to provide un-metered access for users.

Today the ABC have taken this dedication to offering content in a new direction today, announcing their intention to open up their iView service to Sony PS3 users. The PS3, as with the XBox 360 and the Nintendo Wii, is being positioned to serve not just as a gaming device, but as a multimedia portal. One would doubt that the ABC are viewing this as the future direction for their distribution, but rather as another distribution channel that offers convenience for their audience.

The ABC’s Director of Television Kim Dalton has stated that “We want to make our content as accessible as possible to our audience. Increasingly, that means extending our online reach so Australians can watch what they want, when they want it. Today’s gaming consoles, televisions and dvd players all have internet capability and we’re excited to be able to team up with Sony Playstation, as the first step in integrating ABC TV content into new online platforms and technologies.”

In July 2009, iView averaged 764,000 visits, with 47% of users visiting more than once. There’s clearly a demand for flexibility in the way Australians seek their televisual delights. Commercial broadcasters should take note of this success. The approach the ABC is taking is exactly the type of forward thinking that television networks need to embrace in order to survive the digital shift.

Problem #2 – Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

On this weeks shambolic show, Dan and Simon discuss:
*Media hysteria – Channel Ten ‘cancel’ The Simpsons, while the UK ‘cancel’ the boys-own nature of Top Gear.
*Channel 7′s fraudulent boat story footage.
*And The Logies sample bag extravaganza.

The Televised Revolution radio show airs each Saturday morning on Brisbane’s Triple Zed (102.1fm) between 9-10am. The show is streamed at the Triple Zed website and we can be contacted on air via email, Twitter, and phone. Tune In. Listen. Engage.

So, lets say that you aren’t packing up to go on holiday, but rather have lofty plans to simply potter about the house or simply to keep living life the way you do for the eleven other months of the year. What the heck do you watch? Wonder no longer. Over the next few days, Televised Revolution will be delivering a number of viewing options.

Today’s suggestion: Get acquainted with a little slice of genius called The Wire.

THE WIRE
We’re kicking off with The Wire as it is what I’ll be doing primarily to work through this televisual black hole. For those of you unfamiliar, The Wire was produced for HBO, running for five seasons. While the show never reached the popularity of HBO series like The Sopranos, Entourage, or Sex and The City, it had a run that seemed to escape the public consciousness entirely, yet managed to be one of the best shows ever produced for the medium.

So, what the heck is is about? A team of police monitor the phone calls and daily activities of drug peddlers in low socio-economic areas in Baltimore. Unlike most police procedural dramas, this actually showcases the real procedures involved in police work. That is, much of the show deals with the detectives facing the mundane bureaucracy and political infighting that exists within the police service.

But, what makes it great? The shows structure is phenomenally meticulously developed. Each season of the show examines a different element of the construct of the US city of Baltimore. Season one examines the street lives of those pushing drugs in the ‘projects’. Season two takes a look at the proud traditions of the stevedores working the docks (with a focus on illegal shenanigans taking place). Season three takes it back to the streets, but adds a strong focus on politics in Baltimore. Season four introduces some young teens as it examines the school system. And season five takes a focus on the media and media consumption.

If you’re looking for a high quality police procedural where the audience isn’t treated with contempt and stories are not tightly resolved within the hour, you’re doing yourself a disservice by not giving The Wire a crack.

The Wire is available on DVD at most good outlets. Currently season sets are on sale for less than twenty dollars

What news broke over the weekend? Well I’m glad you asked….

#1: Analogue to digital TV switchover timetable to be announced [The Australian]

THE timetable for a region-by-region switch-off of analog television signals throughout Australia is expected to be announced next week. A report prepared by the Government’s Digital Switchover Taskforce has been presented to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and enabling legislation is expected to he passed during this week’s sitting of the federal parliament.

I really don’t know what to say here. It is so far away, everybody will have forgotten by then. Don’t invest in a Digital Set-Top Box, do like I did, invest in kittens. They just keep getting fluffier and fluffier.

#2 McCain to go on Letterman October 16th [THR]

John McCain has successfully negotiated a cessation of hostilities with David Letterman. The presidential candidate is going to have a diplomatic sit down with the late-night leader Oct. 16.

This should make for some pretty good telly!

#3 MIPCOM is currently being held in the French Riviera, the largest media buying event in the world.[THR]

CANNES — How quickly and how widespread the effects of the global financial meltdown would ricochet onto the French Riviera was the question this weekend as a record number of TV execs and producers poured into this French city for the five-day worldwide sales bazaar known as MIPCOM.

Wiki for MIPCOM: “It is essentially a content event for co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing entertainment content. It provides the people involved in the TV, film, digital and audiovisual content, production and distribution industry a market conference and networking forum to discover future trends and trade content rights on a global level.”
If you want to hear what the “biz” is saying and want to read some of the often questionable statements execs make, I thoroughly recommend the THR MIPCOM 2008 page.

#4 “SEVEN Network chief executive David Leckie is already claiming victory in next year’s TV ratings — six weeks before the current season even ends — and has lashed out at rivals who criticised him when he was in a coma earlier this year.”

