Freeview television

Posted by Michael on January 12, 2009, 10:39am, 306 views

Only about 40 percent of Australian households have made the switch to digital television since it was launched in 2001.

Some analysts believe the relatively low take-up rate is behind a marketing campaign to promote “Freeview” digital television.

A commercial certainly caught my eye last night during the cricket.

A Sydney Morning Herald report yesterday took a cynical view, quoting one commentator describing it as “lipstick on a TV pig”.

The Federal Government will cut off the signal for analogue television in 2013, requiring all Australian viewers to have a digital tuner or set-top box to receive a signal.

The current campaign seems designed to retain viewers and prevent the drift to pay television.

There is a risk for the broadcasters that people simply won’t bother to make the switch to digital; that they will watch pay TV only or abandon television altogether.

It’s only a matter of time before there is complete integration between the PC and television as we currently know it.

Free television faces a bleak future.

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