Now this is really Murdoch's long arm of profiteering steering the Liberals for sure...

www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-10/community-television-kicked-off-air-by-federal-government/5733690

One question - why??

Its not ending... its just going to another format, why waste airspace for a very small sector of the community.

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Harrow said..
One question - why??

Oh come on man! What do you think or are you just trolling? Community TV represents community issues, ideas, and cultural diversity that commercial stations simply do not show for both political and economic reasons. Most CTV presenters are volunteers sharing their passions and ideas on anything from language skills, community groups and motor and car shows. Blokes World is one show you will never see in a commercial format. But that's all gone now thanks to Murdoch and his fascist desire to control the world through his mediums. If he could control the internet he would.

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Gizmo said..
Its not ending... its just going to another format, why waste airspace for a very small sector of the community.

Really? You obviously have not worked in TV to appreciate the work involved. Putting it on the Net is no different than current chanels like uTube and Vimeo. And who flicks onto them at specific times of the day, when it's a first in, last out format? Meaning, it's totally different than TV. I mean if the internet is 'that good' then why aren't all commercial programmes jumping over?

Well, that disproves something I thought. The Liberals actually know there is an internet! Wow!

It will kill community TV. Not that I watch it, but not many people would bother watching it if they had to go to trouble to do it.

Why? To resell that little bit of spectrum so that another shopping channel can sprout up that no one really watches.

Politics huh? I can't see any reason other than money and competition.

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Loftywinds said..

Gizmo said..
Its not ending... its just going to another format, why waste airspace for a very small sector of the community.

Really? You obviously have not worked in TV to appreciate the work involved. Putting it on the Net is no different than current chanels like uTube and Vimeo. And who flicks onto them at specific times of the day, when it's a first in, last out format? Meaning, it's totally different than TV. I mean if the internet is 'that good' then why aren't all commercial programmes jumping over?

Oh really? ..... I have been employed in the TV broadcast industry for nearly 40 years now..... And still working freelance for most networks in this country.. Live to air sporting outside broadcasts is my main area. (AFL, Soccer, Basketball, Cricket, Tennis, V8's, Grand Pix etc etc) so over the years you have probably watched / heard some of my work.
Community TV will end up live streaming on the net in a very similar way to the just been released ALL network live streaming, similar to ABC catchup and other networks versions.

http://www.freeview.com.au/freeviewplus.aspx

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Loftywinds said..

Harrow said..
One question - why??

Oh come on man! What do you think or are you just trolling? Community TV represents community issues, ideas, and cultural diversity that commercial stations simply do not show for both political and economic reasons. Most CTV presenters are volunteers sharing their passions and ideas on anything from language skills, community groups and motor and car shows. Blokes World is one show you will never see in a commercial format. But that's all gone now thanks to Murdoch and his fascist desire to control the world through his mediums. If he could control the internet he would.

Oops, sorry, didn't realise the ambiguity in my earlier post.

I meant, why do they want to get rid of it? I love the quirky sort of thing that community media creates. Why make it harder for people to access it? Like most people, I'm probably not going to search for it on the internet, but I will channel flick and see what they have on sometimes. Getting rid of it means less bio diversity, and more plastic crap.

Money. The commercial channels will be arguing they need another one so that they can compete.. with each other. They are already complaining about falling ad revenue so they want even more channels of nothing.

the transition will take 20 years. by that time half of Australia might have a fibre internet connection

I think we need another shopping channel like a hole in the head.
Like harrow said channel surfing . The other day it was on the alternative channels from the 7,9,10 mash, brady bunch & shopping .
Community tv at least offers something different.
They do advertise on there for more programs.
I have thought a windsurfing program would be great and it then has a place to get air time and could attract more people to the sport.
People who channel surf who don't want a steam mop or make up etc would land on that channel & could be interested enough to give it a go.
JUst a thought.
I was at home one day flicking through the channels & my wife said I don't watch day time tv anymore . I replied thats because you have bought everything . We got the ninga pro the steam mop etc . I laughed & said I've even got the ladder but i did buy it from buntings

Sounds like the "Digital Dividend" where overnight a bunch of digital wireless microphones and other wireless devices are suddenly illegal and obsolete. This is so part of the digital spectrum is given, that's right, given away for nothing, to the commercial TV corporations. They get the dividend while a whole bunch of organisations and individuals across Australia pay for it.

Seems like commercial TV stations don't like competition of any sort. Too bad they will be all out of business in a few years time. Most probably 7 to fall over will be the last as their audience is the oldest.

Who's watching it anyway? just say yes if you have watched com. TV in the last .................. let say month, will be interesting to see!

Yes. I record several shows from community stations and watch them at my leisure. It's not all amateurs with cardboard cutout sets and boofheads talking about crap. NITV airs world class professional programs sourced from all over the world. It's a bit like SBS. They put on programs that other channels don't handle.

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Mobydisc said..
Sounds like the "Digital Dividend" where overnight a bunch of digital wireless microphones and other wireless devices are suddenly illegal and obsolete. This is so part of the digital spectrum is given, that's right, given away for nothing, to the commercial TV corporations. They get the dividend while a whole bunch of organisations and individuals across Australia pay for it.

