★★★★★ 0/5

Digital giveaway in Mildura

Pensioners in Mildura will be given a free digital set top box by the Rudd Government in the lead up to the switch to digital.

4
Leave a comment

giftboxPensioners in Mildura are to get a free digital set top box from the Rudd Government.

About 3000 Mildura households will get the gift because they are in the first area that will switch from analogue to digital television in the first half of 2010.

The package will be available to homes where at least one resident receives either the full age pension, the disability support pension, carer’s payment or equivalent veteran’s payment.

“Switching to digital TV is a straightforward and inexpensive task for the vast majority of Australians. However, we understand that some viewers may need practical in-home assistance to make the move,” Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said yesterday.

But its move to launch a satellite TV service to replace the “black spots” program for analogue TV has prompted concerns from industry group Regional Broadcasters Australia of eroding local content levels.

The satellite service means that television towers managed by local councils in black spot areas would not have to be upgraded to digital. Instead, the Government will pay for satellite dishes to be installed in affected homes.

But industry body Regional Broadcasters Australia has concerns over the plan, especially as it would mean local content may disappear.

RBA chairman Doug Edwards, who is the chief operating officer of the Seven Network’s regional affiliate Prime TV, said it would be too expensive to broadcast all the local channels on satellite.

So instead of receiving the news and programs from Mildura, these homes may instead get a satellite-delivered channel from Sydney.

* SBS undertook its transmission upgrade yesterday. If viewers experience disruption, SBS recommends they rescan their digital television or digital set-top-box which should rectify any problems.

Viewers still experiencing disruptions can visit www.sbs.com.au for further information or call 1800 500 727 for advice.

Source: The Australian

4 Responses

  1. 99% of new TV have HD ttuners in them now so alot of the set top boxes will not be needed. The problem is old VCR’s etc will not tune into HD shows. Most people watch DVD now but still use the VCR to record shows. When the None HD channells are turned off you will see the death of VHS recorders. So will the govenment give us PVRS? insted of a basic set top box. PVR\DVR are recorders that record STandard def shows and High Def shows and can burn them onto DVD. Just like we use to copy stuff onto our VHS Tape. So they are killing off old tech. Help us replace it with now tech.

  2. Watching television is not a ‘right,’ it’s a privilege!

    The sooner the people persisting with out-dated analogue signals realise this, the more money Rudd can save taxpayers who have already paid the $50+ for a converter box or HD-TV set.

  4. This satellite deal for TV sounds like the Internet deal all over again. Instead of putting money into improving terrestrial services they’d rather spend $1000s on dishes.

    For those willing to pay for Austar and other pay services why don’t they just change things to allow FTA to be re-transmitted for those black spots? Network TV has been common place on US cable for years.

Leave a Reply