Timmy Downawell Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 There's hope yet for Community TV Author: eNews staff and agencies | Feb 19, 2007, 09:32 Is there a chance the country's struggling community TV channels might be thrown a lifeline by the Howard Government? It would seem there is after a little noticed report from the House of Reps Standing Committee on Communications, IT and the Arts, last week received a cautious tick from Media Minister, Senator Helen Coonan. It recommended in a report that community TV be carried in a digital simulcast on the new A digital channel which could be sold off this year More importantly the Committee recommended that whoever buys Channel A be obligated to carry the Community TV simulcast, with a subsidy from Canberra. Full article: http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/enews/Theres_..._TV_190207.html It goes on to also recommend that the UHF31 frequency be switched from analogue to digital at analogue shutdown date, and retained in full for existing and future community TV use. Excellent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santa1503559644 Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Full article: http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/enews/Theres_..._TV_190207.htmlIt goes on to also recommend that the UHF31 frequency be switched from analogue to digital at analogue shutdown date, and retained in full for existing and future community TV use. Excellent! Only "excellent" if community TV is restructured to rid it of its dodgier aspects*, and if taxpayer funding is given they dont continue being another taxpayer-subsidised SBS commercial tv station. ______________________________________ *Clear conflicts of interest, shady deals with supporters, provision of a voice for slimey organisations, etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinX Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Only "excellent" if community TV is restructured to rid it of its dodgier aspects*, and if taxpayer funding is given they dont continue being another taxpayer-subsidised SBS commercial tv station. ______________________________________ *Clear conflicts of interest, shady deals with supporters, provision of a voice for slimey organisations, etc... The best way to silence slimey organisations is to drown them out: more community TV stations, I say! If they opened the gates so anyone could start a TV station, then there'd be more real community representation rather than the little bit we get now. If you can fit four SD channels in one stream, we should have a least 4 community stations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmy Downawell Posted February 20, 2007 Author Share Posted February 20, 2007 Only "excellent" if community TV is restructured to rid it of its dodgier aspects*, and if taxpayer funding is given they dont continue being another taxpayer-subsidised SBS commercial tv station. ______________________________________ *Clear conflicts of interest, shady deals with supporters, provision of a voice for slimey organisations, etc... Would you prefer they just sold the UHF31 frequency to Macquarie? I haven't watched TVS since it came on in Sydney because I only watch via my Toppy... my antenna isn't even connected to the TV any more. But it would be good to have TVS on digital, especially considering ABC2 and SBS World News Channel are so unwatchable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phase5 Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 I get a very fussy, noisey picture when I tune into TVS, but I do so because at times it's just such fun. I'd love for it to be available on digital. (And yes I realise there are issues with it, as pointed out). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santa1503559644 Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Martin & Tim, You may have missed my point! I welcome properly managed and accountable community TV, and do believe strongly in alternative views being able to be expressed. What I don't like is community TV being hijacked by shady and fly-by-night individuals & organisations, and underhand promotions/commercialisation of supposedly community (and taxpayer funded) TV. So, while we might not exactly be on the same page as they say, I'm just a chapter or two ahead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmy Downawell Posted February 20, 2007 Author Share Posted February 20, 2007 Well I remember what TVS' predecessor (CTS) did by selling off large chunks of airtime to PrimeLife, which IMHO is totally bogus thing for a supposedly community-based channel to do. CTS weren't the only community channel to do this, and I seem to recall Media Watch touching on this issue as well. That sort of thing should be stopped. It flies in the face of what community TV is about. i was quite relieved that they didn't award the permanent licence to that lot after that. Was quite funny to see the hissy fit that ensued tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santa1503559644 Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Well I remember what TVS' predecessor (CTS) did by selling off large chunks of airtime to PrimeLife, which IMHO is totally bogus thing for a supposedly community-based channel to do. CTS weren't the only community channel to do this, and I seem to recall Media Watch touching on this issue as well.That sort of thing should be stopped. It flies in the face of what community TV is about. i was quite relieved that they didn't award the permanent licence to that lot after that. Was quite funny to see the hissy fit that ensued tho. Yep, that is the kind of thing to which I was referring (as well as a host of other shady wheeling 'n' dealing.) An untainted community station is a good thing. A veiled front for commercial and ideological bastardry is quite another! