Though I can’t think of a good introduction to this blog post, I have listed a few things that should happen in regards to digital broadcasts in Australia.

1) National broadcasting of Digital 44 using the Channel A spectrum

This trail program that has been running in Sydney is useful, as it provides a medium for news and general community broadcasting over the digital platform.  A national rollout of this service could encompass a news channel, A-PAC, NITV, the Australian Christian Channel, the local Channel 31 station as well as Teachers TV and Parliament broadcasting.  The Expo Shopping Channel can be scrapped as it is a pointless channel.

2) The reallocation of “Channel B” from Mobile Broadcasting

While the idea is clever, I find it hard to believe that the take up of such a service would be high.  Personally, I would rather that spectrum be allocated to further increase DVB-T broadcasts.

3) The introduction of pay tv over DVB-T

This does sound like a controversial idea, considering that the whole premise of freeview is that you never have to pay monthly fees.  However, this could be beneficial in a number of areas, for both the consumer, broadcasters as a whole, and a company such as Foxtel (which I will use in this example).

An OTA Pay TV service could pave the way for opportunities to experiment with newer broadcasting technologies and methods.  Foxtel could broadcast their encrypted content using the H264 codec and offer subscribers decoders with smartcard holders and H264 support, while being able to offer more channels than if MPEG2 was being used.  Interactive (aka Red Button) and On Demand (similar to the Top Up TV Anytime system in the UK) systems can also be trialled.

The consumers benefit because they have the option of paying a low fee for a few extra channels that may be of interest.  Depending on the codec and bitrate of the channels broadcasted, about 4-7 24 hour channels could possibly be offered.  Possible Channels could include:

• Fox Sports (HD)
• ESPN
• Discovery Channel
• Fox 8
• Showtime
• Sky News/Weather/BBC World
• Nickelodeon

While these are only examples, it serves as a guide to what could be offered.

A non-existing subscriber could expect to pay somewhere between $10 – $15 for this service.  This kind of a service would be extremely popular with people living in apartments and units where it is not possible to have satellite/cable Foxtel installed, but regular over the air TV can be received.  An existing subscriber could pay about $5 on top of their traditional Foxtel monthly bill.  This would eliminate the need for installers to come in and run more pay tv cable around the house.

The company providing the service, such as a Foxtel would benefit as it allows them to reach additional segments of the market that either couldn’t afford the traditional Foxtel service, or couldn’t have the traditional Foxtel service installed due to structural/legal issues.  It is a win-win situation.

4)  Reallocation of LCNs (Logical Channel Numbers)

The following is how it should be done:

1, 10 – 19, 100 – 199: Ten Network, Southern Cross Ten

2, 20 – 29, 200 – 299: ABC

3, 30 – 39, 300 – 349: SBS

4, 40 – 49, 400 – 499: Datacasting

5, 50 – 59, 500 – 599: Channel B (see Foxtel example)

7, 70 – 79, 700 – 799: Seven Network, Prime Television

9, 90 – 99, 900 – 999: Nine Network, WIN & NBN Television

I fail to understand how the regional networks are allocated their own LCNs.  It isn’t as if their transmission areas overlap.

These are just a few ideas that can be explored.  Let me know what you think.