On This Day

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen those dishes your talking about.

The technology was often referred to as “Wireless Cable” because of how it worked - I recall it used standard-ish cable set-top boxes and was also capable of doing DOCIS internet (I recall Austar doing something with Chello who had shared owners) - from memory it operated in the 2.5-2.6Ghz range (which ultimately made it valuable for Austar during that 20-minute window that WiMAX became popular).

It was a cheaper alternative to Cable (no mass rollout required) - not sure what the comparison would be to Satellite (but you’d be comparing the cost to rollout to a larger population then on a per household basis)

When Austar exited MMDS, they’d already had to cut back the number of channels on offer (although that was still in the “analogue” days, ie prior to their big “digital” relaunch) and it had limited range (<50km) - the spectrum was also more valuable for other activities. They’d trialed a digital service on the Gold Coast (where they were competing against Foxtel), but it didnt last long

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So the spectrum simply wouldn’t exist these days? I presume it’s similar to the links radio broadcasters often use on OB’s?

I believe that MDS also had the limitation that it mostly had to be line-of-sight reception. So if you were on the wrong side of a hill or had anything blocking your view from a transmitter (which in Melbourne’s case was in the CBD) then you’d not get anything.

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Wireless Internet options made the spectrum it occupied more valuable and probably a better use

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A post was merged into an existing topic: Historic News Events

29 January 1990: Comedy chat show Tonight Live with Steve Vizard makes its debut on the Seven Network with Peter Allen as the show’s first big name guest. The show includes a news segment presented by Jennifer Keyte.

Source: SMH.

Viewers familiar with late night American talk shows quickly realise Vizard is doing a pretty good impersonation of NBC’s Late Night host David Letterman.

29 January 1991: Nine’s steamy “tits and bums” adult drama Chances debuts at 8.30pm.

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Tonight Live ran for four successful years. It’s a shame since then Australia had only one late night chat show: The Nightcap on 7HD.

Tonight Live’s logo used the style of zone 1-2-3 ticket on Melbourne’s public transport system, clearly telling viewers it was made in Melbourne. (Melbourne was still using paper tickets at the time, before switching to scratch cards in 1991)

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Considering the show was a ratings success and managed to boost the late night audience generating increased revenues for the network, you have to wonder why the networks have all but abandoned the mid evening late / night audience. Viewers will tune in if there’s something worth watching. Live Breakfast television used to be considered a waste of time in this country because they didn’t think there was an audience for it. When they started to provide a product worth tuning into the viewership increased to the point morning television started to be a cash cow for them. No reason the same can’t be done for late evening.

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… yep, it was for a while … but then viewers turned off in droves leading to a tense network meeting at Epping where one of the programmers told Vizard “the viewers hate you” …

Wasn’t a great show, but Tonightly with Tom Ballard on ABC COMEDY during 2017-18?

There was Rove / Rove Live for ten years or so, which was essentially the same thing.

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29/1/2001 Seven’s Morning News launches, with Garry Wilkinson as presenter.

29/1/2007 Sunrise launches new graphics, which are predominantly blue. On the same evening, The Rich List premieres on Seven and 1 vs 100 premieres on Nine an hour later.

29/1/2012 Seven News Brisbane unveils a new set replacing the twisted metal set.

29/1/2018 Shaun Wallace makes his debut as a guest Chaser on The Chase Australia. That same evening, Seven News Melbourne unveils a new set.

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Kylie Minogue was a guest on one of the first shows and said words to the effect “this is only a new show but have you seen that David Letterman has copied you all the way…” :wink:

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New headline graphics (very inspired by what ABC World News Tonight was using around that time) were launched on Seven News in all markets that night too, if I’m not mistaken.

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Vizard got lazy and started phoning it in after a while. The show lost its spark and became incredibly stale after the second year. It didn’t help that Nine had given up on offering anything in the way of competition once Robbo left.

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And he always took time off and had shit guest hosts

“I’m Darren Hunch, I’m livid.”

I didn’t mind when Richard Stubbs hosted on Fridays.

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Other hosts included Agro, Ronnie Corbett, Ben Elton, Paula Yates, Bob Geldof, Glenn Robbins, and John Singleton.

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