Seems like commercial TV stations don't like competition of any sort. Too bad they will be all out of business in a few years time. Most probably 7 to fall over will be the last as their audience is the oldest.

Actually the 'Digital Dividend' benefited the Telco companies (and the Government coffers) NOT TV networks..... Infact it has been incredibily costly for networks, they needed to replace all of their transmitters, radio microphones, microwave links etc etc. with digital signals it is possible to stack into a region of airwaves, a bit like defragmenting a computer hard drive, and these days everyone wants a wireless thingy... from smart phones, RC toys, remote controls, WiFi etc.

For those interested this is a diagram of how the radio frequency spectrum is divided.

http://www.acma.gov.au/~/media/Spectrum%20Transformation%20and%20Government/Publication/pdf/spectrum_chart2013%20pdf.pdf

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Gizmo said..

Actually the 'Digital Dividend' benefited the Telco companies NOT TV networks..... Infact it has been incredibily costly for networks, they needed to replace all of their transmitters, radio microphones, microwave links etc etc. with digital signals it is possible to stack into a region of airwaves, a bit like defragmenting a computer hard drive, and these days everyone wants a wireless thingy... from smart phones, RC toys, remote controls, WiFi etc.

For those interested this is a diagram of how the radio frequency spectrum is divided.

http://www.acma.gov.au/~/media/Spectrum%20Transformation%20and%20Government/Publication/pdf/spectrum_chart2013%20pdf.pdf

The commercial channels were all arguing for multi-channeling, and this was the impetus in going digital. At the time I thought it was stupid because all it does is carves up the same pie into smaller slices. I think they thought ad revenue would go up, but instead it has gone down.

I still can't believe there are channels that run non-stop ads. Who in their right mind would watch these? If it was a commercial you might watch it, but a program that runs for 20 minutes?

Channel 31 in Melbs is good. I like the car shows, fishing, politics. Well worth keeping in my view.

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FormulaNova said..

Gizmo said..

Actually the 'Digital Dividend' benefited the Telco companies NOT TV networks..... Infact it has been incredibly costly for networks, they needed to replace all of their transmitters, radio microphones, microwave links etc etc. with digital signals it is possible to stack into a region of airwaves, a bit like defragmenting a computer hard drive, and these days everyone wants a wireless thingy... from smart phones, RC toys, remote controls, WiFi etc.

For those interested this is a diagram of how the radio frequency spectrum is divided.

http://www.acma.gov.au/~/media/Spectrum%20Transformation%20and%20Government/Publication/pdf/spectrum_chart2013%20pdf.pdf

The commercial channels were all arguing for multi-channeling, and this was the impetus in going digital. At the time I thought it was stupid because all it does is carves up the same pie into smaller slices. I think they thought ad revenue would go up, but instead it has gone down.

I still can't believe there are channels that run non-stop ads. Who in their right mind would watch these? If it was a commercial you might watch it, but a program that runs for 20 minutes?

You've sort have got it the wrong way around... Channel 9 & Kerry Packer was the one that didn't want multi channelling, most other networks wanted it to compete with Pay TV.
With the advent of digital TV it became possible, they were aware that with multi channels the income would be spread across those channels, what they didn't predict was the rise of the internet and how much advertising revenue was to go there, and thats why TV networks have linked to them ie. Channel 9 +MSN and Network 7 + Yahoo.
Just like any business in an open market TV shopping channels must work... If they didn't something else would be there.
In my nearly 40 years involved in broadcasting the focus has always been about 'the commercials' without those there is no money to make programs. and with the more people that watch the program the more that can be charged for commercial airtime.

Do I think TV will die...... I doubt it but there will aways people wanting to 'sell' their stuff, from sprooking in the shopping mall to TV, Radio or internet the world runs on sell, sell, sell..... Always have / Always will. ....... Die - No , Change - Yes.

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log man said..
Channel 31 in Melbs is good. I like the car shows, fishing, politics. Well worth keeping in my view.

It will still be there...... but via internet streaming.

The added advantage is that not only will you have access to your local Community TV station you will have access to every other CTV studio in Australia or the world..... Try internet radio you would be amazed of what's happening in that area also.

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Gorgo said..
Yes. I record several shows from community stations and watch them at my leisure. It's not all amateurs with cardboard cutout sets and boofheads talking about crap. NITV airs world class professional programs sourced from all over the world. It's a bit like SBS. They put on programs that other channels don't handle.

NITV is part of SBS (now) It is not a "community" channel.

Community Channels are dead in the water, frankly I'm surprised that they have lasted as long as they have. In the US they survive because of the countries ethos of free speech but also because the scale of their population means the minorities are much, much larger.

Anyway back here in Oz they very, very occasionally have something interesting but in the main I find them pretty innocuous and boring.

Most importantly, the bit about "why should I/we be funding them" is why the liberals will achieve their aims with barely a whimper.

Trouble is viewing free to air community tv costs nothing but if you have to watch it via internet your monthly download(not free) suddenly is used up and that is if it will download at anything like a viewable speed on these high speed(read low speed disjointed) copper networks

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Gizmo said..

