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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?

SMH: WA takes lead as heaviest taxer

Absolutely disgraceful. When I moved here nearly 10 years ago WA was one of the lowest taxing states in the nation, if not the lowest. Unfortunately the only way to avoid taxes here now is to not undertaken any transactions that involve paperwork: for memory our stamp duty bill on our last house buy was in excess of $20k, if we were to sell it would be double that, even more today. How is it but a state with record low unemployment (roughly 3% and getting lower) and a record level of investment and wealth growth could possibly be the highest taxer in the land? Imagine if we were the lowest today, growth would be higher again, unemployment would be pushing 0% (ok, that’s impossible because some people just refuse to work…but it would be lower) and people would be queuing at the border to come here.

Latest US sales figures via El Reg:

“According to market watcher NPD, some 335,000 Wiis were sold in the US in February. Microsoft sold 228,000 Xbox 360s and Sony 127,000 PS3s. Nintendo was just 20,000 units short of outselling both its rivals put together.”

Overall figures to date:

“Americans have bought around 5m 360s, to 1.86m Wiis and 1.1m PS3s.”

Note though that the XBox 360 has been out 1 year longer than the other two. Nintendo must be laughing all the way to bank!

Attended Capelfest yesterday, one of the biggest local annual fairs held in the South West of Western Australia.

The Liberal Candidate wasn’t in attendance. Pure stupidity, Forrest might have a 10% margin but she won’t have the advantage of incumbency and if the swing is on the seat could easily be tight…even lost.

The ALP candidate however was clever enough to have a stall, right near the main entrance as well, so exposure would have been huge, I’ve got no idea what the attendance figures would have been, but I’d guess maybe 20,000 people, certainly at least 10,000, there were people everywhere.

The stall was decked out nearly exclusively with anti Work Choices stuff, everything from portable 2.5m full colour banner displays, stickers, flyers etc… I didn’t take the camera and forgot to grab a photo on the mobile, I should have.

She who must be obeyed said to me that it wasn’t a professional layout in her opinion, but we’re both seasoned at this sort of stuff and in years gone by, from shopping centres to country shows we’ve got a ton of experience at these sorts of things, but we shouldn’t really be the bar to which all such displays should be measured + her analysis ignored an important point: the stall wasn’t there as an information booth, it was there so the ALP candidate could play meet and greet with as many people as possible. And indeed, in the couple of times I walked past it there was always a pile of people around the stall, a sure sign that not only was it working, but it was serving its purpose.

Given the quality of the anti-Work Choices material it’s as clear as day to me that the 2007 Federal Election is going to be about WorkChoices….and as long as the ALP can keep on message Kevin Rudd will be the next Prime Minister of Australia, after all, general support for WorkChoices is minimal in the electorate. If 2001 was the Tampa election, 2007 looks like being a referendum on WorkChoices, and it’s a vote the Government cant win.