I agree, I dont think the networks would want to “risk” it either & thats the major problem lol.
They all just play tit for tat & wait for someone else to “make the move”.
Why don’t the networks steam abc abc2 abc me, ABC News, 7, 7mate, tm7two, 7flix, abs, abs viceland, abs food, Ten, one, eleven, 9 Ohio 9gem and 9life all In HD channels via their apps
Can’t these Apps then be loaded onto most smart TVs, Apple, Telstra Tv etc
That would give
Almost everyone access too all
Channels in hd
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The government needs to mandate a switch to MPEG4 by say 1 July 2018.
Those on benefits could be given a subsidy to purchase a MPEG 4 HD set top box, which can be had for under $50.
Just hurry up and be done with it!
Sheesh …
Then we can have every channel in HD.
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Exactly.
I was in Radio Parts today and I saw a MPEG-4 HD STB for $49.
As to the UI and other stuff of it is questionable.
If you are looking for a good STB tho, Bayonwiz is good tho, never had one tho 
Don’t think TV channels provided by the ABS would be very reliable, they couldn’t even manage the census last year!
9 Ohio?
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Beyonwiz?
I’ve never had one either…
Topfield (and Strong) made the better of the entry level stuff, the latter isn’t made anymore I think?
I have a Topfield STB, its good for the price, but captions don’t work all that well and USB recording is a bit hit and miss.
My Panasonic Blu Ray & HDD is MUCH better, but at a much higher price of course.
So conservatively 4 million subsidised boxes - would be about $100 million dollars, though that number could easily be doubled. I hope the government has better things to spend taxpayer money on.
A bit steep tho in terms of pricing.
It’s like a Slingbox.
I don’t think we would need to subsidize 4
million… That would be close to HALF of Australian households.
1 million maybe.
There are more than 9 million households in Australia.
That s what I meant… 4 million is close to half of 9 million 
But if 2 million household were subsidised with 2 boxes each - 4 million.
I would put in a rule of 1 per household.
So underprivileged households would be restricted to one TV. - Even if that were so it is still in the order of $50 million
If I was PM, yes, 1 per household. If they want more, they pay for it out of their benefits.
$50 mil is small when you consider we spend over $150 billion per year on welfare.
I would make these boxes DVB-T2 compatible while I’m at it.
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Just make Plus 7 in HD … how come 9 manages to have HD on 9Now for ages yet Plus7 doesn’t ?
Nine is the only one with their shows in HD on 9 Now.
Then you end up in a situation where a show online is a better pic quality than on tv.
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No they won’t. They’ll most likely just do without. So Seven potentially loses those viewers. And as others have said that could be the difference between winning a week or coming second… and that could snowball over the course of the year.
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Simple solution - stream all channels in HD via 7Plus. At least those people who really want HD can get it that way
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If anything, the commercial channels should subsidize/provide the STB’s where necessary. They are the ones who risk losing viewers if they don’t. Also private enterprise would do it far more efficiently.
It seems simple but only 9 is doing it . Not sure why… Maybe Seven wants their audience to watch it on tv rather than other means. So have a lesser quality picture online than on tv.