[LINK] the story behing Freeview

[George Bray]

On Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 3:34 PM, David Boxall <
david.boxall at hunterlink.net.au> wrote:

>
> > What Freeview is proposing is a two stage approach to the roll out of
> > their service in Australia. However many TV vendors fear that the
> > specification for phase 1 will differ significantly for phase two.
> > During phase 1 the Freeview boxes will not have an EPG due to the use
> > of MPEG 2 technology ...



>
> How does MPEG2 preclude an EPG?  Sounds to me more like policy than
> technology.



MPEG-2 transmissions do include the "now and next" EPG data and some
broadcasters have used this mechanism to provide EPG data two weeks ahead.
It's a great model for passive receivers (not connected to the internet) to
obtain programme guide data in advance - rather than using an online service
like IceTV.

Even if FreeView want to move everybody to MPEG-4 TVs and STBs, programme
info will still be delivered in an MPEG-2 transport stream that contains EPG
data.

So yes, this FreeView mob are trying hard to push everyone where they don't
want to go using policy, rather than technology.

FreeView want their brand to be an important, recognised part of the retail
landscape so consumers start asking for it.  But the vendors don't want the
brand, because their implementation of it means they have to take away
useful features of their devices (recording, ad skipping). The punters in
Hardly Normal don't know any of this of course, and are likely to be
swindled by this scam.

The digital tv transition in Australia doesn't need any more branding for
consumers to understand what's going on. Freeview's existence is solely to
obtain stupid restrictions on end-user reception and recording devices.
Their leverage over the EPG data, in collusion with the broadcasters, makes
them think they can disable features of the free-to-air service by ramping
up their brand and forcing equipment vendors comply by removing
functionality.

It's a con by the broadcasters, hiding behind an "industry association".

-- 
George Bray, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.