[LINK] Digital television in Australia

[hartr@interweft.com.au]

On 20 Nov, Dr. Bob Jansen wrote:

> I am investigating the takeup of digital television in Australia and 
> am interested in getting your views as to why the takeup is so dismal.

Bob

I am no expert in the broadcast arena - but I can give you the
perspective of a technologically adept consumer.

Right now, I can see no reason sufficiently compelling to make me spend
a large amount of money on a new TV. The only thing that might push me
is if there was content available on digital TV that was sufficiently
interesting to me to make the price of the receiver worth paying (all
the other guff that comes with digital TVs is of very minor importance
to the buy decision for me).

As we don't even have cable TV because we don't believe the content is
worth paying for when compared to hiring those videos that we *want* to
watch, I think that it is unlikely that I am going to be purchasing a
digital TV in the near future (particularly as I have a large, high
quality PAL/NTSC/SECAM TV that is only 18 months old).

To me, the switch to digital from analogue is comparable to the switch
colour from black and white. Colour is nice to have, but back when it
first came out, the price of colour vs black and white receivers was
very significant. Only when the price differential between the two came
down to what people felt was a reasonable price to pay for the value add
of colour did people switch in large numbers. I think the same will be
true for the switch to digital from analogue.

-- 
Robert Hart					 hartr@interweft.com.au
Strategic IT & open source consulting                +61 (0)438 385 533
Brisbane, Australia			    http://www.interweft.com.au