Plummeting international share markets did not deter Mr Leckie from going public with inflammatory comments made to advertisers last week, including calling Ten the “pocket-money generation” network, and suggesting Ten chief executive Grant Blackley was “no good”.
The mercurial network boss said Nine would be “f..ked” next year without high-rating shows from celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay; called its success this year “a fluke”; and said it would need to find 110 hours of television to replace its 7pm sitcom Two And A Half Men.

Careful David…..

Maybe this is just me living in a post Gruen Transfer world, but I really do think these are great ads. The second one (while much longer and containing an actual narrative) is equally amazing.

From what I’ve read, the first spot was “panned” by many, and Microsoft had to release a press release to explain it. I think the main reason the ad got panned is because most people are simply awful. A world where Thank God You’re Here gets repeated into infinity and people give a poop about how well Fifth Graders can memorise pre-planned questions, but you have to wait until the end of the year to see a show (like Chuck) that even my Grandma has downloaded and seen already.

On this note, with the aim of making the world a better TV place, here is the second advert.

Remember to check out the first one.

I know, I know, I will chew the ear of anyone who will listen about the wonders of the digital revolution and how it will ultimately leave broadcast TV behind. Currently the internet TV we’re seeing that is viable is also broadcast on TV and cable and is either available on multiple platforms, or a copy made and distributed of a TV show. Basically: TV on a smaller screen, or piracy. There are lots of online TV services (the previuously discussed and excellent WasabiTV for example), but we are still at the thin end of curve.

The internet is meant to be freeing and democratic, and when we start to bring these ideals into the production and distribution of programs we will continue to see more and more new and interesting things. The idea of a populace making their own television. An individual could make one TV show in there whole lives, a period where they truly and critically engage with media and create something new. If 1/1000th of the world did this we would drown in millennia of content. The economic model for something like this is of course ridiculous, but a boy with a spare millennia can dream.

But I digress. I found a little show on the youtubes (one can only assume these are tubes for you?). “Radioface” has to be one of the funniest shows I’ve seen in quite a while. I can’t call it a sketch show as the whole show seems to sit inside this great performance of a very refreshing and self-aware internet identity. There are still all the nods to television continuity and editing, so this isn’t something so “new” (read: crap) it is totally unwatchable as can happen with entirely internet shows. The comedy isn’t really for everybody, but as an internet based show this is really to be expected. There are still elements that are entirely dependant on computers: the editing of computer game footage, hypertextuality, and the shaking of laptops to manipulate performances. The result is an exceptionally funny show that is well worth the half hour to watch the three parts.

Parts two a three embedded in the extended.

As such, it is interesting to watch the manner by which ABC Online is undoing the fine work of ABC1′s Media Watch.

This week Media Watch ripped into 2DayFM for their on-air stunts and the relative low brow nature of them. Media Watch questioned their ethics in putting to air segments such as a competition in which a man was to view four womens vaginas in studio and determine which belonged to his girlfriend.

Now, there is a delicious sense of irony that ABC Online have opted to sensationalize the Media Watch story by putting a framegrab of four g-string clad ladies on its site as a means to entice people to click on the Media Watch story link.

ABC Online:

ABC Online Up Close:

The ‘Best of abc.net.au’? Well, I guess that is really just a point of view.

Well, it turns out things are heating up more than I predicted regarding SAG, AFTRA, and the AMPTP. TV Rev HQ was all a-buzz with the hope that there wouldn’t be another TV strike with AFTRA seeming to be getting on swimmingly with deal talks. Damn SAGgies! Things are getting a bit more complicated, and possibly litigious. The up side to all of this is there is no report of SAG getting ready to strike (a deal is in everybody’s interests). Film and Television production couldn’t handle another strike this year, or even for a while yet. For the first time people can actually feel sorry for TV networks taking massive hits to revenue and ratings, and the possibility of further problems could threaten the long term running of broadcasters as well as their employees. An actors strike would be the worst kind of action right now, there would be a total stop to production. It’s also difficult for actors to take on scab work under an assumed name. You would have to imagine that after the last strike a lot of actors would leave their unions and continue to work.

From Variety

SAG goes to war against AFTRA: Legal action threatened
By DAVE MCNARY

In a move that will unnerve Hollywood, the longtime feud between the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists has gone nuclear.

SAG’s launched an extraordinary campaign to persuade its 44,000 members who also hold AFTRA cards to defeat ratification of AFTRA’s primetime deal. SAG’s stunning move, voted up Friday by its bitterly divided national exec committee on a 13-10 margin, prompted AFTRA to threaten to take SAG to court for interfering in its internal affairs.
[...]
Still, SAG leaders haven’t taken the step of calling for a strike authorization, even though its contract expires in three weeks. Instead, SAG insists that it’s all about getting a better deal for actors and notes it’s still far apart from the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers.

SAG president Alan Rosenberg notified members Sunday that there remain half a dozen major gaps — including DVDs, product integration, mileage pay and new-media pay. [Emphasis added] “These are examples of priorities for actors that were not achieved in the AFTRA deal,” he added.
[...]
SAG hasn’t responded to questions about an AFTRA lawsuit but its defense would likely center on claims of free speech.
[...]
In addition to the “solidarity” rally today, SAG’s also scheduled a townhall meeting Wednesday at the Harmony Gold Theater. The Writers Guild of America, which received extensive support from SAG during its 100-day strike, issued a call to its members to attend the rally.
[...]