Honestly, nothing else changes. Although I’m certain that someone will end up asking me whether the TiVo device will now get more channels because it says the word Freeview. The answer, of course, is no. There is absolutely no consumer benefit to buying Freeview badged equipment. But of course, you guys know that already anyway…

Any TiVo owners out there want to comment on having their UI changed in such a basic and minor way?

At least they managed to stick it to Freeview a bit in their statement:

“We don’t believe Australian consumers would want to miss out on the product’s abilities such as ad skipping which we believe would have to be disabled if we sought Freeview Australia endorsement.”

Zing!

Freeview just sent through this announcement:

FREEVIEW HAS NO ASSOCIATION WITH DViCO

14 October, 2009
Freeview today stated that it has no association with manufacturer DViCO and its PVR product or the Australian distributor Also Technology.
The DViCO TViX M-6600N PVR launched yesterday featuring the Freeview logo on its product and promotional material. DViCO is not Freeview endorsed and the company or its Australian distributor has not contacted Freeview regarding endorsement.
Freeview’s legal team has contacted the manufacturer to ask for clarification and to ensure DViCO discontinues the association.
“This company is not Freeview compliant. All our endorsed product manufacturers are listed on our website at www.freeview.com.au,” Freeview CEO Robin Parkes said.

Which means you may be able to skip through ads and enjoy real PVR functionality. We’ll know more once we test out the device soon.

· Arista Electronics Pty Ltd
· Digital Products Group (Beyonwiz)
· Hills Industries Ltd (DGTEC)
· Hybrid Television Services (ANZ) Pty Ltd
· Kogan Technologies
· LG Electronics Australia Pty Ltd
· Panasonic Australia Pty Ltd
· Pixel Magic Systems Ltd
· Sharp Corporation
· Sony Australia Pty Ltd
· Strong Technologies Pty Ltd

What will be really interesting here is to see what products the main players stick the Freeview badge on. Because if Sony, Panasonic, LG and Sharp are just releasing Freeview branded TVs, then issues like lack of ad-skipping aren’t applicable. It’s only when you get into discussing DVRs that the issue becomes murky (even though their marketing has been one confusing, misleading clusterf^%k).

I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot more on the development of Freeview and Freeview branded products in the very near future. Stay tuned.

And as for those 5 extra channels – what are they? Are they including ONE HD? Or is it five extra channels compared to analog TV. And if we want to be picky, it’s really only four, because switching to digital means you lose any community TV stations you might watch (at least at the moment).

All told, this is still a confusing shambles for the average consumer, and nothing more than a marketing campaign designed around maintaining a dying revenue model.

[Freeview]

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]

Considering the state of Freeview, I reckon Beyonwiz is getting the weaker side of this deal. But who knows? Come May 1, we could all go crazy and end up wanting to pay for exactly the same stuff that we already get. Stranger things have happened…

Sydney – 24 March, 2009 – Digital Products Group, Australian distributors of Beyonwiz and Homecast PVR’s, and FREEVIEW today announced their agreement to provide co-branded equipment.
The FREEVIEW logo and endorsement make it easy for consumers to identify devices that receive the FREEVIEW suite of channels.

Digital Products Group / FREEVIEW co-branded products will go on sale at leading consumer electronics outlets from 1 May, 2009 and will initially include models from top Korean STB and PVR manufacturers Beyonwiz and Homecast.

Digital Products Group General Manager Jai Kemp said: “DPG is very excited to be working with FREEVIEW, we have been supplying STB’s and PVR’s in Australia for almost 10years now and this is by far the single best initiative to help educate consumers on the benefits of switching to Digital”

“When I first started selling STB’s and PVR’s in 2001 the only benefit was better picture and sound quality, today consumers have more reason than ever to purchase a DPG / FREEVIEW co-branded product and make the move to digital, Crystal clear picture and sound quality, extra channels including a Free 24hour sports channel, Free 7day electronic program guide, the ability to pause and rewind live TV and much more. It’s almost like having PayTV with out the ongoing fees”

FREEVIEW CEO Ms Robin Parkes said: “FREEVIEW is delighted to be working with Digital Products Group to introduce FREEVIEW co-branded equipment.

“FREEVIEW has consulted with the industry to ensure consumers have a wide range of options to choose from, and retailers will be able to assist their customers in determining their needs.

“We will continue to work with our industry partners to promote the benefits FREEVIEW brings: better television picture and sound quality, new services, and all with no ongoing fees to pay.”

FREEVIEW gives more for free.

A national FREEVIEW consumer advertising campaign starts on 26 April on all free-to-air channels.

FREEVIEW Australia is a not-for-profit organization comprising Australia’s free-to-air television broadcasters.

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]

What started out as a funny, accurate and refreshing take on the farce that is Freeview in Australia has grown into something much uglier. UPDATED.Last week, after we showed you the parody ad by comedian Dan Ilic and Triple J presenter Marc Fennell, advertising publication Adnews reported that Freeview were considering legal action against the duo. That was quickly updated, but not before a heap of publications like Crikey, The Australian, and TechWiredAU picked up on it. Of course, when they were questioned about threatening legal action against the video’s makers, Freeview responded with a clear and concise, “No”.

So, you’d think that would be the end of it. But no. Hours after Freeview denied threatening legal action, YouTube pulled the video for allegedly violating terms of use. Asher Moses over at the SMH is convinced that the only way that could have happened is if Freeview requested YouTube to pull the clip down, while Freeview has explicitly denied any such action to Margaret Simons over at Crikey.

The end result of all of this, of course, is that a funny video that would have only lasted a few days in the eyes of the Internet has now received mainstream coverage for five days or so, amplifying the message that Freeview is a joke.

So who’s telling the truth? Ultimately, it doesn’t matter, because as any online evangelist will tell you, once something goes online, you can never take it back. The original parody, although pulled from YouTube, has shown up on several other sites, expanding its audience even further. The real question is whether Freeview is actually going to learn from the experience – my heart hopes it does, but my gut knows it won’t…

UPDATE:Turns out those bastards at Freeview did have the clip pulled down. In an email to Margaret Simons at Crikey, Google spokeman Rob Shilkin said:

I wanted to confirm that we received a DMCA notice for lawyers acting on behalf of Freeview Australia Limited to remove the video in question.

So, essentially the Freeview lawyers (and the people who pay them) are lying douchebags. Kind of makes me glad I have Foxtel, really.

[Freeview Parody Ad on Giz]