Today I went down to the westbury to see the 3 public presentations for the 3 commercial DTT mux that will join the states public service (not commercial entity) mux. What follows is all about style not substance - the fact that there was no questions allowed to be asked today must mean that substance is in the main documents submitted to the BCI beyond the exec summaries we could read in the press or the BCI website. Here follows my review of the styles of those glass slipper holders as they seek to find their Prince.

BOXER
Ending as they started with the very able Lucy Gaffney boxer put some meat on the bones of what they have to offer. Lucy then closed with a video which starred the DTT ‘champion’ character of Swedish DTT “Robbie” doing a rocky style run & shadow box to the tune ‘Gonna Fly Now’ (theme from rocky). I’m not so keen on robbie and I would drop him for the irish game. the big play here is, we have done it (Sweden / Denmark), can do it in Ireland, we are DTT champions. bhg scores 70%

EASY
Roaring out a distorted audio the Easy TV presentation began and went down hill from there. If the prizes were given based on quality of presentation today then Easy TV would be any easy 3rd place. To a format of, I stepped out and he stepped in again, the projected presentation slide cueing seemed difficult for the Easy TV pair of presenters to manage, on this basis I wouldn’t give them a DTT playground to play in. Easy TV should have been presented differently/better (like get the very talented Kate O’Sullivan from UPC to do it, too late now). Big play here was we are the big boys in this space we will be well integrated with the public mux, well integrated with RTE NL bhg scores 45%

ONEVISION
Opening with a video (no audio distortion here) the video looked like it was made by TV people which is more than can be said about the other two camps videos (which looked made by flash designers). To the sound of Queen - One Vision this slick video started off the best presentation of the afternoon. On cue out of the video no pause no fade Fintan Drury launched a Barack Obama sytle (ok I exaggerate for effect) “We have one vision” speech, introduced his team, explaining the investors etc. All speakers were very well coached and not over coached but delivered like people who wanted to a run TV platform. Big play here, we are Irish we are not big players in the media space so we wont own too much media. bhg scores 90%

All platforms proposed have a pay element. Based on my reading of this market (and I don’t want to make any money out of it) I would tend to think the player with the most FTA and least PPV or pay as you go will succeed. That player is OneVision. As RTE NL is involved with all 3 above the difference is the flavour of DTT not the ability to provide it. A Boxer slide said that they would provide a free box while later sides talked about the networks & chains that would be partners to sell boxes, i’m confused, but with Aldi UK selling MPEG2 freeview for £18 boxer might get a SD/HD MPEG4 box out for free but at some cost, if they are more about top up than subscription TV then the free kit for contract ain’t on offer, I would have liked them to have been asked about this.

I have presented before the IRTC in the past and it is nerve wreaking. The best pitches do not always win but this is a BEAUTY contest. And I know who the ugly sisters are, and who Cinderella is. Remember Cinderella didn’t always get to go to the ball but after a while she met her Prince. I would still bet on an ondigital meets freeview future for Irish DTT, why? its MPEG4 (that’s good, that’s also problematic) & there is plenty of PPV euros wanted by all the entrants in a saturated carrier market, and today was about the last and smallest entrant. RTE on Freesat would kill DTT dead and that’s not going to happen either. Roll on July 31st when the BCI decide.

I got my freesat email to say they have launched.
(more…)

channel 4, E4 & more 4 go Free To Air (FTA) 06/05/08
clock linked from 625.uk.com

Balcony TV on RTE
RTE show on Youtube (3 months now)
RTE on youtube no dogs & embeddable
worth noting

under a new working title ‘Diaspora TV’ RTÉ International got a welcome from rte2fta.com yesterday. The petition for RTÉ to follow its own guidelines and go FTA is gathering pace with 295 signatures (probably due to the exposure RTE2FTA is getting via the diaspora tv press release & the RTÉ MW closure). This has me thinking, what RTÉ needs a viewers & listeners association, one that cares for the upkeep of public service broadcasting, the licence fee, high standards, availability and access, platforms, technology & national cross border and international dimensions. One that will stand up and be counted.  So if there is a very large array of people interested in a VLA (not the Mary Whitehouse type) drop me a line - i will pop a note to the 295 also and develop this idea over on the RTE2FTA blog. we may have a year more before RTE Int. is up on Freesat.

Just thinking the 295 signatures outweighs the number of people that have complained to RTE in the past about breakdowns and temp closures of parts of their network. - posted from the new WP2.5rc1 which is acting up with spell chucker!

Hats off to RTÉ who see a future for MPEG4 on DTT. RTÉ don’t do visions they receive apparitions. There has been mention of MPEG4 in the tender docs for the 3 commercial mux. It would seem that RTÉ favour MPEG4 and the possibility of HD. This is a good thing and is forward looking. It means that UK hardware (cheap now and mass produced) will not work in the 26 counties. But the suggestion of MPEG4 does not make it a minimum standard and as I read it it is being set as a maximum. If RTÉ applied this logic on MPEG to radio they would run a mile from DAB, but they want DAB so much they’re shutting down MW to help fund DAB. Crazy. I wonder though if the spectrum efficiencies are lesser our greater with HD mpeg4 (not standard definition mpeg4) versus mpeg2 standard definition.

