Free-to-air TV set for a new digital age




Some of the biggest TV identities on and off the screen descended on Canberra on Monday night for what the industry hailed as the most important initiative since TV was launched in Australia in 1956.

However, there was a furious backroom scramble to patch up an alleged assault on the unprecedented solidarity that the five free-to-air broadcasters were proclaiming publicly.

Reports on Monday claimed the Nine and Seven networks were in a stand-off with the Government about their intention to launch digital channels next year. The networks want an assurance that the Government will not issue a fourth TV licence when the analogue spectrum shuts down in 2013.

The problem for broadcasters was that Monday night marked the official launch of Freeview, the free-to-air TV industry initiative to tackle pay TV and prepare viewers for the switch to digital. The initial plan is to bundle and promote 15 free-to-air channels next year from all free-to-air networks. To demonstrate the broadcasters' commitment, the first "roadblock" of ads, or "announcements" in ABC parlance, started at 6.29pm on Monday simultaneously across the five commercial and public TV networks telling viewers of the coming new world of digital terrestrial TV.

But the timing of the apparent fallout between the Federal Government and Nine and Seven - Ten had already announced its digital plans for its One sports channel to launch next April - could not have been worse. The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy, was the key speaker at the Freeview launch at Parliament House, and some expected sparks to fly.

That afternoon the chairman of Freeview and director of TV at the ABC, Kim Dalton, was astonished by the news. "I've had no word of this at all," he told the Herald. "We met [Senator Conroy] as a group a month or so ago and had a very constructive discussion. Every network was represented in the room at CEO level. There was no discussion whatsoever about all this."

Indeed, as the day progressed every TV network, including those supposed to be holding off on their digital plans, publicly denied any rift. "That is rubbish," said Seven's chief executive, David Leckie. "Our plans are not contingent on a fourth network. It has nothing to do with it. We have a responsibility to do it and we intend to do that. We will launch early next year." Leckie says Seven will unveil details of its digital channels before Christmas.

Many fingers were pointing at the Nine Network for starting the furore, strengthened by the sudden withdrawal of Nine's chief executive, David Gyngell, from the launch. But Nine's executive director, Jeff Browne, showed up, and he also claimed no knowledge. "I heard that," he said. "I don't understand where that has come from. We have got our strategy for our digital channels and we are developing that. There are no strings attached."

Senator Conroy was whistling the same tune. "We haven't had any discussions on that front," he said. "They haven't put anything like that to us directly."

And so with an apparent stand-off sidelined, free-to-air broadcasters moved into overdrive pushing project Freeview. "This is a new way of looking at television," the ABC's Dalton said. "Most Australians outside those who are used to getting subscription TV see TV as five individual networks. What they are slowly going to come to terms with is that Freeview digital TV is a platform sitting alongside other platforms. There is subscription TV at the moment coming through satellite or cable. In five years' time there will also be internet or IP services and it is all going to change.

"They will slowly get used to the idea that instead of going to their TV sets to get five channels, there will in fact be a much broader offering. With an electronic program guide and Freeview DVRs [digital video recorders] coming onto the market, there will be a whole new experience on offer to them," he said.
Some of the biggest TV identities on and off the screen descended on Canberra on Monday night for what the industry hailed as the most important initiative since TV was launched in Australia in 1956.

However, there was a furious backroom scramble to patch up an alleged assault on the unprecedented solidarity that the five free-to-air broadcasters were proclaiming publicly.

Reports on Monday claimed the Nine and Seven networks were in a stand-off with the Government about their intention to launch digital channels next year. The networks want an assurance that the Government will not issue a fourth TV licence when the analogue spectrum shuts down in 2013.

The problem for broadcasters was that Monday night marked the official launch of Freeview, the free-to-air TV industry initiative to tackle pay TV and prepare viewers for the switch to digital. The initial plan is to bundle and promote 15 free-to-air channels next year from all free-to-air networks. To demonstrate the broadcasters' commitment, the first "roadblock" of ads, or "announcements" in ABC parlance, started at 6.29pm on Monday simultaneously across the five commercial and public TV networks telling viewers of the coming new world of digital terrestrial TV.

But the timing of the apparent fallout between the Federal Government and Nine and Seven - Ten had already announced its digital plans for its One sports channel to launch next April - could not have been worse. The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy, was the key speaker at the Freeview launch at Parliament House, and some expected sparks to fly.

That afternoon the chairman of Freeview and director of TV at the ABC, Kim Dalton, was astonished by the news. "I've had no word of this at all," he told the Herald. "We met [Senator Conroy] as a group a month or so ago and had a very constructive discussion. Every network was represented in the room at CEO level. There was no discussion whatsoever about all this."

Indeed, as the day progressed every TV network, including those supposed to be holding off on their digital plans, publicly denied any rift. "That is rubbish," said Seven's chief executive, David Leckie. "Our plans are not contingent on a fourth network. It has nothing to do with it. We have a responsibility to do it and we intend to do that. We will launch early next year." Leckie says Seven will unveil details of its digital channels before Christmas.

Many fingers were pointing at the Nine Network for starting the furore, strengthened by the sudden withdrawal of Nine's chief executive, David Gyngell, from the launch. But Nine's executive director, Jeff Browne, showed up, and he also claimed no knowledge. "I heard that," he said. "I don't understand where that has come from. We have got our strategy for our digital channels and we are developing that. There are no strings attached."

Senator Conroy was whistling the same tune. "We haven't had any discussions on that front," he said. "They haven't put anything like that to us directly."

And so with an apparent stand-off sidelined, free-to-air broadcasters moved into overdrive pushing project Freeview. "This is a new way of looking at television," the ABC's Dalton said. "Most Australians outside those who are used to getting subscription TV see TV as five individual networks. What they are slowly going to come to terms with is that Freeview digital TV is a platform sitting alongside other platforms. There is subscription TV at the moment coming through satellite or cable. In five years' time there will also be internet or IP services and it is all going to change.

"They will slowly get used to the idea that instead of going to their TV sets to get five channels, there will in fact be a much broader offering. With an electronic program guide and Freeview DVRs [digital video recorders] coming onto the market, there will be a whole new experience on offer to them," he said.

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