Freeview (Australia)
| File:Freeview (Australia).png | |
| Company type | Digital television brand |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2008 |
| Headquarters | Australia |
| Website | www.freeview.com.au |
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Freeview (Australia) is the brand given to the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia. It will bring all of the free-to-air broadcasters on to a consistent marketing platform to compete against PayTV. Freeview will emphasise its members' 15 free over-the-air channels (3 per broadcaster) and will certify TVs, set top boxes and PVRs which meet their requirements. They will also produce an enhanced EPG (electronic program guide). The introduction of the freeview service will start on the 26th of March 2009 with TEN Network's OneHD sport channel. Analogue television will be progressively switched off in Australia from 2010 to 2013.
The non-for-profit Freeview organisation comprises the free-to-air licencees; Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Special Broadcasting Service, Seven Network, Nine Network, Network Ten, WIN Corporation, Prime Media Group and Southern Cross Broadcasting.[1]
Launch
The brand was launched on November 24, 2008 at 6:29pm through the use of a 60 second advertisement shown on all networks, in a roadblock.[2]
The service proper will launch in 2009 along with a number of Freeview badged Set Top Boxes and Integrated Digital Televisions.[3]
The full requirements of a "Freeview compliant" set top box were not announced during the November launch. HD support will be required to view the HD Freeview channels, and Freeview will be producing a new enhanced EPG (Electronic Programming Guide).
Ownership
According to an ABC release [4], the shareholders of Freeview are ABC, SBS, the Seven Network, the Nine Network, Network Ten, Prime, WIN and Southern Cross, though, a company search reveals all shares are owned by the Nine Network.[5]
Freeview Certified TVs, PVRs, and Set Top Boxes
Part of the Freeview initiative is to certify boxes as capable of receiving Freeview. A key goal of the Freeview Certification is to ensure that Personal (or Digital) Video Recorders (PVRs or DVRs) are not able to skip ads. They will be permitted to fast forward (or skim) over commercials, but not jump over ads entirely.
The Freeview advertising for their 15 channel platform and certified products, combined with the government's commercials warning of the closure of analog TV transmissions, is intended to help consumers buy appropriate devices.
Enhanced EPG and DRM
Freeview channels will use a new enhanced Electronic Programming Guide (EPG), available only to Freeview certified devices. This is to be encoded using MHEG-5. It is rumoured that the EPG will not be released until Stage 2 of Freeview.
The Enhanced EPG should allow PVRs to better record programs by having greater program detail and shared information provided by the broadcasters, with the requirement that the PVR is not to allow ad-skipping.
However, the Federal Government has indicated that it will not mandate the use of the MPEG4 technology necessary to implement these changes, and Australian TV manufacturers will not support the introduction of this technology into televisions.[6]
Non Compliant Devices
Existing digital TV devices should continue to operate without Freeview certification, with the following caveats:
- They will not have the enhanced EPG. PVRs may have less information to use for scheduling recordings than compliant PVRs, and may be further affected if the current EPG is reduced or removed.
- Only HD devices can view the HD channels
Channels
Each free-to-air broadcaster, from 2009, is permitted to transmit 2 in Standard Definition (SD) and 1 in High Definition (HD). Freeview has announced that the service will launch with 15 channels, three from each of the current broadcasters[7] - 10 SD and 5 HD services.[3]
Network Ten has announced that they will have 2 channels - a regular entertainment channel (in SD) and a sports channel[1] (in HD and SD). As of November 2008, the other networks have not announced their channel plans.
Logical Channel Numbers (LCNs) vs Actual Channels
The digital Television standard allows for multiple channel numbers to point to the same television stream. All the broadcasters use this - it can appear that there are several separate channels when they each point to the same transmission.
The broadcasters are permitted to broadcast 3 separate channels. When the HD and SD channels show the same program, they use different streams - one in standard definition, the other in high definition.
The Freeview advertising says they will have 15 channels.