The RTÉ mpeg4 argument also makes a laugh of the RTÉ DRM argument, RTÉ know they need to innovate and lead DTT MPEG 4 to drive down STB prices on new tech. The same logic applies to DRM which RTÉ now stall in favour of analogue half power LW with no MW fallback. [i note that RTE are neither members of or supporters of the Digital Radio Mondiale consortium DRM.org, something they are entitled to not be, but odd when the own a 300KW LW DRM transmitter that they had tested in DRM mode August 2007]

RTÉ do not have limitless resources, but that is no excuse for the differences in transmission planning between TV & radio, between analogue & digital & between old & new. RTÉ have a clear mandate from Gov. (March 2007) for International TV and (added at the last minute) International Radio. We need a viewers & listeners association that has teeth (and will bite), the suits in RTÉ are playing a numbers game as the only thing they seem to care about is share and competition with the commercial TV & radio companies in Ireland.

On reason given for MW shutdown was not many listen to it anymore. Based on this logic RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Concert Orchestra, Philharmonic Choir, Cór na nÓg and the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet should expect the P45 any day. This line of argument I don’t support. What is needed on the lawn of Montrose is 12 foot letters reminding the organisation that they are a public service broadcaster not commercial. This means both taking unpopular decisions but also deciding to serve the unpopular.

first invented for children’s entertainment and folksy guitar playing this model went on to greater things.

{final upgrade of eprom chip before switch on}

shane hegarty has a election piece on time past

over on the ireland.com blogs

[update: more structured version of this post is here rte2fta.com ]

text of an email to Cllr. Mark Dearey of the Green Party Co. Louth

Mark, I hope you are the correct person to contact in regard to this matter

Is Ireland about to make the same DTT mistake ITV ON:Digital made in the UK before the BBC Freeview success?

I read in the Sunday Business Post that DTT is on its way to Ireland, currently I can see the FTA DTT tests on the trial using a basic DTT receiver (from the UK).

I read from your pre Election press release

We will work with the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Authorities to develop an all-island digital ‘free to air’ broadcasting service carrying RTE1, RTE2, TG4, TV3 and the Northern Ireland BBC/ITV public service main channels. This will ensure that in 2009, when the analogue system is closed, we will be able to receive free-to-air services for these channels.
8<

however as Minister Eamon Ryan (GP)  is about to launch DTT in Ireland via digitaltelevision.ie
the Sunday Business Post reports
that “RTE has held talks with a number of parties with regard to joint ventures for the operation of the DTT platform. While RTE will be free-to-air on DTT, it looks increasingly likely that there will be a modest charge to access British channels.”

Is FTA DTT cross border no longer a GP policy?
If it is and the current market conditions indicate that the British channels are to be provided by encrypted commercial DTT providers it flies in the face of GP policy.

Could you please direct me to the person within your party who is responsible to see party policy is adhered to. I feel it may be an issue that if promoted as policy properly may have a chance of becoming standard. otherwise public service TV in Ireland will never get parity of carriage in the UK or NI if we do not provide their TV here.

BTW the Green Party are not alone in this view. RTE also want UK public service TV FTA in Ireland as stated here

RTE are making a very strong case for FTA UK channels to be got in Ireland! (Page 9) in this confidential document from August 31st 2007 Advisory Note to the Directorate General For Competition and the Directorate General For Information Society & Media of the European Commission concerning RTÉ’s approach to Digital Switchover in Ireland.

As a final idea on this matter - the journalist in the Sunday Business Post could be plain wrong. But as there is nothing within the text of the digitaltelevision.ie  website to contradict the SBP article and digitaltelevision.ie statement that STBs from the UK may not work in the Republic of Ireland, it does not bode well for a harmonised cross border approach to this simple matter of providing TV signal on a platform that is old, widely used and succeeded in the UK when the BBC ran it as FREEview as opposed to when ITV’s ON:Digital ran it to make profits.

Regards Brian Greene
ps. still no word of a meeting re 567Khz switch off on March 24th 3 weeks from today.

[tube station: 80's]

[RSS FREED][updated]
now playing
Tracie - The House That Jack Built
Big Sound Authority - This House TOTP 1985
Morrissey - Last of the Famous International Playboys
Belinda Carlisle - Mad About You
Sade - Love Is Stronger Than Pride (Video)
Tears For Fears - Mad World
Hey Matthew - Karel & Matthew Fialka
Alternative Ulster
ZX Spectrum 80’s Advert
the Assembly - Never Never
Channel 4 Ident - Hamlet Cigar Advert
Jona Lewie - “In the Kitchen at Parties” on TOTP
New apple ipod shuffle TV ad
Grandmaster Flash - White Lines
Funny TV ads - RaboDirect Ireland
Somebody To Love
Engine Alley - I Can’t Help You
In Tua Nua - Seven Into The Sea
…
…

ENN reports on a UPC survey that shows Irish kids watch the most TV in Europe.

“The survey has highlighted a number of interesting insights into TV viewing in Ireland. It’s clear that TV viewing in Ireland remains essentially with parents taking an active role in deciding what kids watch and the importance of family watching television together, much more than the European average,” Simon Kelehan, head of TV of UPC Ireland. “Irish parents in particular recognise the improved range and choice of content for children, which is a result of the increased availability of digital TV in Ireland.”

Only UPC could put a spin on the usually bad news story that kids are glued to the goggle box. Most of the kids TV is imported and rotated in extremely high amounts. We naturally are indoors more than our southern EU neighbours, we are North Western Island colder & wetter. But Kids TV is such an issue that advertising at children is banned. A ban that is overcome by origin of broadcast, with Disney’s Nick Jr etc not transmitting in Ireland.

Kids watching more and more TV is not good. Mixed programming with adults in the room, mixed with reading, radio, music, exercise and healthy eating. UPC (I ask you) what about schools TV? C4 has moved theirs online. What about Community TV? there are more than one group banging on UPCs door to get access to the e x p a d e d digital service that was funded by analogue subscribers. UPC lost subscribers last year, the fact that kids in Ireland are watching more is not a good thing.

[apols: rant written in a rush]