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matturn Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Well I remember what TVS' predecessor (CTS) did by selling off large chunks of airtime to PrimeLife, which IMHO is totally bogus thing for a supposedly community-based channel to do. CTS weren't the only community channel to do this, and I seem to recall Media Watch touching on this issue as well.That sort of thing should be stopped. It flies in the face of what community TV is about. i was quite relieved that they didn't award the permanent licence to that lot after that. Was quite funny to see the hissy fit that ensued tho. I disagree. RTV (Primelife's channel-within-a-channel) wasn't perfect, but it was better and often more local than what the 31's are broadcasting during the day now. It stopped because it was loosing too much money. C31 Melbourne was selling some evening hours to a Greek media company long before then, and I believe they still are. The result - better funded local Greek programming that what would be created otherwise, and FTA. There's also an infomercial program on C31 Melbourne that is very local to Melbourne, and has some of the highest production values seen on the station. If you're looking for a channel that anyone can broadcast anything on, I think you're looking for YouTube. Now sure, if clearly promotional programming was pushing more viewer oriented stuff out of prime time, or indeed the schedule at all, I'd be worried too. But you may have noticed that many 31's have quite a bit of overseas english language programming, especially news, docos and movies (though not Melbourne very much). That and endless repeats of local programs can be reduced a fair bit before they start running out of good timeslots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmy Downawell Posted February 28, 2007 Author Share Posted February 28, 2007 The programming that PrimeLife provided was ancient black and white American sitcoms and crap, IIRC. How in any way is that "community television"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matturn Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 The programming that PrimeLife provided was ancient black and white American sitcoms and crap, IIRC. How in any way is that "community television"? It wasn't all that. It never was when I watched it. They did have a few colour TV series like "Quincy MD" and early episodes of "Coronation Street". But they also had local lawn bowls, travel and other programs, some if not all of which aren't made any more. What's on now is worse, and definitely cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmy Downawell Posted March 2, 2007 Author Share Posted March 2, 2007 What's on now is worse, and definitely cheaper. ..and what, local? Isn't that what community TV is supposed to be about? If you want commercial TV then lobby for a fourth commercial channel, or multichannelling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huggies1503560497 Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 Channel 31 in Brisbane have been advertising to encourage people not to go Digital until they do. Digital: Don't Go Until We DoEvery time a viewer buys a digital set-top box, they lose access to another local voice. Viewers have the right to watch their favourite community TV programs, regardless of what television set they own! Channel 31 Brisbane - Don't Go Until We Do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matturn Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 ..and what, local?Isn't that what community TV is supposed to be about? If you want commercial TV then lobby for a fourth commercial channel, or multichannelling. C31 Melbourne has no more new local programs on during the day than it did in the RTV days. It has lower quality imports and repeats. Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane have plenty of non-local content. Don't know about Sydney. As for there being a clear difference between community and commercial, other than the production values I don't really see it. There's a difference, yes, but the blending bit in the middle of the continuum obscures things. If a local footy show (or six) is filmed at a desk plastered with ads, is that commercial or community? If a guy that owns a music shop films a drumming program in his shop, is that commercial or community? If a group of guys makes a TV series primarily for themselves, but sells DVDs, is that commercial or community? If a group of Asian business people fund a program about local Asian news and events and stick ads for their businesses through it, is that commercial or community? If a group of electrical engineering companies make a series about electrical engineering careers, is that commercial or community? If a university that gets most of it's money from selling lessons to students makes nearly anything with their name on that targets potential students is that commercial or community? If a co-operatively owned football club with millions in revenue makes TV for it's co-operative members with production values lower than what the high school kid programs do, is that commercial or community? If an owner of retirement homes gives support to volunteers to make a show about local lawn bowls to screen it's ads in, is that commercial or community? If a non-profit organisation that exists to help people make videos, makes a series about making videos, and that increases demand on services, and that leads to more government funding, and that leads to it's management being paid more, is that commercial or community? I think it's worthwhile comparing community TV to the ABC. The ABC, believe it or not, buys a number of programs that were designed to make money. Shock, horror. And yet, these programs (many of them documentaries) fit within the ABC's charter. People rarely complain that ABC programs are "too commercial". I recall that charge was laid at "Holiday" and "The Home Show", but both were made by the ABC... I see community TV existing to serve it's area by screening programs from that area. Like the ABC, who made the content is less important than what the content says. By all means, large numbers of local volunteer programs should be screened. And old movies and foreign English-language news programs should be displaced. And in the middle can go professional made programs that serve local areas. Anything that gets remotely popular will of course be pinched by another network, especially if it isn't local enough. Blokesworld went to Ten and then Aurora. Vasilli's Garden is going to SBS. Rove and Hamish & Andy similarly left for greener pastures. The same would happen with any commercial program that got too big and popular. The sort of commercial program that would survive on the 31s would be small, local and targeted. Like those that already exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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