Depends on what sets they’re using, if it’s anything like Philips ‘hotel’ televisions, there’s a master remote to do things like rescan - which the rooms wouldn’t have
Don’t worry, there are still heaps of televisions in these situations across Adelaide that still have GOLD on 94. WIN hasn’t owned NWS for nearly four years now!
Not that it would ever happen, but I’m wondering why there isn’t a system of national LCNs number utilised.
Currently, if you want to watch for example:
One, you can find it on either LCN 1, 12, 50, 81, or 86 depending on where you are.
7mate is on 60, 63, 70, or 73 depending on where you are, etc.
Why don’t ACMA enforce the use of national-wide LCN numbers… they are meant to be “Logical” after all, and having the same channel spread out across different numbers seems weird.
Set all overlap markets to use the 1xx range for overlaps,
so on the Gold Coast, for example you find:
7mate on 73 (7) and 173 (Prime) and 9HD on 90 (Nine) and 190 (NBN).
And then, regardless of the picture format, or the company broadcasting the channel, set it up so the exact same content can be found on the exact same LCN anywhere in the country. That would be far more logical for the public.
Something like this:
| LCN | Channel | Network |
| 7 | Seven | 7 & Affiliates |
| 70 | 7HD | (where available) |
| 71 | Seven | 7 & Affiliates |
| 72 | 7TWO | 7 & Affiliates |
| 73 | 7mate | 7 & Affiliates |
| 75 | ishop tv | Prime |
| 76 | 7flix | (where available) |
| 78 | Racing.com | 7 & Affiliates |
| 9 | Nine | 9 & Affiliates |
| 90 | 9HD | (where available) |
| 91 | Nine | 9 & Affiliates |
| 92 | 9Gem | 9 & Affiliates |
| 93 | 9Go! | 9 & Affiliates |
| 94 | 9Life | (where available) |
| 95 | Extra | Nine |
| 95 | Aspire TV | SCA (9 affilated) |
| 99 | 9Go! | 9 & Affiliates |
| 1 | One | 10 & Affiliates |
| 10 | Ten/WIN | 10 & Affiliates |
| 11 | Eleven | 10 & Affiliates |
| 12 | One | 10 & Affiliates |
| 13 | Ten HD | (where available) |
| 14 | TVSN | 10 & Affiliates |
| 15 | Spree TV | Ten |
| 15 | WIN Gold | WIN |
| 15 | Aspire TV | SCA (10 affiliated) |
Such a system is not used because of the differences in ownership between metro, regional and remote stations. The current system was adopted to prevent overlap for the commercial networks and their affiliates.
In time, they may adopt national numbers if the metro networks purchase any of their affiliates, but we’re stuck with what we’ve got for now.
The 350-399 range is used for overlapping signals for ABC and SBS, so if they just expand that to the whole 3xx range (310s Ten, 320s ABC, 330s SBS, 370s Seven, 390s Nine). I personally would save the 1xx range for HD/SD simulcasts.
Interesting, but even with this the overlap will always be the problem. Also have to cater for those living in overlap areas and who would get what LCN. It wouldn’t make sense to have fortuitous Seven reception on the 7x LCN when the much stronger PRIME signal is being dumped on 17x (and PRIME’s main channel, whether 6 or 7 would technically be dumped on channel 16/17 in this example, intruding on Ten’s LCN range)
In my opinion the ACMA should be spending time enforcing the whole aggregation thing and bringing new multi channels to regional areas. The reality is, the vast majority of viewers wouldn’t give a toss that 9LIFE is on channel 942 and 7FLIX is on 779, as long as they’re actually getting those channels to begin with!
In the scenario, all LCNS have 100 added to them for overlap markets.
So Prime7 in an overlap market would be on 107, not 17.
I don’t think think having the overlaps moved to the 100’s is all that different from having them moved to the 60’s, etc. if anything it helps to spread the two versions of the same service out a bit rather than having them bunched up so close to each other.
Anyway, it’s all just a big fantasy obviously and ACMA and most people as you say, wouldn’t care less.
I just find it illogical that the exact same service is on different channel numbers in different areas.
Foxtel, ABC and SBS all use the same numbers for the same services nationwide, itd be nice and consistent to see this applied to 7, 9, 10 and their affiliates
The only place overlap LCNs are actually needed are on the Gold/Sunshine/Central Coast where there’s transmitters sending both variations of a channel.
Common ownership should but so far hasn’t rationalised services in any of those cases.
The original LCN planning suggested allocating additional unique LCNs to these services - their example was something like having WIN Ballarat on 800 and WIN Bendigo on 808 - so even if your receiver chose WIN Ballarat for 8, if you received both sets, you could choose the service you wanted with a unique number.
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
That’s because Southern Cross does 7 on VAST but Seven themselves do it in regional QLD. As you said, if Southern Cross decide to add 7FLIX to their lineup, then it’s likely it’ll go on VAST. It’s not like there’s no room on VAST, because they’re slowly adding more Narrowcast channels up there at the moment.
Out of curiosity, does anyone know a good source online that maps the different television markets across the country and where the boundaries for each market lie?
This is all I could find on the ACMA website: http://www.acma.gov.au/Industry/Broadcast/Spectrum-for-broadcasting/Spectrum-digital-television/broadcasting-licence-areas-television-acma
SCA’s TV coverage booklet. See the individual pages for each state market for more specific maps of the sub-markets. The only ones it doesn’t show are the regional sub-markets in WA, for that all I can find is the Wikipedia page for GWN7.
Whole of ACT, NT and TAS and Parts of NSW, QLD, VIC, SA have the Southern Cross Austereo licence areas. However there are no parts of WA that broadcast TV under the Southern Cross. I think WA is lagging behind the eastern states.
How is WA lagging?
More like Regional/Remote WA can’t support a third commercial broadcaster
It’s GWN, WIN and their JV WDT only. Including on VAST.
SCAs map has, on the Australia wide map at least, the Riverland / Mount Gambier area listed as SCA when it is a WIN monopoly area
Probably doesn’t matter in this case as GWN and WIN are the only commercial broadcasters in “Regional WA” including VAST
GWN broadcasts to three regional markets (SSW, VEW, GTW) and one remote market (WAW) for the remainder of the state. WDT follows this convention (SDW, VDW, GDW, WDW), but WIN just holds one statewide license (WOW).
This doesn’t make any sense. “Lagging behind” because SCA don’t own any stations in WA?
How accurate are the coverage maps on the mySwitch website?
I was just looking at the maps earlier and noticed that it lists “Variable” reception from Cairns in some elevated parts of Townsville.
This is the map I get even with the receiver on Mt Stuart - doesn’t look promising - 250 km is a long way reliable digital reception. From maps of other areas, you need to be in an area that is predominantly orange with a few green highlights with a dedicated antenna amplified and high.
Pretty accurate for Melbourne.
Dunno about QLD
Nambeelup is a rural suburb, south of Perth. This place can receive good signals via Mandurah/Singleton transmitters. However there is a warning sign saying that this suburb is not operated via a broadcaster. I don’t know whether they have the GWN, WIN, WDT9 channels or not.
The page is correct - Singleton and Waroona based transmitters (which are indeed transmitting the GWN / WIN / WDT) are not owned and operated by the broadcasters (they were also added only about a year before the digital switch-off).
We have recently moved house and my parents cannot get their TV tuned in their bedroom. We have tried different aerials in different positions, the built-in TV tuner or a few set top boxes with no luck. Any reason why this could be the issue, and what could be the solution?
