Community TV EPG TO Feature On Freeview
Finally, the people at Freeview have made a wise decision. According to Sally Jackson at The Australian, they have voted unanimously to include the EPG for community television stations in their broadcast EPG. That is, once Community TV goes digital.At the moment, the community TV networks lack the funds to upgrade their equipment to digital. They’re hoping that will change this year, with their fingers crossed for some cash from the Government in the May budget to help the process.
But when they do go digital, Freeview will welcome their programming schedule into their EPG with open arms. Foxtel, on the other hand, won’t. Or at least, aren’t saying whether they will or not.
This doesn’t change our opinion that Freeview is a confusing clusterfuck. But at least this is a positive move, as opposed to things like preventing ad skipping and getting YouTube to pull down parody ads.
[The Australian via Lifehacker]
- Next Post: Nikon D5000 DSLR: 12.3 MP, 720p HD Video and Swivel Screen for $850 »
- « Previous Post: Android 1.5 ‘Early Look’ SDK Now Available: Adds Soft Keyboard, Video Recording, and Way, Way More
Comments
I provide consultation to the federal government on matters dealing with the television industry. As far as I know, there has yet been any mention by the federal government concerning any funding or digital spectrum to be announced in May 09. The last comment made by Conroy was that if the community television sector are unable to secure digital spectrum sharing deals with the major networks, the federal government will consider reviewing the possibility of a must carry policy after 2013. Also, we must look at our present economic situation and all of the other funding going out to more important matters; will there be any funding left by May 09? It remains to be seen.
I have tried to educate myself by asking questions about digital TV and Set Top Boxes.
BigW, JB-HiFi, Dick Smith and other places sell these things.
However, if they cannot explain them to me, the thingumibobs will be of no use to me as I will not be able to press the right buttons, etc.
And either I am extremely stupid or their explanations are.
-And just one little thing: EPG is not a hardware component built into a STB. It is a service (as far as I understand) supplied by the same people who transmit the signal one wants to receive.
Putting “EPG” on the tag sitting on the box in the shop seems to be similar to telling you that a TV set can show a rock concert – if it is transmitted.
vj