7Live …what we know so far
Seven's upcoming Live app will offer viewers their nearest metro transmission in SD from December.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
Promising news this week from Seven with the announcement that all three of its channels will Live stream 24 / 7 from December 1.
Regional broadcasters were far less enthusiastic about the news, claiming that it only went to demonstrate how out-dated our Reach Rules are.
Seven is already Live streaming Sunrise and The Morning Show ahead of its full roll-out in December.
With full details yet to be confirmed by Seven, the news raises several questions: do we get to watch AFL in Live streaming, can viewers in Perth watch streaming ahead of a west coast broadcast -and will it cannibalise broadcast numbers?
There are some hints in Seven’s own FAQs to these questions.
AFL fans should take note of this one: “The simulcast transmission will be identical to the original broadcast (including all advertising and programming in the original broadcast) except for programming or advertising that is replaced due to rights issues.”
As to the matter of viewers outside AEST watching content ahead of broadcast it’s unlikely.
“Yes, the service will be available in all metro and regional areas, with regional areas receiving their nearest metro transmission,” says Seven.
“Initially Seven will be available across five states but later in the year Seven, 7Two and 7Mate will be available across all twelve Seven Network regions.”
Receiving the “nearest metro transmission” means local advertising would continue to remain relevant to local viewers.
There is also a curious note about a Free version being in SD, which hints that perhaps a HD version will come with a fee.
“Yes, the viewer will not be charged any money by Seven to receive the transmission. It will be a free service to the user and is just an extension of our free to air television broadcast,” notes one line.
But another indicates, “For the initial free release, it will be available in SD only.”
The launch is times for the non-ratings period, which allows time to tweak things before they resume next February. We also know OzTAM is planning to introduce ratings for online later this year.
7Live service will also be geo-blocked for Australia only, in case you were wondering.
But if the service puts pressure on other broadcasters to follow suit this can only be a good thing.
TV Tonight can also confirm that Seven is planning to join Apple TV, alongside Tenplay, Netflix and Stan. No confirmation on when as yet.
You can read more on 7Live here.
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- Tagged with Sunrise, The Morning Show
16 Responses
Let us go back to when television was television, and no Twitter to interfere.
As an advertiser I would be concerned – using the example of Tamworth – if people can start watching Seven Sydney via streaming instead of their local PRIME then there is the chance of losing viewers to this service and they see Sydney’s ads instead – especially as the NBN rolls out and more and more people have internet abled TVs.
Regional areas absolutely should have their own channels with their own ads streaming. The service would need to be based on registration confirming your address – matching the location of the computer should be enough but if they don’t match then additional ID could be provided to verify your access to the right market’s channels. Sure a few will try to get around it especially out of AEST but it should be fair to local advertisers as well.
This is what is stopping Foxtel relaying the FTAs to regional areas – the local ads on the regional stations. I’m very surprised Seven has been able to get around this with a stroke of the pen when Foxtel has been trying to do this without success for 20 years.
I completely disagree with you. I value my privacy and shouldn’t have to provide an address to access a free stream or go through a registration process. Free to air catch up tv and sports streams in this country have not required a registration to be used. Why should this be any different? This idea is very wrong and punishes viewers.
It will probably involve a login which identifies your location as city / state. I think it’s unlikely to ask for your street address.
The most I’ve seen on the 7tennis.com.au stream is a pop up before you begin asking what state your in.
I don’t care about geoblocking outside Australia for this but is state based geoblocking really necessary? Maybe I want to watch something at the same time as the eastern states?
This news invites speculation. Will Aussie expats worldwide just need a VPN and adjust their PC’s clock to watch TV from their home town? Deja vu, in Sydney in the 60’s I enjoyed watching WIN4 & NBN3 with their local ads and time-shifted shows. Needed a “bedstead” aerial on the roof tho’.
Is Presto also being added to Apple TV?
I fully understand the issue the regional broadcasters have with this .. It totally proves the current media laws are outdated .. Surely a capacity exists that you register you live in Tamworth and you get prime Tamworth
So 7 has plans to join Tenplay? You gotta be kidding!
Shoudy, you always have a way of reading things that are not there….I’m comfortable with the phrasing.
While it might be geoblocked, this is easy circumvented with a VPN.
So a clever VPN and geo-location tool means a Perth person can watch the live AFL from Melbourne of a different game – I like this. nice work 7
You’re assuming AFL will be part of any offering. Based on Telstra deal this week, I’m not.
I’m not sure that the streaming part is just for Telstra. In the article titled “AFL announces record $2.5b broadcast rights agreement” on the herald sun’s website date 19/8/2015 it says and I quote
” Foxtel, Seven and Telstra will all have the ability to stream the football games on digital platforms.”
How that exactly will work I don’t know due to lack of detail. There could be all sorts of limitations. They have been really vague on the streaming side of things which isn’t good and leads to confusion.