4th Digital Channels

Letter to Senator Conroy about the situation with HD TV in Australia.

Letter to Senator Conroy about the situation with HD TV in Australia.

Dear Minister,

My name is Andrew Boyden, and I write for TV blog web site Throng – www.throng.com.au

While I agree with the idea of having more free to air TV channels and greater choice, I do not agree with the fact that, at the end of 2010, there is less HD content on free to air TV than ever before.

Nine have not simulcast the Ashes is HD on GEM.

Seven’s feed for 7mate is standard defintion only, which in effect means Seven offer ZERO HD content at this point in time even though 7mate occupies Seven’s HD stream.

There is plenty of HD sport on ONE, but nothing of common interest to the majority of Australians.

ABC News 24 takes away the abillity to watch key ABC1 shows and documentaries in HD.

SBS ONE HD remains as the only main channel simulcast in HD although there seems to be very little HD content on SBS ONE in any case (I believe Who Do You Think You Are might be made in HD but I can tell Letters and Numbers is not. Most other shows seem to be SD).

Seven, Nine and Ten have many shows available in HD which do not end up being seen in HD on free to air TV as they no longer offer HD broadcasts of their main channels. Many Ten shows that end up on Pay TV like Glee, Burn Notice and White Collar are seen in HD on Pay TV but not free to air TV. There is at least some HD content on GEM.

HD TVs are more affordable and readily available than ever before.

Web blogs, Facebook pages and forums are filled with angry viewers who have spent money on HD equipment only to find there is next to nothing to watch in HD on free to air TV these days.

The GEM Facebook page in fact is filled with more complaints about the cricket not being in HD than there are positive comments about the content the channel offers.

The changes to anti-siphoning in 2011 are a positive step forward, but nothing has been done to address the issue of the lack of HD content on free to air TV now. The rule defiining how much HD content a free to air broadcaster should offer is serverely out of date and needs to be brought back into line with the situation now.

If the issue of HD on FTA TV is not addressed, FTA stands to fall further behind other sources as being people’s primary source of HD content. There will come a point in time where viewers simply will no longer stand for it and free to air TV will decline further in numbers.

Unless the ultimate plan is for free to air TV to take a back seat in the future, in favour for internet TV (which will in fact endure massive growth this dacade, thanks mostly to the NBN), then something should be done to keep free to air TV in Australia alive. It is not just the number of channels, the quality of channels need to be maintained.

I am sure that those who have invested billions in our free to air networks would surely agree – even though it is their own decisions, based on out of date regulations, that have placed us in the position we have now where we have very little free to air HD content.

In my opinion, a 4th channel for each of the commercial networks would solve the problem.

Details, thoughts and potential rules to prevent the 4th channel being taken advantage of in the text that follows, as posted on www.throng.com.au:

 

4th Digital Channels - A Possible Solution to the lack of HD Content on Free to Air TV.

2009 was the year the second digital channels launched: ONE HD, SBS TWO replacing SBS News, GO!, 7TWO and ABC’s third channel ABC3.

2010 was the year we saw the HD main channel simulcasts of ABC1, Seven and Nine given up to make way for even more digital channels – none of which could be described as an ideal use of each network’s available HD stream.

In 2011, the only new channel that we know for sure will be launched is ELEVEN.

Will there be any more free to air channels or have we reached as far as it will go prior to the switch off of analogue in 2014?

When ELEVEN launches, there will in fact be 15 distinct free to air digital channels (plus community TV in some areas).

Seven, Nine and Ten are currently only allowed to provide two standard definition channels and one high definition channel. The ABC are able to have one extra standard definition channel than the commercials, while SBS remain the only network with an HD channel that simulcasts their main channel.

What the ABC are doing with three standard definition channels and one high definition channel is the most you can get out of the current available bandwidth to each network – although some would argue that even this is pushing it too far and the quality of each of the individual channels within the multiplex are poor.

But it stands to reason, that if the ABC can have four channels, with one being HD, why can’t the others? Technically they can, but it does come down to licensing. The only way we would see more channels comes out of Seven, Nine or Ten would be if licensing conditions changed to allow them to do the same as the ABC.

In talks relating to the anti-siphoning list during 2010, the suggestion was raised of the commercial networks being allowed to have a 4th digital channel to help cover more sporting broadcasts without sacrificing regular programming content. Therefore there is a possibility of 4th channels.

If this was to happen – Seven, Nine and Ten – were allowed to have a 4th channel, I believe the provision of such should be highly conditional. Given that the third channels for Seven and Nine have effectively removed ALL main channel HD content, and ONE did the same for Ten nearly two years ago, any suggestion of a 4th channel should re-instate the HD content that we are now missing out on.

New conditions for HD content should go FAR beyond the 20 hours per week that was put in place nearly a decade ago, when hardly anyone owned or could even afford an HD TV.

The way I would like to see the 4th channel work is as per the following rules, which would revent a network from using it as a 4th unique channel and income stream. Keep in mind, this is all opinion based, and hypothetical – there is nothing anywhere at this stage that suggests 4th channels will actually happen any time soon, if at all.

1. The 4th channel will be the HD channel. The first three channels all revert to SD.

2. The HD channel must show HD content for at least 18 hours a day. In 2011, there is no reason why the networks could not easily fill this amount of HD content daily. Just about every TV show in the US is made in HD, most locally are as well.

3. The HD channel should provide an HD simulcast of the main channel during specified prime time hours – say 6pm – 10.30pm nightly.

4. The HD channel cannot be used as a distinct 4th channel. It must be either simulcasting the main channel or broadcasting HD content seen on the other digital channels the network owns. This rule gives the flexibility for Ten for example to still show HD sports when available while showing Ten content in HD during prime time. The only possible exception would be if sport runs over time and the network chooses to return to normal programming on the main channel while leaving the HD channel to continue with the sport.

5. In some cases, HD shows could be time shifted. If, for example, a network has two or even three shows airing in one night that they own in HD, they could opt to show the main channel HD shows live (by rule 3, it has to be the main channel programming during specified prime time hours), then play shows seen on their other channels in HD at different times.

6. The reverse of point 5, a show would be allowed to air on the HD channel before it airs on one of the SD channels so long as it occurs within a 7 day period. This would allow HD premieres to come before they air in SD on other channels. The result of points 5 and 6 do cause there to be four different shows on at once but it does mean that anything seen on the HD channel is also seen on an SD channel even at a different time.

The fourth channel scenario, coupled with these rules in fact will benefit everybody.

It would mean, that all of a network’s content is seen over their three SD channels, while most, if not all of a network’s content available in HD would be seen on their HD channel. It would mean prime time main channel content is seen in HD again, while other content available in HD that may be seen on other channels can also be seen in HD as well as SD.

It would mean that sport would be able to be seen in HD without impacting on the regular programming of other channels. It would mean that all people with digital set top boxes whether they have HD or not can see all shows that a network offers.

Such a solution would surely please everybody over the next three years until analogue is switched off.

Then – later in the decade when we start using MPEG-4 and all three of a network’s channels can be upgraded to HD, the 4th channel would become redundant, and could then be used in reverse to provide an SD MPEG-2 signal of either the main channel or a mix of the three channels for those with old digital tuners.

Again – the only new FTA channel we know will happen for sure in 2011 is ELEVEN. While there is room for SBS THREE, funding issues will most likely mean it does not happen any time soon. SBS should focus more on revamping the offerings over their two channels in any case before they think of a third. SBS ONE is now regularly beaten in channel shares by one or more of the commercial digital channels from Seven and Nine.