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Land of confusion

Freeview-branded TV sets and set top boxes are due to go on sale on May 1st despite industry dissent on tech specs and marketing.

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freeview2The next stage of the Freeview marketing campaign begins on April 27th, and Freeview-branded TV sets, set-top boxes and digital video recorders go on sale on May 1st.

Freeview itself has a process of rolling out in stages, with no clear date on when all its aspects of new channels and available equipment will be in sync.

TEN’s new channel ONE launches March 26th, while Seven and Nine are yet to indicate movement on their new secondary channels.

But confusion reigns in the land of Freeview. Sharp Australia’s marketing director Laurie Nolan said he was concerned consumers would not understand exactly what Freeview was offering.

“One area of concern is that the ad campaign is misleading consumers to believe 15 new channels will be launched when there are already 12,” he told The Australian.

“The other concern I have is that it’s talking about 15 channels as if there are 15 channels of new content. Yes, there are some differences between the SD and HD channels, but generally it’s the same stuff.”

Mr Nolan said Sharp was negotiating with Freeview on production of licensed products.

“We are having ongoing discussions about the specifications and possible accreditation of Sharp TV receivers … and about the licence agreement in the hope of achieving a satisfactory outcome,” he said.

“Whether we like them or not, and whether we adopt them or not, no comment.”

Meanwhile Freeview chief executive Robin Parkes also said last week’s Smarthouse article was “factually incorrect” but confirmed that the Freeview specifications ruled out the use of a jump button that would allow viewers to skip through ads 30 seconds at a time.

“People need to remember free-to-air is free because it is funded by advertisers.”

Source: The Australian

29 Responses

  1. @ Paul of Perth: Lazy networks, or they cannot be bothered to update. Its not hard to do, they know their programming to the second: For example, no reason why 9 cannot have on their EPGs 8.38 Underbelly, 9.38 next show, etc. Ch 10 does this already, certain foxtel channels adjust EPGs closer to the program time from 8.30 to 8.33 or so…

  2. I want the EPG question answered as well, for both my TV and DVR, I use them some of the time mainly because they are full of holes a lot of the time but they are good to have, will they just go blank May 1st?

  3. Why is it in a digital world that when you set your recording on a PVR by the EPG, that it only starts when the program guide says it should start and not when the show actually starts. What is the point of digital. if it’s not smart.

  4. no paull i don’t think it has been confirmed yet that the existing EPG will stop for the freeview one, but it is a possibility, hopefully they will run both at the same time instead of 1 or the other.

  5. Hey David
    Do these replies to Freeview actually make it to the Freeview committee? I hope they do because if they want honest opinions, they shouldn’t look any further than TV Tonight.

    “People need to remember free-to-air is free because it is funded by advertisers.”

    Well, I guess I better purchase a satellite dish. Then I can watch what ‘I’ want. 😛

  8. “Sharp Australia’s marketing director Laurie Nolan said he was concerned consumers would not understand exactly what Freeview was offering.”

    That’s me.

  9. so it’s been confirmed that products with existing epgs will stop showing them after freeview is launched?
    What a nuisance! And what a waste of money! So much for the government trying to assist us in the switchover to digital!!

  10. according to my tv guide the current digital stations that actually broadcast content are ABC1, ABC2, ABC HD, 7, 7HD, 9, 9HD, Ten, TEN HD, SBS, SBS News, SBS HD. Which is 12. If that helps. I’m not if SBS/ABC shows different content on their HD channel, but the others do at certain times of the day.

    But yeah the fact is that to me the consumer, there is no reason for me to go out and buy a freeview box. There is no hype or excitement about new content. Nothing to make me want to have freeview. I originally bought my HD set top box so that I could get the alternate content on the HD stations, which specifically at the time was TEN HD. Gotta love the scifi they used to run! I -wanted- that HD STB for that. I know that with a HD box I don’t need freeview (do I? still a bit confused about that) but from what I can gather the “features” of freeview are:

    three new stations that probably won’t have new content / same content on the current stations / no TEN HD / ONE HD

    So tell me again why anyone would want this?

