From a Wired Report on TV:
“According to Nielsen, the average consumer [in the United States] now has access to 104 traditional TV channels”
Lets see. I’ve got 10, and only because I live on an estate that rebroadcasts a couple of free to air satellite channels across the estate
SBS,ABC,Seven,Nine,Ten,GWN,WIN,Now,Bloomberg & ABC 2.
The average Australia would have 5-7, my first 5 + Community Access Tv (31) + ABC 2 if they had a Digital Receiver (I get ABC2 in the analogue rebroadcast).
Of course, the real difference is in subscription/ pay TV, and yet Foxtel doesn’t provide 100 channels….and it’s prohibitively expensive if you want them all vs the US where Cable is cheap and plentiful, and you get a pile of different options.
First thing the Australian Government should do with PayTV: drop the Australian content rules so Foxtel can just import 100’s of extra US channels, the capacity should be there now the broadcast is digital.
Secondly the new “Broadband 2” network both parties are promising MUST be free of Telstra: a Telstra free network could/ would also provide TV to Australian homes, the tech is already in use in places in Hong Kong.
Third: the Government needs to push against the US copyright/ broadcasting laws so that US and other foreign operators can set up shop here and broadcast at will via satellite/ cable/ broadband…Foxtel is essentially a monopoly that needs to be broken, freeing up supply is one way of doing it. Imagine a “global TV market”…why not?
Please! Do we really want hundreds of US channels? Have you ever watched TV in the States? You know that the top 1 or 2 percent is very good indeed – you know this because Australian TV channels buy it, and you can see it. But there is more complete and utter dross than you can possibly imagine, if you haven’t actually experienced it. More is not necessarily better.
Certainly we could do better with our imports, but probably not from the States. There are terrific Canadian programs, good Irish programs, and even some British programs we don’t already get are better than the vast majority of US stuff. And that’s just looking at the stuff originally made in English.
Surely we are already oversaturated with Americana – by all means let us have more programming, but let us draw from the vast resources of the rest of the world.
You have to keep in mind the economics of our TV providers too. Australia is a much smaller market than the States. There is a finite pool of advertising money in Australia. If it gets thinly spread around a host of channels, none of them are going to be able to afford to produce Australian programs, especially expensive programs like Australian dramas. Australian TV production is a vital part of the nation’s identity and culture. I have no wish for us to become a mere subsidiary of US Kulture Incorporated!
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Hello, for a long time I read your blog, thanks for that that write interesting and
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Hello, for a long time I read your blog, thanks for that that write interesting and
useful posts.I consider that blogers it is possible to name many journalists.
Good luck