|
The multichannel
universe has finally arrived - the so-called cornucopia of televisual
choice. Here we are with five television networks and three pay television
services providing 29 additional channels between them: Rupert Murdoch's
Foxtel, John Malone - the owner of the US-based TeleCommunications
Incorporated's (TCI) - and Galaxy, and also the US-based
Bell South's Optus Vision (and the UK's Cable and Wireless).
How can we judge what the viewer's score card is and whether we're getting
a better deal?
Should we look at how many channels we have, the subscription prices,
who owns the services, the diversity and range of channels or maybe
how much Australian or local content is available to "balance" the wealth
of US and other overseas programs? A quick examination of the pay services'
program guides reveals only a cursory few percent of local programs.
With
the artificial government-supported scarcity of channels that we have
been accustomed to it was a straightforward matter to mandate that 50%
of programs be Australian-made. Now, with two thirds of the most popular
programs on television locally made even the hardest-nosed operators
grudgingly admit this older government regulation has assisted the development
of a sometimes thriving film and television industry and a loyal and
enthusiastic audience. But there are very few rules for pay.
But no worries, nearly 140,000 of us are hooking up to Galaxy, 50,000
to Foxtel and another 40,000 or so have committed to Optus Vision. Mind
you, these figures are much in dispute at the moment with claims and
counter-claims by the men of Australian television about how big their
subscriber base is. Remember their pay television empires - and the
value of their shares - are really based on you and I. Every time we
subscribe another 500 or so dollars is added to the value of that company.
Maybe we should receive pay services for free in recognition of our
valuable contribution to the industry!
We can be grateful that the government has allowed "new players" into
the arena of pay television - like our televisual overlords Rupert Murdoch
and Kerry Packer - and we can be sure that television - whether advertiser-supported
or pay - will be the same old kind of television in the same old hands.
Maybe this is what is meant by the local content rules of our Broadcast
Services Act which regulates our television - that the enormous potential
profits will go to two privileged individuals who were born in Australia.
|