  11. Thanks, Craig. ABC and SBS HD yet to offer any alternative viewing like 7, 9 and 10/ONE do, so I did not count. And 7 and 9 HD shouldn’t count as full channels yet anyway as 9HD is 2 hours a day, 7HD about 7 hours a day of unique programming. And, yes, for freeview to get to 15, all the HD channels would have to be unique programming as well.

  12. Andrew I think you forgot ABC and SBS HD channels.

    thus the problem 5 of the channels are copies of the others so the real number will be 10 not 15 when all the proposed channels are up any running, unless 7-9 have alt programing on the HD channels some of the time?

  13. freeview is shaping up to be a massive scam.

    The FTA networks realised there was nothing they could do to stop manufacturers from making ad-skipping pvrs/dvd recorders, so they decided to make a “free” epg which is only compatible with a device that meats freeview’s non-ad skipping specifications.

    Im am really hoping that companies continue to offer non-freeview compliant recorders, and that consumers buy them and not the freeview ones.

  14. I have a media centre PC hooked up to my LCD TV. There’s a gorup called free epg that provide a TV guide for Media Centre. Requires some tinkering but is well worth it.

    Also, I am able to store a large amount of TV and keep a digital record of my photos, music and videos at the push of a button PLUS access the internet for things like Iview and Youtube. And it cost me less than $1000 to build.

    Sorry Freeview…there are just better options out there.

  18. Whats the point in getting Freeview (or even TIVO) when you can get a PVR with a DVD player in one which does pretty much everything if not better? Unless there is a DVD player included then these boxes will just fill more space in my entertainment unit. And yet another remote!

    I’m waiting for someone who brings out a really good media center all in one DVD, PVR with links to the internet with nice apps and full access to downloads (not just crappy pong games and downloads of b grade movies from Blockbuster like TIVO!).

  19. Well said Mr. Nolan (sharp) for telling it like it is and not being pressured into Freeview “compliance”. I’d laugh if Freeview couldn’t get the manufacturers behind them because we don’t need another EPG/compliance “standard” to make us different from the rest of the world or to give us what we already have with the added restrictions.

  20. Ideally the networks should also use May 1 as a date for their new channels to launch, otherwise there is no point, and FreeView wil take off as slowly as DVDs did in the mid 90’s, if at all. A faster analogue switch off would speed it up as well.

    And already 12 channels? ABC, ABC2, SBS, SBS news, 7, 9, 10 – thats 7 full time channels. Plus 7HD and 9HD – gets us to 9 channels. Then ONE HD will make the 10th. And ONE SD should not count as a separate channel, otherwise that arguement would give us 20 channels now. Ch 31 not digital, so that doesn’t count. Ch 44 Sydney included in the count? Its all very deceptive.

  21. Does this mean you won’t be able to jump through ads on stuff already recorded?
    At the moment on my panasonic dvd/vcr combo drive, i record on dvd-ram discs and use the time shift function to skip ahead in ads a minute at a time. I also cut out the ads by making them chapters and then deleting them. Would this stop that function on future hdd/ dvd recorders?

    If so then im obviously opting for a non-freeview branded recorder in the future. Even if I have to for go an epg (which would be a major nuisance). Or, even worse, i would switch over to a foxtel iq recorder before going freeview.

  22. i don’t use the 30 second skip function all that much, i can live without it. but what i do use is chapter creating, when i watch a show on my PVR i create a chapter at the beginning of an ad break and at the end of the ad break and then when i’m finished i go in and edit it and delete all the ad segments. will the free-to-airs still let us do this? i fastforward and see their ads once, must i also be forced to re-watch them every second, third etc viewing? this chapter creating function is also useful to allow you to skip over opening credits and if you have to stop watching something to go out you can create one like a book mark so you can pick up where you left off, so it has a use beyond just getting rid of ads, are they going to also try and remove this feature? because if it is a choice between keeping my current machine with this function even if the EPG disappears and it looses that useage and a freeview machine where you can’t edit out the ads using chapters, i’m keeping my old one, i want an EPG but not if it means loosing chapters.

  23. “People need to remember free-to-air is free because it is funded by advertisers.”

    That comment is exactly the sort of reason why FTA viewership is plummeting. So out of touch. A jump button won’t kill advertising, low viewership will and they are helping kill themselves at this stage.

    You could smell the flop that is Freeview a mile away, why they couldn’t is beyond me.

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