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May 27, 2005
Go digital ... or else!
Look. You mob haven't been buying digital TV sets, which puts the Government in a bit of an embarrassing spot, what with it plannning to switch off the analogue signal in three years time. Particularly given that in Britain, where 80 per cent of people have gone across to digital, the analogue transmission will continue until 2012.
Our Minister for Selling Telstra Plus Some Unimportant Stuff, Senator Helen Coonan, thinks it might be a bit dodgy for the government if it throws 90 per cent of TV viewers into sudden darkness, and is therefore muttering about possibly extending the deadline.
What we can't understand is Kerry Packer's pussy-footing around, telling the government it ought to mandate installation of digital tuners by manufacturers - one of those typically Packeresque tactics of getting someone else to subsidise his profits. Surely he should just ring up the Prime Minister and tell him to jail anyone who's still using analogue TV. They could possibly include it in the new industrial relations reforms. Maybe Kerry's just waiting until his company opens its private prisons department.
Posted by cw at May 27, 2005 01:22 PM
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Comments
there is a very simple solution to this problem, quandary, issue!
So simplistic and audacious, no-one has dared voice it. ...and it is that all the TV broadcasters in Australia share the cost of providing to viewers "AT NO COST" the tuners needed for digital TV. Simple really! and a guaranteed 100% takeup of digital TV.
Posted by: Ian Smith at May 27, 2005 02:05 PM
Interesting, though I thought the TV media had already had some input into the whole digital set-top box issue. Indeed it's very hard to buy one that comes with two tuners plus hard drive and DVD recorder. Most have one tuner and little else. Watch potential customers faces when they realise that if they go digital via this route they can't even watch one show while video recording another anymore. The words "forget it" literally flit across their countenance.
On Coonan and cross media see this interesting article on Crikey
Posted by: tflip at May 27, 2005 02:39 PM
It has its drawbacks, but the picture is superb. I used to have all sorts of interference problems with the ABC pre-digital. Now the picture is faultless. Can't imagine the government not graduating the changeover though.
Posted by: justin at May 27, 2005 10:10 PM
Anyone interested in this issue will find the Netvideo interview with the Member for Parramatta, Julie Owens, worth watching. Detailed discussions with thought leaders in this area are not common. Julie is the deputy chair of the current DTV Parliamentary Inquiry - and has some intriguing insights to offer on digital TV in Australia...
(http://homepage.mac.com/jason_romney/NetvideoFLVJulieOwens040505.htm)
Posted by: Jason Romney at May 31, 2005 01:50 PM