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It really shouldn’t be this hard a thing to sell, or this easily screwed up, but here we are again with Australia’s free to air broadcasters banding together to get us excited about the Freeview platform.
Something that will actually get people excited about Freeview? The impending launch of ABC3, SBS Two and whatever Nine and Seven are going to get around to broadcasting, not this ad.
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At 6:29pm tonight Freeview came to Australia. The new digital platform (aka marketing ploy) launched across the five free to air networks in an effort to band together and promote the benefits of digital terrestrial television.
The Freeview concept has been a strong part of the digital take up in the UK since its launch in 2002, with New Zealand following with a similar campaign in 2007.
I’m sure Australia’s equivalent of Penelope Keith will be spruiking set top boxes and multi channel goodness to a confused public in no time.
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Considering the last seven posts on this blog are all ABC related, its probably time for something different. Thankfully a new look Sky Three went on air last week in the UK.
Sky Three is a free to air digital network available throughout the UK, and is meant to be an accompaniment to the subscription only Sky One and Sky Two channels.
While it seems an odd proposition for a subscription service to launch a free to air channel, presumably its programming and promotion is meant to encourage take up the pay only services, I guess it would be like Australia’s Fox8 launching a free to air Fox9 in a bid to increase subscription television take up?
Check out Sky Three’s old look, and more of the new look here.
– Thanks for the videos Craig.
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Like everything Channel 4 does, they’ve managed to make their digital switchover campaign that bit more creative then the rest of the bunch. Not only have they dug up bizarre eighties television icon Max Headroom, they’ve paired him with Ewen Macintosh from The Office.
Max Headroom made his television debut in 1985, the same year I was born, so the reference is going a little over my head. The BBC however refers to Headroom as the “original digital TV star” which makes him and his claim that “the future is here” a highly original and wry choice for Channel 4’s campaign.
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In November last year Whitehaven, Cumbria became the first region in the United Kingdom to switch off its analogue televisions service. Even more sites are planning to switch this year, and by 2013 when the Channel Islands go digital its expected all of the UK will have ceased analogue transmissions.
All the channels are busily reminding its viewers to make the switch and above is Channel Five and ITV’s attempts to convert anyone left in the UK who hasn’t already ditched analogue.
For more UK digital switchover videos check out another one for Five with John Suchet, the Digit Al series and Penelope Keith on the benefits of Freeview. Australia has some similar spots promoting digital from the ABC and a cool animation from SBS.
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SBS has animated the benefits of it, the ABC gave it a shot too, and Penelope Keith has hawked it to the British public, but I think the Digit Al series (part one here) featuring the voice of Matt Lucas has been the best concieved of the ideas in trying to get people to switch to digital television.
But even the best concieved of ideas isn’t going to get people converting if there isn’t anything to watch, sadly thats a problem that Australia and not the UK has to face.
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It wasn’t too long ago that I showed you an ad from Digital UK introducing their mascot ‘Digit Al’ to spruik the benefits of digital television and get the minority of British households who hadn’t already jumped on the digital bandwagon to do so.
Well the BBC are at it again with their own promo, featuring some British celebrities that I can’t quite recognise talking about the benefits of switching.
How I wish the Australian digital television market hadn’t been legislatevly retarted by “the dead hands of a compliant government and too powerful media owners”, Crikey have some other good points in an article about the situation, which basically concludes that by pushing any real change back to 2012 is far too late, by which time we’ll all be downloading our shows (as if we’re not already), and commercial FTA will be screwed.
Australian’s love non-Australian content, there is nothing prolific to speak of being produced locally on commercial free to air, and with broadband not far from being in every persons house its no wonder we’re cutting out the middle man (the broadcaster), and finally taking control of when, how and what we watch on television.