A good documentary can entertain and inform you like few other mediums, but we’re seeing less and less of them on Australian television. What’s going on?
Whatever its annoyances, digital TV will become the only TV game in town in 2013. Six months ago, 74% of Australian households had converted to digital. In the latest figures, that number has grown ever-so-slightly to 77%.
New anti-siphoning rules for sport on TV permit commercial broadcasters to switch major events from their main channel to a second digital channel if they overrun, but the legislation to enable them hasn’t yet been introduced. However, the government has agreed that Seven can switch Australian Open broadcasts onto a secondary channel, avoiding a repeat of last year’s situation where major match coverage was canned for news broadcasts and Home & Away.
It was announced last August and has been in non-stop promo since late December, but Ten’s third digital channel 11 finally launches today (11am on 11/01/11). Ten has promised a different approach to the other commercial networks when it comes to programming repeats from its main channel, but will that strategy last?
The fact that it’s easier and more reliable to download TV via BitTorrent than watch it via erratic broadcaster schedules is hardly a new development. However, commercial TV networks appear to be largely in denial about that threat to their business.
Digital TV brings many benefits: extra free channels, potentially better reception, HD broadcasts, and an electronic program guide. But it also has its own nuisances. Here’s five things about digital TV that continue to annoy Lifehacker readers.
The government yesterday finally announced planned changes to the anti-siphoning rules which govern the broadcasting of sports. While “major” sports will continue to be protected and there’s increased flexibility for broadcasting on digital multi-channels, the changes aren’t necessarily great news for lovers of HD broadcasts or live sports fans.
While urban TV viewers get increasingly overwhelmed with a range of digital TV choices, many regional Australians have survived with just the ABC plus (at most) a pair of commercial stations. That’s now set to change, but will it necessarily be an improvement?
Nine’s plans to launch its third channel GEM one day ahead of Seven’s third channel 7Mate appear to have backfired, with TV Tonight reporting that the channel now won’t launch until this Sunday at 6am because of technical difficulties. If nothing else, that means a temporary reprieve for fans lamenting the loss of Nine’s general HD channel. [TV Tonight]
Tomorrow sees the launch of Nine’s third channel GEM, and Seven follows on Saturday with 7Mate. Chances are you’ll need to perform a channel rescan on your TV or set-top box to take advantage of the new channels, so add that to your to-do list if you fancy some HD AFL Grand Final action or a selection of “female-oriented” viewing this weekend.