Metropolitan Channels
Not all channels are available in all areas, duplicate channels omitted. [8]
| LCN | Channel | Genre/Type | Resolution | Current Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ONE HD | Sport | 1080i HD | Launching March 26, 2009. Currently Ten HD |
| 2 | ABC1 | Mature Entertainment | 576i SD | Active channel |
| 3 | SBS TV | Foreign Programs/General Entertainment | 576i SD | Active channel |
| 7 | Seven Digital | General Entertainment | 576i SD | Active channel |
| 9 | Nine Digital | General Entertainment | 576i SD | Active channel |
| 10 | Ten Digital | Youth/General Entertainment | 576i SD | Active channel |
| 12 | ONE | Sport (Simulcast One HD) | 576i SD | Not Available. Launching March 26, 2009 (currently simulcasts Ten HD as TenSD-2) |
| 20 | ABC HD | Unannounced | Unknown HD | 720p HD, currently simulcasts ABC1's Sydney Telecast |
| 22 | ABC2 | Youth/General Entertainment | 576i SD | Active channel |
| 23 | ABC3 | Kids Shows | Unannounced | 576i SD, Currently repeating ABC1 |
| 30 | SBS HD | Unannounced | Unknown HD | 720p HD, currently simulcasts SBS TV |
| 32 | SBS World News | LOTE News | 576i SD | Requested funding for SBS World - Non-English Movies, Specials & News |
| 70 | Seven HD | Unannounced | Unknown HD | 1080i HD, currently simulcasts 7SD with some occasional breakaway programs |
| 7x | Reserved for 7SD-2 | Unannounced | 576i SD | Not available. Coming in 2009 |
| 90 | Nine HD | Unannounced | Unknown HD | 1080i HD, currently simulcasts 9SD with some occasional breakaway programs |
| 9x | Reserved For 9SD-2 | Unannounced | 576i SD | Not available. Coming in 2009 |
Regional Channels
Some regional areas receive a different combination of metropolitan and regional channels. Below lists the general regional networks, see metropolitan channels where necessary. For example, most areas in regional Queensland have Seven Queensland broadcasting instead of an affiliate.
| LCN | Channel | Genre/Type | Resolution | Current Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | ABC1 | Mature Entertainment | 576i SD | Active channel |
| 3 | SBS TV | Foreign Programs/General Entertainment | 576i SD | Active channel |
| 5 | Southern Cross Ten | Youth/General Entertainment | 576i SD | Active channel (Regional Network Ten Affiliate) |
| 6 | Prime/Southern Cross | General Entertainment | 576i SD | Active channel (Regional Seven Network Affiliate) |
| 8 | WIN/NBN | General Entertainment | 576i SD | Active channel (Regional Nine Network Affiliates) |
| 20 | ABC HD | Unannounced | Unknown HD | 720p HD, currently simulcasts ABC1 |
| 22 | ABC2 | Youth/General Entertainment | 576i SD | Active channel |
| 23 | ABC3 | Kids Shows | Unannounced | 576i SD, Currently repeating ABC1 |
| 30 | SBS HD | Unannounced | Unknown HD | 720p HD, currently simulcasts SBS TV |
| 33 | SBS News | Non-english News | 576i SD | Requested funding for SBS World - Non-English Movies, Specials & News |
| 5x | ONE HD | Sport | 1080i HD | Coming March 26. Will retransmit Ten's sport channel "One", in HD.[2] |
| 5x | ONE | Will simulcast One HD[9] | 576i SD | March 26, 2009. |
| 60 | Prime/Southern Cross HD | Unannounced | Unknown HD | 1080i HD, currently simulcasts 7SD |
| 6x | Prime/Southern Cross SD-2 | Unannounced | 576i SD | Not available. Coming in 2009 |
| 80 | WIN/NBN HD | Unannounced | Unknown HD | 1080i HD, currently simulcasts 9SD |
| 8x | WIN/NBN SD-2 | Unannounced | 576i SD | Not available. Coming in 2009 |
References
- ^ "Freeview About Us". Freeview. 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
- ^ "Freeview to launch 6.29pm Monday". MediaSpy (The Spy Report). 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
- ^ a b UNITES NETWORKS IN THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION 24 Nov 08.pdf "Freeview unites networks in the Digital Revolution" (PDF) (Press release). Freeview (Australia). 2008-11-24. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
{{cite press release}}: Check|url=value (help) - ^ Freeview to Drive Digital Take-up in Australia
- ^ So who's really behind Freeview?
- ^ Communications Minister Nobbles Freeview (SmartHouse)
- ^ "Freeview FAQs". 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|Publisher=ignored (|publisher=suggested) (help) - ^ "Freeview Channels". 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|Publisher=ignored (|publisher=suggested) (help) - ^ http://www.mediaspy.org/report/2009/01/southern-cross-ten-to-carry-one-hd/
External links
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