On Thu, 2008-04-10 at 13:21 +0930, Tim wrote: > Aaron Konstam: > > Well Tim you may be pushing your luck on being right. > > ;-) > > > I have heard noting about pushing the digital switch to 2013. As far > > as I know in the US it is still 2009. Do you have a reference for this > > assertion you are making. > > I first heard about on the radio, but forgot the all-important reference > to where this announcement came from. A quick Google search gives the > following information: > > "at the Australian Broadcasting Summit, Senator Conroy announced the > switchover date for Australian free-to-air TV: December 31, 2013." > > So I guess finding documentation from that summit, or something from the > Senator, might do the trick. It's now being called "switchover," so > that'd be the keyword to look for. > > Here, it's been pushed back several times, because they've realised that > it's just not going to happen as the dates were approached. The > stations weren't really ready, nor were the general public. > > The radio host telling us the story about what will happen, taking > snippets from a report, was rather shocked by the information he > imparted: > > $37.9 million to be spent on driving the digital switchover > $6.7 M to be spent on a logo and labelling scheme > $4.8 M for a digital tracker to assess what people were doing about it > $8.5 M (? I couldn't take notes fast enough) technical switchover > projects to evaluation digital TV transmissions in Australia > $16.6 M digital switchover taskforce > $0 for advertising and marketing campaigns > Being over seen by Townsend somebody, who was responsible for the > British switchover. > > He was shocked at the waste and the duplication of what's already exists > (such as logos and labels), and how frivolous much of this is. > > I'm just as shocked. If they're going to spend that much, they may as > well just heavily subsidise the set top boxes so people can buy them for > peanuts. We only have a population of about 20 million in Australia, > many of whom live in the same house (e.g. if there's four to a house, > that's somewhere around 5 million boxes to get installed). > > And you have to wonder why the stations don't promote the boxes more. > We have the occasional adverts on free-to-air TV saying how much better > it will be, and saying "best of all, it's all free" (after you've bought > the hardware). But you'd think they'd be involved more in selling the > boxes, if they want to really push the switchover into happening. > > -- > (This computer runs FC7, my others run FC4, FC5 & FC6, in case that's > important to the thread.) > > Don't s still 02/2009. isend private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. > I read messages from the public lists. > Well int the US it is still 2009. The US govenment have sent people up to 2 $40 coupons so the boxes can be bought for peanuts or $20 whichever is less. -- ======================================================================= Wouldn't this be a great world if being insecure and desperate were a turn-on? -- "Broadcast News" ======================================================================= Aaron Konstam telephone: (210) 656-0355 e-mail: akonstam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
