Gus over at Lifehacker has the details: the government’s freed up a spot of spectrum for community stations in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide, as well as $2.6 million to help with the transition. Although as Gus notes, there doesn’t seem to be a timeline for the switch to happen.

[Lifehacker]

According to MediaHunter, the new channel will air The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Murphy Brown and new episodes of The Jay Leno Show five nights a week, with theme nights and family programming featuring heavily.

Of course, this announcement leaves us wondering – exactly what is Channel Mate then? Could it be a universal remote-like device like I guessed?

[MediaHunter]

There are three models in the range, including the entry-level C30, the mid-range MP32 and the high-end ST35. All three devices come with a 3.5-inch LCD screen, auto-scanning and a built-in antenna. The C30 can double as a set-top box, has a built-in FM radio tuner and remote control; the MP32 can double as a DVR, as well as a PMP and MP3 player and the ST35 brings a touchscreen interface to the table.

In this age of iTunes, iPhones and (*cough*) Bittorrent, I can’t image there’s too big a market for this type of device. But for $150 for the C30, $200 for the MP32 and $230 for the ST35, at least they’re reasonably priced…

[Laser]

The channel – named Go! – will include shows like Gossip Girl, Weeds, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Fringe, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Dog the Bounty Hunter, among others.

Excited? No, me neither. It’ll be interesting to see how it performs (although the TV ratings system in this country is so fundamentally flawed it wouldn’t matter) but ultimately I think I’ll stick to getting my TV online or on DVD…

[MediaSpy via Lifehacker]

Hard as it may be to believe for nerds like you and me, there are some people who just can’t wrap their heads around this whole DTV mess. Those people…are old. And they need someone nonthreatening and of comparable age to explain the process in plain, large-print words. Preferably with pretty colours. Florence Henderson, better known as Carol Brady, has stepped up to what we’re sure is a thankless job. You can download the explanatory PDF here if you’re so inclined. [Consumer Reports]

Other improvements included in the free update coming to the iQ2 are the ability to listen to the current TV channel when you enter the EPG, distinction between free and paid content for their On Demand service, the iQ2 will automatically return to the last TV station and volume level after being rebooted and you can no extend the audio delay up to 200ms.

Even though some people argue that having firmware-upgradable hardware means that you get products released before they’re ready, I for one love it when my hardware suddenly gets new features, without me having to fork out for special equipment. I am a bit bummed that the window for the update is up to two months though…

[Foxtel]

If that doesn’t sound that appealing to you, then your shit out of luck, because this second digital channel isn’t about you, the viewer. It’s about the advertisers. The Australian quotes Chief Executive David Gyngell: “You don’t want to flood the market with inventory. Delivering to our advertisers — that’s our primary focus.”

The rest of the article then goes on to explain how Nine’s in a world of hurt because the advertisers are leaving TV, and the network needs to shave costs and freeze pay.

I’m not sure if it’s just the timing of the great financiapocalypse, the FUD campaign from Freeview or something different altogether, but these new digital channels from the free-to-air networks all seem stagnant. If I worked in TV, I’d be building myself an online service like Hulu and doing my best to launch within the next 6 months. Because unless you’re really into sport, getting programs online (legally or not) is looking more and more appealing for the general viewer.

[The Australian via Lifehacker]

Freeview – that marketing push for the free-to-air networks that we love so much – has actually done something pretty decent in their standards by saying that any hardware that wants to receive the Freeview badge will need to be capable of receiving MPEG4 signals as well as MPEG2, essentially futureproofing the box for when the TV networks do make the switch to MPEG4.

There’s no timeframe for when that switch might happen though, and the Herald Sun’s report that it will all go down on May 1 (when the first Freeview product will hit shelves) completely misleads consumers with incorrect statements (”that expensive plasma or LCD will be obsolete from May 1″). Essentially it is up to individual broadcasters to decide when to make the switch, but seeing the confusion around the current switch to digital, my gut says it won’t happen for a while.

Freeview have issued a press release this morning refuting the Herald Sun article with the opening line setting the tone:

The Herald Sun newspaper (16 March, 2009) has misled Australians in a report that claimed millions of plasma and LCD televisions would become obsolete from 1 May, 2009 due to changes in the way broadcasters transmit.

But perhaps the most surprising aspect of this entire issue is that even after two days, the Herald Sun still hasn’t changed, modified apologised or retracted the original article, even though they are evidently incorrect.

[Herald Sun]