You’ve gotta love the ABC. Even though they’re so far ahead of the other FTA networks in terms of offering content online, they aren’t sitting on their laurels. Instead, they’re pushing for all their content to be unmetered on the National Broadband Network, according to Andrew Colley at the Australian.
The best part about this is that the ABC has actually submitted this suggestion to the federal government in the hopes that they’ll actually make unmetered ABC content law. That would mean that ISPs like Telstra and Optus would have to offer iView unmetered, something that would probably never happen otherwise.
I for one hope the government jumps on board…
JB
Monday, September 7, 2009 at 12:50 PMThis is fantastic news!
Matt
Monday, September 7, 2009 at 12:52 PMBy the time this comes in to place (given it gets the go ahead) I’ll probably be back with iinet any way. I still think it should be passed though. iView is a great idea, one that more channels should take on board.
If not unmetered, at least give Aussies realistic broadband plans. Bigpond is a rip-off! Man I can’t wait to get back to iinet!
Michael Visser
Monday, September 7, 2009 at 1:38 PMMany of us in pair-gain households have no choice on our ADSL provider as Telstra is the only broadband-over-RIM in Australia. We’re paying through the teeth for someone elses mistake…
Matt
Monday, September 7, 2009 at 1:56 PMALL NBN data should be unlimited, Australia needs to move away from the xMB/month download limits
IndefiniteImplosion
Monday, September 7, 2009 at 5:29 PMThat’s just not financially viable.
They could have all content that’s downloaded from Australian servers and that stays within Australia unmetered, but it’s not (well at least not for ages) going to be unmetered for data going out of the country.
(unless that’s what you meant…)
On topic, AWESOME.
Can’t wait for the iView on PS3 trial to happen. (Can you find out how we can get into that trial please Nick)
attila
Monday, September 7, 2009 at 2:16 PMKeep in mind that it is a lot easier to be far ahead of the other channels when your programs are paid for by taxpayers rather than advertising and can therefore be streamed ad-free online.
I really like iview, but the ABC do have an advantage over their rivals in that regard. Making their content quota free by law would entrench this advantage.
Funky J
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 12:27 PMAnd if the current and previous governments didn’t bend over backwards to institute laws to advantage the monopoly of the commercial channels against PayTV and internet services, then we would have a much better quality of TV and Video On Demand service in Australia from the beginning of the digital revolution, so the commercial channels wouldn’t have to play catch up to the ABC.
Joe
Monday, September 7, 2009 at 5:28 PMABC does have an advantage, yes. But in the US, all channels offer this feature. Just do a quick search for some of you favourite US shows, and you’ll see what I mean. This basically proves that the concept is financially viable.
With this in mind, you will clearly see that Australian commercial channels are simply being lazy.
Thomas Hambleton
Monday, September 7, 2009 at 11:03 PMI would hope that the NBN forces all data within Australia down in price to be free, or so closed to free it does not matter to the end consumer.
Roman
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 12:52 PMi justwish that i wasnt on a pair gain line..
I am stuck with BP cable as my only option right now.. 20gb d/l limit for an astronomical fee..including uploads..
not only am i on pair gain, but i’m also about 5km from the nearest exchange, so even if they fixed the lines, i probably still would have rubbish speeds.
unlucky x3!