Get ready for Freeview - television's new weasel word?
Australia's Freeview television campaign comes across as branding exercise desperately trying to repackage boring old television as an exciting new product, argues Adam Turner.
Freeview is basically a consortium of Australia's free-to-air television broadcasters, designed to drive the take up of digital television. The new television ad campaign is spruiking the fact there'll be 15 free-to-air digital channels available next year.
The noise coming from the Freeview camp would be fine if it were primarily an awareness campaign warning people about analogue's upcoming demise, but there's no real educational element to it. The campaign comes across as the networks circling the wagons to fight off pay TV and the internet. One of the big selling points is that this so-called new Freeview service has no subscription fees, which is obviously a dig at Foxtel.
Fifteen channels sounds exciting until you sit down and do the maths. In Australia's capital cities you've already got a standard-def and high-def channel from each of the five broadcasters, plus a second standard-def channel from the ABC and SBS. So there's 12 channels already, and once the commercial networks are allowed to broadcast a second standard-def channel next year you'll have your 15.
Freview's backers are calling it a "new platform" and "the next generation of free-to-view digital television", I'm calling it "same shite, different day". The only thing I've heard about Freeview that sounds vaguely interesting is that Network 10 intends to launch a 24 hour sports channel - which hopefully might stop more sport being locked away on pay TV.
Apart from 15 channels, Freeview's other big selling point is the Electronic Program Guide, which we've supposedly had for a year anyway. Maybe the networks are promising to stop stuffing around and actually provide a decent EPG rather than the hotch-potch effort we get now. At the same time Freeview was launched, Foxtel announced it was upgrading its EPG from 7 days to 14 days.
Apart from repelling the big push from Foxtel, what Freeview is really about is the tiny Freeview logo that will be stamped on compatible televisions and recorders. Of course any device with a high-def television tuner is Freeview compatible, but don't expect devices which support ad-skipping, such the Topfield and Beyonwiz PVRs, to get permission to use the Freeview logo.
The commercial broadcaster's lobby group, Free TV Australia, tried using legal threats to frighten away other PVRs which allow you to skip ads (along with the EPGs which support them). It also made empty threats about introducing an encrypted EPG, which of course would screw over everyone who has bought digital television gear in the last decade. The networks realise they can't stop vendors from selling PVRs which offer ad-skipping, but they can trick people into not buying them.
Expect to starting hearing the phrase "look for the Freeview logo", which really means "look for the device that won't let you skip our precious advertising".
Other Blog Entries written by Adam Turner:
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
Comments: 1
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Staeven
Dec 8, 2008 11:20 AM
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The promotion for Freeview is well put together.
It looks like something "different".
I even checked their website concerned there was some new channels only available on "Freeview" branded devices.
But as Adam so succinctly put it "same shite, different day".
Signed, Toppy early adopter (5000 & 7000) & Ice TV user (for my PC). |