C31 Melbourne adds Live streaming app
Community TV gets its first Live streaming app, ahead of losing broadcast spectrum at the end of the year.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
Channel 31 Melbourne has recently announced a new app with Live streaming of its content.
The community broadcaster can also be streamed Live vis desktop.
“For over twenty years Channel 31 has been Melbourne and Geelong’s destination for local home grown community television. Viewing habits are changing, and the transition from the traditional TV model to streaming content online is well and truly underway at C31,” it said.
“The C31 app provides viewers with free and unlimited access to C31 shows, sporting events and special programming, and is further evidence of our commitment to ensuring community television’s future remains bright as we transition into a digital future.”
Recently the government extended broadcast spectrum for the CTV sector until December 31 to allow more time to transition to an online model. But TVS Sydney decided not to renew their license and closed over summer.
The C31 app is available free for download from iTunes and Google Play.
4 Responses
Who is paying for the hosting and streaming servers?
The same people who are/were paying for the broadcast transmitter & associated infrastructure, site leases, power, reporting & compliance costs, etc?
That ain’t free either – it’s paid for by the company/trust set up to run the station, which usually get most of their income from sponsors, advertising, and pay-to-play TV shows. For a small station with a small market, hosting & serving streaming could quite easily work out to be considerably cheaper, per-customer, than FTA broadcast…
That seems quite unlikely. For a start, hosting fees are endless.
You’re assuming they went this way because they wanted to….
You might be surprised – assuming 1mbps H.264/128kbps AAC (i.e. sufficient to match or better CTV’s existing MPEG-2 SD resolution & A/V quality), even the most expensive options (e.g. occasional short term hourly) from the big CDN players can be had for < 5¢/hr/viewer.
And no, I know very well that they're going that way because they have been forced to…