28 replies to this topic

[ozjad]

http://www.tvtonight...firms-go99.html

tvtonight.com.au said:

Set to launch on August 9th, the channel will offer themed nights including reality on Tuesdays, science fiction on Wednesdays, and female-skewed content on Thursdays.

this new FTA channel looks absolutely brilliant.

tvtonight.com.au said:

GO! will also be available on WIN. TV Tonight hints that there it could be GO! 88.

I will definately be calling WIN today to find out whether Tassie will be getting this at the same time as Nine. fingers crossed

[lizclinton]

How the hell is WIN going to fit another SD stream on their 21Mbps MUX?? With their K-Mart SD encoders needing 7Mbps to give a half decent PQ thats 14Mbps tied up with sending just 8 and 88 out, so what is going to happen to their so called HD channel?

Edited by lizclinton, 16 July 2009 - 10:15 AM.

[Alista]

How do you know that it uses 7mbps? surely they don't need 7mbps, The ABC's HD channel is only about 7mbps

[lizclinton]

Alista, on Jul 16 2009, 10:29 AM, said:

How do you know that it uses 7mbps? surely they don't need 7mbps, The ABC's HD channel is only about 7mbps

They are using 7Mbps at the moment for just the SD channel 8. 11Mbps is used for the HD channel 80 so we have about 3Mbps that could be used for channel 88. The ABC use 9Mbps for their bitrate starved joke of a HD service and its only 720p so how is WIN going to fit two SD and one 1080i HD service on their channel without making the PQ look even worse than it does now?

[cdn]

lizclinton, on Jul 16 2009, 10:49 AM, said:

They are using 7Mbps at the moment for just the SD channel 8. 11Mbps is used for the HD channel 80 so we have about 3Mbps that could be used for channel 88. The ABC use 9Mbps for their bitrate starved joke of a HD service and its only 720p so how is WIN going to fit two SD and one 1080i HD service on their channel without making the PQ look even worse than it does now?

Lizclinton could Win be going to take their HD channel back to 720p to fit it all in?

[lizclinton]

cdn, on Jul 16 2009, 11:32 AM, said:

Lizclinton could Win be going to take their HD channel back to 720p to fit it all in?

I certainly hope not but then again I don't know what they can do to find room to launch GO. Maybe they could use WIN HD 80 for now and dump all HD programming off it for the remainder of this year. That would buy them time until their new play-out centre in Sydney opens with hopefully better encoders next year.

[HillsTas]

Is this GO channel going to be HD, SD or one of each???

[digitalj]

HillsTas, on Jul 16 2009, 04:49 PM, said:

Is this GO channel going to be HD, SD or one of each???

SD only.

[lizclinton]

HillsTas, on Jul 16 2009, 04:49 PM, said:

Is this GO channel going to be HD, SD or one of each???

Has been confirmed as being on 80 only. I guess they can get away with it for the remainder of the year because they would have reached their 1040 hours of native content already.

[Alista]

lizclinton, on Jul 16 2009, 05:00 PM, said:

Has been confirmed as being on 80 only. I guess they can get away with it for the remainder of the year because they would have reached their 1040 hours of native content already.

Rats, you would think WIN would have some decent gear!

[keiron]

Did someone say sci-fi night? About time too, ever since tenHD ditched their Thursday Sci-Fi night there's been very slim pickings on the FTA networks.

[ozjad]

i was suprised to read the post on TVTonight with WIN saying channel 80. I called the hobart office at lunch time and the guy read me the email and I asked him to confirm channel 80 or 88 and he said 88. Could be lis being specualted, soft launch on channel 80 so viewers dont miss out then move to 88 with the proper launch in september. who knows, but hats off to WIN for treating regional viewers with a bit of respect and launching the channel the same time as their metro counterpart.
I had an interesting conversation with a guy at the MSCM head office today about SCHD which was bloody shameful on their part. Too tired to post about it now though..

[lizclinton]

ozjad, on Jul 16 2009, 06:44 PM, said:

i was suprised to read the post on TVTonight with WIN saying channel 80. I called the hobart office at lunch time and the guy read me the email and I asked him to confirm channel 80 or 88 and he said 88. Could be lis being specualted, soft launch on channel 80 so viewers dont miss out then move to 88 with the proper launch in september. who knows, but hats off to WIN for treating regional viewers with a bit of respect and launching the channel the same time as their metro counterpart.
I had an interesting conversation with a guy at the MSCM head office today about SCHD which was bloody shameful on their part. Too tired to post about it now though..

I agree ozjad, WIN have shown Macquarie how they should treat regional customers so lets hope someone at Mac is taking notice. I suspect we will have GO on 80 until early next year and if its still alive by then we will get a second SD stream for it.

[ozjad]

lizclinton, on Jul 21 2009, 10:02 AM, said:

I agree ozjad, WIN have shown Macquarie how they should treat regional customers so lets hope someone at Mac is taking notice. I suspect we will have GO on 80 until early next year and if its still alive by then we will get a second SD stream for it.

