Bringing this over from the Prime7 and GWN7 thread …
Totally agree… I think what also needs to be stressed is that these are REGIONAL affiliates… whose broadcast areas are predominantly that of regional and rural viewers. So while streaming is certainly a viable option for most in metro and major regional, it is not for many regional/rural viewers who either have a poor internet connection, or one that simply doesn’t support regular streaming (think NBN Skymuster with its hard data limitations, even with today’s announced increase)
VAST has the same problem in that no new commercial channels have been added. Exceptions being on the WA bouquet which has GWN RACING.COM and WIN 9LIFE for the three months it was on air. So if PRIME get 7FLIX on the air next week but Southern Cross doesn’t for however long in the future, then that means only those on the VAST WA bouquet will get 7FLIX… alas the same when WIN was the Nine affiliate and had 9LIFE on WA bouquet but none of the other VAST bouquets had it (and still don’t have it because Imparja won’t carry it)
Edit: case in point, 7FLIX is available in regional QLD on FTA, but not VAST. So we are seeing a lot of inconsistencies when it comes to broadcasting these newer channels across the board