Free TV Australia

Television General Television Topics
142

Awful campaign. All those living rooms and on screen examples of prime, win and SCA look completely fake and unrealistic. Nothing remotely genuine about this ad. Really badly executed.

143

Paid for / subsidized by who? The taxpayer?

Not all areas have the population base and as revenue to support 15 commercial channels.

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144

Why would they do that? Free TV Australia represents the industry. If the industry wanted that they’d be already doing it. They’re not going to demand the government create obligations that are going to put greater burden on them.

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145

I apologise for what I said . looking back that was wrong with me. and in any case, I now know elderly people also watch streaming services as well. so it was wrong of me to say they don’t.

in review of free to air Australia them selfs. free to air may be of relevance now but that won’t always be the case or always be forever. I’m thinking of an episode of the backside of television that shows free to air is starting to decline.

146

So you do still watch Free To Air. Busted! :wink:

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147

My point (not made clearly) was their words suggesting the government needs to do something/more to ensure broadcast TV is available in the regions suggested they were concerned about the viewing public rather than the TV stations, and it ignored the already/longstanding lower level of TV regional viewers have been putting up with for a long time.

If FreeTV & their members were concerned about regional viewers, they’d want to buy their affiliates, broadcast all the channels, have proper news services and would’ve supported a proper (fibre to the premises) NBN to allow their business to expand onto (and perhaps eventually move fully to) the Internet rather than being stuck on an increasingly expensive broadcast system. Instead many of them have done the opposite.

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148

lol :stuck_out_tongue: no i did watch it on SBS on demand though :smiley:

149

here here !!!.

150

Doesn’t really matter - this rent-seeking (sorry campaign) isn’t aimed at the general population, it’s aimed at the couple hundred people who occasionally occupy a big building in Canberra.

These campaigns have traditionally resonated poorly with the populous

It’s interesting that they try and frame these campaigns as being for the viewers’ benefit but without saying (on the surface, that most people will see) that they are trying to make it easier for them to operate

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151

If that’s the case not only is it poorly executed but the strategy and creative is a complete fail too.

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152

Shouldn’t come as a complete surprise that their lobbying efforts have been less then fruitful then

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153

Free TV is a organization/ group, not a company that runs stations. As you know. They’re not in the business of running TV stations.

Better news services there is an argument for, but not all cities and regions have the ad revenue market to support “all” channels.

What part of that don’t you understand?

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154

You’ve missed the point that’s being made.

Free TV Australia’s campaign isn’t about protecting regional viewers - it’s about protecting their member’s futures, they’re using viewers as pawns in their fight. It really shows how politically ineffective they’ve been.

If the networks agree that the main tenet of the campaign (that regional viewers are important) is true, there are things that are solely within their own control that they could do, but rather than do that they’ve decided that rent-seeking is a better option.

Frankly the whole thing makes the industry look like this seminal moment from The Simpsons:

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155

Not disagreeing. But such as?

156

Prime is the only one of the local news services on catch up services at all - and it only happened months after the Seven purchase.

NBN News despite O&O ownership for the entire time 9Now has existed still doesn’t stream, and that’s before you get to WIN being a few facebook clips at best.

Blaming streaming services and demanding front and centre placement on smart TVs, while not having their local content even available on those services.

Their services aren’t exactly good either. There’s a handful of things I watch on 9now/10play - I pretty much have to search for the shows each time, as they are horrible at surfacing the new episodes. 9now has seemingly no mechanism at all for a watch list, and 10 bury it half way down the page - trying to push you to other stuff, Both then will forget what you’ve watched after a few months, making watching a series very difficult, as you need to manually track your watched episodes.

Making their services comprehensive and comprehensible before complaining they aren’t mandatory on TVs would be a nice start.

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157

Agree the platforms have huge room for improvement.

But viewership of news bulletins on later demand is extremely low. People just don’t consume 6pm news bulletins later on demand.

That’s evidenced by the data reported on this site.

Win, SCA and prime would serve their viewers better with websites and social pages being beefed up

158

While it’s not on the catch up services which would be nice, 7 Tas does upload their edited bulletins every night to YouTube which is quite handy.

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159

And Prime7 did the same with their local bulletins on YouTube as well until it was moved to 7plus.

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160
161

Free TV Welcomes Minister Fletcher’s Commitment to progress work on Prominence

Free TV today welcomed the statement from Minister Fletcher following the first meeting of the Future of Broadcasting Working Group.

Free TV CEO, Bridget Fair said “Today’s meeting of the Future of Broadcasting Working Group was very constructive. We thank Minister Fletcher for commencing work on this important initiative prior to the election.

Free TV Broadcasters particularly welcome the prioritisation of the work on prominence of Australian television services on smart TVs and other connected devices. Ensuring that all Australians have access to their free television services is the most urgent regulatory issue for the television sector.

Audiences are increasingly dependent on smart TV operating systems for how they find their local television services, and we strongly believe that a regulatory solution will be required.

Australians from all walks of life rely on Free TV services. Regardless of the election outcome, politicians will need to make important decisions on the future of the industry that will affect what Australians can watch on television, and how it can be accessed.

Research released by Free TV in February 2022 revealed strong support for commercial television services in the electorate:

• 78% of Australians agree that reliable free-to-air television services are crucial, especially for those without strong internet;
• 76% of Australians agree that free-to-air television ensures Australians have access to iconic sporting events; and
• 72% of Australians agree that free-to-air television allows access to television without straining budgets.

What we’ve found is that Australians overwhelmingly back free-to-air television, and the public want our politicians to support our industry too.

Minister Fletcher’s statement today recognises the need to maximise the availability of free-to-air television services to all Australians and identifies prominence as key to achieving this important public policy outcome. We look forward to participating in the work of the Future of Broadcasting Working Group on this issue.”

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