At least Mash is finally off free to air for now!! 
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Goodbye, Farewell and Amen. 
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My prediction for Eleven is that it will become the Australian version of MeTV and screen old TV series from the 1950s to the 1990s: The Adventures of Superman, Mr Ed, the Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, I Love Lucy, the Honeymooners, Hereâs Lucy, the Brady Bunch (previously on 11), The Adventures of Robin Hood, Fireball XL5, Space 1999, the Outer Limits, the Twilight Zone, Gilligans Island, On the Buses, Some Mothers Do Ave Em, The Good Life, Man About the House, Are You Being Served?, perhaps do a deal with WIN to show old Crawfords programmes, plus draw on Tenâs archives: Itâs a knockout, Number 96, Chopper Squad, the Kennedy Miller miniseries such as Bodyline and the Dismissal, the Comedy Company, Let the Blood Run Free, Medivac, the Secret Life of Us, White Collar Blue. Kind of like a free to air version of the old âNick at Niteâ on Foxtel in the late 90s.
I wonder if the Murdochs would even be willing to consider a content deal with Gordon, considering he dragged them into that court battle over Ten, not to mention his history of screwing around with Nine.
Besides, considering we have three commercial networks and thereâs always been one thatâs lagged behind in the ratings (traditionally Ten), is there even a market for a fourth commercial network?
The government and station employees have consistently said that no-one wants an ABC/SBS merger. SBS seems to be doing alright with its new direction on Viceland and indigenous content on NITV, plus the various niche audiences SBS serves.
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To start with you need a licence for a TV station and there are none available and since WIN already operates in regional areas, are you suggesting that just metro areas get a 4th network and everywhere else misses out?
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Itâs possible, but I donât see why it would force the governmentâs hand in any way. And I think it unlikely in any case.
But to your point, WIN could do a deal with Fox no problem. Theyâd have to get Australian content so theyâd probably need to work closely with Foxtel.
Now Foxtel would have a FTA network with 20% reach, and ten would be missing 20% reach. Thereâs no government rule that the regionals need to partner with the cities.
You could assume Foxtel would show the channel. Plus WIN would be on VAST so accessible by anyone with a defunct fox dish or apartments with Foxtel satellite. Telstra night run the channel, and they could put their content online probably again in partnership with Foxtel.
So itâs plausible. More likely theyâd try to sell the channel as a secondary channel on one of the networks.
And Ten would likewise use an online portal in WIN areas, get itself into VAST, and Iâd guess that SC or Prime might try to fit the ten main channel as a multichannel.
I just think itâd be an awkward setup. And the only reason to do it would be to force a better deal.
Since it could be done though, WIN might consider it, giving WIN a more powerful bargaining position, and it would end up creating a FoxWin multichannel - probably on Ten.
I doubt any of that content would rate.
What you are saying doesnât really make sense. There is no â3 frequencyâ or â4 frequencyâ. SBS uses the 3, 3x and 3xx logical channel numbers (LCNs), but that has nothing to do with the actual RF channel number SBS is being broadcast on. For example, in Sydney, SBSâs main transmitter is on VHF-7 and in the Illawarra, itâs on UHF-39, but throughout Australia viewers will see the same LCN on their TV no matter which tower they get their signals from. Theoretically, a broadcaster can set any channel number they want as itâs just a reference to the video and audio stream IDs in the multiplex (though they have agreed ranges they put their channels on).
In any case, spectrum-wise, there is no need for the ABC and SBS to merge. Each market is allocated six RF channels. At the moment, one of these six channels is free across the entire nation for every broadcasting transmission site.
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I am sorry that I referred to the LCNs as âfrequenciesâ, send me to bed without any supper.
What I was getting at with merging ABC/SBS is that successive Liberal governments have bowed to pressure from lobby groups and other political parties to change rules for the channels. Until a few years ago, SBS could only air commercials between programs instead of during. Essentially my thought if the government decided to axe advertising from SBS but that would create a funding deficit that the taxpayer would have to make up. The existing 3 major FTA metro players will definitely oppose a fourth channel.
Perhaps this could lead to the start of a move towards more online streaming in the same way that Foxtel has FoxtelGo.
I can see that WIN/Fox would like to pressure the government to become another nationwide network, just canât see the connection into the government merging ABC and SBS etc. Or what type of pressure Win/Fox be using in this case (beyond the standard stuff).
And really we have a lot of channels now and the multichannels donât seem to be able to break into the âbig leagueâ with the primary channel. Iâm sure 7 would like to have people choosing between 4 commercial networks where 7 runs 2 of those channels. Anyway similarly Iâm not sure a 4th commercial network would be able to break in - though Fox did that in the US by buying the sports rights in a big way.
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A 4th commercial TV network for Australia mightâve been an OK idea back in the 1980s and 1990s, but surely not in terrestrial TVâs twilight years?
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ACMA is not going to suddenly ask for applications for new commercial television licences. That would only happen after a ministerial direction, AFAIK. Thereâs no party policies for new licences so itâs not going to happen in the foreseeable future.
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I think online options will become far better once the networks work out how to do them right. Whether on-demand or live streamed theyâll eclipse the need for broadcast networks in the not-too-distant future.
But the big players in THIS discussion are Gordon and Murdoch⌠and (although itâs the younger Murdoch) both are playing from an older manâs playbook.
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Well ultimately, it could be the start of television viewing being screened online. One wonders there will be blockouts preventing people from watching outside their area or whether all stations will be available everywhere.
I read that some people have been speculating it could be the end of Television as we know it in 5 , 10 or even 20 years. The fallout between WIN and (a CBS owned) Ten could lead to a Fox/Win partnership with possibly having online broadcasting of content as well (much like FoxtelGo).
A few years ago, Malcolm Turnbull ceased allowing community TV licences and suggested they could go online. This suggestion could of been to gradually move all media to online streaming.
In my opinion, online streaming probably will happen, given Cricket Australia has started streaming the domestic one day and Sheffield Shield cricket games that free to air and pay tv arenât screening now. Perhaps they could extend it to international series abroad where Australia play? wishful thinking? maybe not, especially if CA are allowed to screen advertisements between overs and during lunch breaks.
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They would have to outbid or do a deal with Fox Sports for the rights. In the end, probably not viable.
except for the Como translator site in Melbourne where the sixth channel is allocated to C31 community television. And the main Mt Dandenong sites although it has a free channel in its main block (VHF-10) it still has C31 on UHF-32.
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Coming soon to Ten? 
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Perhaps CBS would like to lure Dickie Wilkins across to Ten to host a revival of Keynotes.
Iâm sure I sampled something on US Fox a few months ago that was similar to this show.
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Yes when I was over in the states there was a Shazam show where they had to guess 5e song. It was a prime time summer game show on Fox.
All this talk makes you wonder about possible news programming at breakfast and in the afternoon and evening.
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