From the conversation i had with Mac, i'm wary. The guy i spoke with was really nice but didnt give any real hope for multichanneling in Tas anytime soon. He tried to use the whole "testing HD faze while they are doing upgrades", then backed down when i made it clear that I and most others are aware that their playout facility has been completely upgraded, and mentioned how the jackson memorial was being played until someone realised they had pressed the wrong button.

He said they are waiting to see what 7 do with multi channeling and will react afterwards. I suggested they look at how WIN and 9 have decided to launch go! together and that they should try and build a better relationship with 7, rather than always reacting and letting people in regional areas miss out.

The only positive that really came out from the phone call was that he had no idea that SC HD has never had EPG data and assured me he would look into it. I then referred Tivo to speak to him directly about the issue, because they seem to be banging their head against a brick wall tring to get any program data for the local HD channels.

There was more said, but i got the impression they do monitor discussion boards, and would rather now seem to be encouraging them to bring more services to Tas than get their back up.

Show me HD, SC.

[Alista]

ozjad, on Jul 22 2009, 08:31 PM, said:

Mentioned how the jackson memorial was being played until someone realised they had pressed the wrong button.

They also did that when the bushfire telethon was broadcast in Victoria, went along okay for about 15mins then they went to the loop and never returned! I really think that SC is probably the most anti - competitive station there is and they have a poor commitment to their viewers and they are only interested in $$$$ But at least WIN is committing to regional areas.

[lizclinton]

We have seen now that 60 can be used with local ad inserts so you have to wonder why they are only doing it for footy. Its clear that Southern cross will do anything to keep saying they are the most watched station but hey when they can cherry pick the best programmes from two networks why wouldn't they be the most watched? They chose to be a seven network affiliate and its about time they stopped playing their childish games and dropped Saturday footy from ten.

[BigBadBaz]

lizclinton, on Jul 23 2009, 11:04 AM, said:

We have seen now that 60 can be used with local ad inserts so you have to wonder why they are only doing it for footy. Its clear that Southern cross will do anything to keep saying they are the most watched station but hey when they can cherry pick the best programmes from two networks why wouldn't they be the most watched? They chose to be a seven network affiliate and its about time they stopped playing their childish games and dropped Saturday footy from ten.

While I agree that this situation is not / has not been ideal and the sooner it is fixed the better, we must realise that SC have a contract with Ten to show footy in 2009 and why would they put advertising revenue at risk by dropping it.  If you were a local business who had booked advertising space during football telecasts how would you feel if it were dropped?  I am as dissapointed as anybody about how this whole fiasco has played out, but I still give SC some credit for bringing us both 7 and 10 shows in the years before TDT came along.

[lizclinton]

Baz, I'm sure when TDTs licence was issued that the government had no intention that this nonsense with Southern Cross would still be going on years later. Southern Cross made a business choice to be a channel seven affiliate just as WIN chose to align themselves with nine. For a couple of years at least Southern Cross could legitimately claim that their continued airing of network ten programs was in the best interests of viewers but after five years and with most of the state having access to TDT we can clearly see what Southern cross are up to. Ask yourself this if Southern cross were as they claim only putting network ten stuff on for the benefit of those viewer unable to receive TDT why did they insist on the very same programmes being aired at a delayed time on TDT? This is all about Macquarie’s bottom line and it still amazes me that the dills in Wollongong have sat by and let them get away with it for so long but then I guess Tassie is just a tiny bit of WINs  empire isn’t it?

[cdn]

lizclinton, on Jul 24 2009, 10:20 AM, said:

Baz, I'm sure when TDTs licence was issued that the government had no intention that this nonsense with Southern Cross would still be going on years later. Southern Cross made a business choice to be a channel seven affiliate just as WIN chose to align themselves with nine. For a couple of years at least Southern Cross could legitimately claim that their continued airing of network ten programs was in the best interests of viewers but after five years and with most of the state having access to TDT we can clearly see what Southern cross are up to. Ask yourself this if Southern cross were as they claim only putting network ten stuff on for the benefit of those viewer unable to receive TDT why did they insist on the very same programmes being aired at a delayed time on TDT? This is all about Macquarie’s bottom line and it still amazes me that the dills in Wollongong have sat by and let them get away with it for so long but then I guess Tassie is just a tiny bit of WINs  empire isn’t it?

We are just a speck not worth worrying about.

[BigBadBaz]

lizclinton, on Jul 24 2009, 10:20 AM, said:

Baz, I'm sure when TDTs licence was issued that the government had no intention that this nonsense with Southern Cross would still be going on years later. Southern Cross made a business choice to be a channel seven affiliate just as WIN chose to align themselves with nine. For a couple of years at least Southern Cross could legitimately claim that their continued airing of network ten programs was in the best interests of viewers but after five years and with most of the state having access to TDT we can clearly see what Southern cross are up to. Ask yourself this if Southern cross were as they claim only putting network ten stuff on for the benefit of those viewer unable to receive TDT why did they insist on the very same programmes being aired at a delayed time on TDT? This is all about Macquarie’s bottom line and it still amazes me that the dills in Wollongong have sat by and let them get away with it for so long but then I guess Tassie is just a tiny bit of WINs  empire isn’t it?