You've sort have got it the wrong way around... Channel 9 & Kerry Packer was the one that didn't want multi channelling, most other networks wanted it to compete with Pay TV.
With the advent of digital TV it became possible, they were aware that with multi channels the income would be spread across those channels, what they didn't predict was the rise of the internet and how much advertising revenue was to go there, and thats why TV networks have linked to them ie. Channel 9 +MSN and Network 7 + Yahoo.
Just like any business in an open market TV shopping channels must work... If they didn't something else would be there.
In my nearly 40 years involved in broadcasting the focus has always been about 'the commercials' without those there is no money to make programs. and with the more people that watch the program the more that can be charged for commercial airtime.

Do I think TV will die...... I doubt it but there will aways people wanting to 'sell' their stuff, from sprooking in the shopping mall to TV, Radio or internet the world runs on sell, sell, sell..... Always have / Always will. ....... Die - No , Change - Yes.

In understand why commercials are there, but I still don't understand how a full time 'infomercial' channel makes any money unless they are really cheap ads. I guess the spectrum is already there as you are using the same transponder, so costs are low.

With normal ads, you are suckered into watching a program, so when the ad airs you tend to watch them. With an infomercial channel, do you watch it because you are really really really really bored?

Maybe the 'community' stations can change their format a bit. Go to the internet format and offering new releases on a pay per view format.... I think that would last a nano second before a local media group challenged it

So, Kerry Packer was against multichannels because he had interests in pay tv, and the others wanted it because they had no interest in pay tv. Sounds fair. Except for the fact, they don't have the content. Initially we seemed to have a reasonable spread of programs, but now its re-runs of what was on the main channel a month ago. I guess on a positive side, we get to see some programs now that would have been deemed too crap for free to air tv in the past

Gizmo your right about the radio .Digital radio is great i listen to mmm classic rock channel no ads no dj just music news once an hr and they are playing really good music & because there is more music time you get to hear songs that wouldn't be played on normal radio.
To my mind there is nothing worse than listening to some stupid disk jockey laugh at there own stupid jokes that arnt even funny. For twenty minutes out of the hour .

Recently on going some radio stuff I found a 24hr radio station in New York totally devoted to 'Knitting' yes Knitting, talking patterns, yarns, colors, interviews etc etc.
Mrs Gizmo was amazed and now a regular listener.

I have to say, I do like internet radio. When I am away from home, I still 'tune in' to the local Sydney stations. My mobile phone has become a work-site radio, and as long as you can keep it charged, it works well.

Now why in Tony's heaven on earth would we want public moneys supporting free speech and public broadcasting??

Next thing the unwashed masses will want (true) democracy and more of a choice than one lot of fkwits,and a bigger lot of fkwits.

It's all about allocation of the available frequencies for broadcast.
The current view is that it can be better used by shutting down the community tv broadcasts.
I disagree.

If the bandwidth was already being used for something else and community tv wanted to take it off them, I would say too bad,, someone else is using it.
However, community tv has been using it for years,, they got it first and they have the right to keep it until such time as they decide to bail out for any reason.

It's just another case of someone with money taking something off someone without money.

And yes,, I sometimes watch WTV. They sometimes have some really good programs with local content. Plus local ads.
I wouldn't bother watch it on the internet but I'm quite happy to watch it for a while when channel hopping.

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Gizmo said..

log man said..
Channel 31 in Melbs is good. I like the car shows, fishing, politics. Well worth keeping in my view.

It will still be there...... but via internet streaming.

The added advantage is that not only will you have access to your local Community TV station you will have access to every other CTV studio in Australia or the world..... Try internet radio you would be amazed of what's happening in that area also.

You forget or assume that everyone has fast internet or NBN, especially rural communities and areas of Australia that actually depend on CTV. Free to air, literally means FREE. internet streaming is NOT free.

Rural communities normally can't receive Community TV as these are low power transmitters, unlike the major broadcasters which are licenced to use high power transmitters.

While yes it is disappointing that CTV is changing its 'delivery system' frequency allocation would have to be done with the thought of 'what benefits the most number of people in the community' and as a community we have taken to electronic devices at an alarming rate.

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Gizmo said..
Rural communities normally can't receive Community TV as these are low power transmitters, unlike the major broadcasters which are licenced to use high power transmitters.

While yes it is disappointing that CTV is changing its 'delivery system' frequency allocation would have to be done with the thought of 'what benefits the most number of people in the community' and as a community we have taken to electronic devices at an alarming rate.

I thought some community TV channels 'back-end' on other commercial transmitters. Is this not the case?

I suspect it might vary. In Sydney they seem to have their own frequency, whereas I think in Wollongong they are using the same as another commercial channel.

Every channel that appears on your TV, radio etc has its own transmitter, that converts the incoming signal from the studio to an RF signal (Radio Frequency).

The towers that are around often have many antennas on them, often radio, TV stations, taxi companies, Telco's and lots of other businesses will lease space on a single tower to mount their communication equipment.