Who will win the post-linear spoils when the transmitters turn off?
Welcome to an end-of-week update from Unmade. Today: How the TV and radio industry are locked in crucial battles for what happens when the transmitters turn off
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In TV and audio, the fight for the post-linear media consumer is under way
Tim Burrowes writes:
The media industry in full lobbying mode elicits mixed feelings.
Topics
Hi Tim.
A very interesting POV. I’d be interested as to what your crystal ball says of the inevitability of the TV and radio transmitters being turned off.
Like you, I also live in a regional/rural area. We receive the commercial TV transmissions just fine, ABC only has an occasional blip, but as soon there is rain or clouds SBS is virtually impossible to watch (I’ll have another crack at re-setting the antenna). So we watch a lot through the “Live TV” option but it is a bit of pain sometimes, especially when the ads are being ingested from non-local servers.
But being rural, we don’t get good internet services (not just Optus for four days). Telstra kindly offered to cable our re-build home for a mere $24k installation. I declined. We designed our own internet and installed a high-spec mobile antenna and wired the home with multiple WAPs and it works well for a fifth of the cost of Telstra.
But we are lucky that we can use utilise mobile as we are regional, but rural and remote don’t have that luxury. So how will they receive TV and radio if/when the transmitters are turned off?
Hence, what is your prognostication as to when you think it will happen? (My guess is we will end up with a dog’s breakfast of options trying to satisfy everyone but with rural and remote areas still having to relyion tin-cans with string).
Hi John,
Thanks for the question.
I promise to answer your crystal ball question in a moment.
Out of curiosity, have you considered the VAST satellite TV service? (A few people in my remote part of the world use that)
And then there’s Starlink. I’m seriously considering it – it’s 50% more expensive than the wireless NBN I’m currently getting via Telstra but, by the looks, a helluva lot faster.
On to the crystal ball…
My guess is that the TV networks will slow walk it until they reach an accommodation (ie a price) with the government to free up spectrum which could then be auctioned to telcos. I’m already hearing murmuerings about a “restack” as stage one. Once the networks are being rewarded for turning off the transmitters, you can guarantee they’ll go hell for leather to make it happen.
Cheers,
Tim – Unmade
Thanks Tim.
I’m fortunate to be close enough to the Telstra tower to use 5GXT mobile. When we tested we were getting 380Mbps to the building, but as we meshed the house and installed multiple WAPs we get around 80Mbps per WAP.
However friends a few kms south are away from the main road and abutting the National Park. Some used VAST and were not at all happy (must be the Optus C1 & D3 hoodoo), and most switched to Starlink. Initially the early starters were getting c. 800Mbps … yikes … must have had the satellite to themselves. Most are in the 100 to 200 Mbps range now. As the cost of Starlink comes down it is a good option. However the service is very dependent on the weather as to what reception you get. Some go to the pub to watch the footy just in case.
Re the spectrum, didn’t Paul Fletcher in 2021 provide loop holes to reduce the cost for the FTAs and thus also free up the unused spectrum … see https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-17/the-tv-networks-holding-back-the-future/13159456 .
Cheers.
JG
Yes you’re correct about Fletcher, John – that was the first round; more restacking to come soon I think. And then one big bang finale when they hand it all back. (I suspect that’s one reason why SCA haven’t already sold their TV licences to Paramount / Ten in anticipating of that payday).