Liz, A contract is still a contract, if SC have a contract for the footy then good luck to them.  As I understand it, it is not SC's insistance that TDT show the same games delayed, but the fact that TDT show it at the same time as TEN Melbourne, that is, dalayed by an hour as part of it's deal with the AFL. (check the AFL website - TV coverage Melbourne)  (It's supposed to make more people inclined to attend games instead of watching TV).

[Alista]

BigBadBaz, on Jul 24 2009, 01:11 PM, said:

As I understand it, it is not SC's insistance that TDT show the same games delayed, but the fact that TDT show it at the same time as TEN Melbourne, that is, dalayed by an hour as part of it's deal with the AFL. (check the AFL website - TV coverage Melbourne)  (It's supposed to make more people inclined to attend games instead of watching TV).

Yeah but not all the time, TDT often take a NSW feed because Melbourne Ten have the game live and so does SC. It's my understanding that when TDT is going to take a feed at the same time as SC, TDT has to delay so they often are made to take a NSW feed to overcome the problem.

[ando9185]

I think there is also more to this too. The only Ten programming now shown on SC as of this year is the football. As we know, the AFL love their rights agreements and all that stuff and this was all organised a few years ago (2006 for 2007 onwards???) anyway, the AFL wouldn't have liked having only TDT broadcasting some games only on digital to what they perceive and what is, looking at the ratings surveys, a much smaller audience. So, is the Southern Cross AFL contract with Ten themselves or with the AFL? Also, when does this agreement run out, I know the radio ones are currently up for discussion with the ABC getting screwed around (what is it with Bloody Demetriou!) but the TV ones are run on a different length. I think it's about 2011 this agreement runs out.

Can't fully explain the delay on Saturday afternoons because it quite probably is due to $ for SC but part of the reason I think for Saturday night following the Sydney schedule is because most of the viewers want choice and whinge and moan when there is football on two channels. So, if contractually SC have to show the football (nobody has been able to prove that wrong) why show it on TDT at the same time and force all non-sports people to WIN and the public broadcasters?

Sure, I agree that SC is in it for the money as any legitimate business would be, but I do get sick of all of the conspiracy theories about them. Sure, it would be nice if there was more public info out there but they have to be careful divulging information as that could cause problems with commercial sensitivities but I would love to know what's holding up the digital rollout.

[BigBadBaz]

Alista, on Jul 24 2009, 03:34 PM, said:

Yeah but not all the time, TDT often take a NSW feed because Melbourne Ten have the game live and so does SC. It's my understanding that when TDT is going to take a feed at the same time as SC, TDT has to delay so they often are made to take a NSW feed to overcome the problem.

And this would be a part of the contract that SC signed with TEN.
Why wouldn't a commercial organisation such as SC enforce an agreement like this? What you guys are suggesting is SC should give up it's exclusive rights to the live feed (which it would have paid for), risking the loss of revenue that goes with it.  I think a dose of reality is needed here.  SC have a contract to show TEN footy this season, have sold advertising to business's on that premise, what would they get out turning it over to TDT.

I know it's not ideal, I don't like the situation any more than anyone else in Tassie, I'm just saying that a commercial organaisation isn't going to give up revenue, especially in these times, just because some viewers don't like it.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but the Footy is the last of the TEN shows that SC is still showing and this is the last year that it has TEN footy, so we've only got about 2 months left to put up with this?  People in some parts of Tas (and other mainland areas) have waited a lot longer for any commercial Digital television and probably have longer still to wait.

[ozjad]

WIN have clarified their position on GO!

Quote

http://www.wintv.com...ern_tasmania/go[/url] ']In preparation for the launch of GO!, WIN Television will commence transmissions on digital Channel 88 from August 5th.  To be able to receive the new channel you may need to rescan your digital receiver (digital television or digital set top box) to perform an automatic tuning of all available channels.

Quote

http://www.wintv.com...mania/godigital[/url]']3. Will the WIN Television High Definition service be affected?

Yes, to allow for the launch of GO!, WIN will temporarily cease the transmission of our current High Definition service. This will occur on Monday August 3rd. This change will be temporary and WIN Television's High Definition service will return to your television screens very soon.
4. When will the GO! television channel be available?

GO! will commence broadcasting programming on August 9th however from August 5th, digital Channel 88 which is the channel that will carry the GO! service will be receivable by your digital television or digital set top box.

Personally, Im happy to temporarily lose the HD channel whilst they get GO! up and running. Perhaps they will have a proper HD channel launched with 9 later in the year.

[BigBadBaz]

Seems a sensible and professional approach to the launch.

We might want to refer back to this.....

This change will be temporary and WIN Television's High Definition service will return to your television screens very soon.

.........If it drags on, I mean, what is "very soon" ?