The Tribal Mind: A generation found in space

Wednesday May 9, 2007 04:08 PM

Who We Are

To learn how Australians spend their new wealth, go to Who We Are

by David Dale
Last week marked the end of Australia's Second Age of television and the start of the Third Age. Two days separated those events. On Monday, Channel Ten farewelled Big Brother, and with it the notion that broadcast television can save its life by targeting viewers aged 16 to 39. On Wednesday, the ABC welcomed iView, and with it the notion that people who own computers need never use their TV sets again. Both hastened the doom of the networks as we know them.

The first age of television lasted from the mid 50s to the mid 80s, a period when the networks made and bought TV shows designed to appeal to everyone. The second age began when Channel Ten decided to limit its audience to viewers aged 16-39, recognising that it could not compete with Nine and Seven for the mass market. The launch of Big Brother in 2001 was the pinnacle of this niche marketing.

But as the Noughties proceeded, the 16-39s came to regard broadcast television as a quaint anachronism. There were too many other things to do. Big Brother didn't fail because Kyle Sandilands is embarrassing and Jackie O is pathetic. It was just a victim of social change (go here to discuss BB's contribution to our culture).

The 16-39s are the lost demographic. They will never again commit to, identify with, or enthuse about any program crafted specifically for them. They still switch on the box sometimes, but they are usually doing something else at the time -- texting, MSNing, surfing the web, loading their iPods, making their own programs for Myface, bookYou or spaCetuBe. And they won't stop doing that when they pass 40.

To the extent that they engage with mainstream television at all, these have been their favourite shows this month: Two and a Half Men, Dexter, Wipeout, How I Met Your Mother, Rove, Big Brother evictions, My Name is Earl, The Simpsons, NCIS, The Gruen Transfer, Good News Week. But if all those programs disappeared from the nightly schedule, the under 40s wouldn't be concerned.

On Wednesday, the ABC demonstrated that it has a better understanding than the commercial networks of the way Australians now expect to consume their entertainments. It launched a website on which anybody with high speed broadband can watch most of the programs currently associated with the ABC, anytime they like, with the capacity to pause, rewind and fast forward.

The ABC's managing director Mark Scott acknowledged that less than half of Australian households at this point have the broadband speed that will show iView at its best. But he pointed out that when the ABC launched radio 2BL in the 1930s, less than ten per cent of Sydney people had suitable wireless receivers, and when ABC television started in 1956, less than five per cent had TV sets. The principle is: "If you build it, they will come". In its first 24 hours, abc.net.au/iview was visited by 58,000 people.

I must say my experience of it has been disappointing: I couldn't find Spicks and Specks on its menu*, and when I clicked on the Pompeii episode of Doctor Who I'd missed two weeks ago, I found the image out of focus and the voices out of sync with the lips. But there were doubtless worse glitches in the early days of radio and television.

The key question is: will the commercial networks react to this by starting their own iViews, or will they keep their heads in the sand and go quietly into that dark night that is less than a decade away?

Go to Comments to tell us what you think they will do.

* Footnote, 11am Monday: The ABC has been in touch to explain that Spicks and Specks is not yet available on iView because they are still negotiating copyright on the music played there. The good news is that they are "working on it". The bad news is that programs will only be available on iView for a limited time, as a condition of agreements between the ABC and the creators. Thus the Pompeii episode of Doctor Who has now been removed.

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). To discuss Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

COMMENTS

Yes, like you, I find it very odd that Spicks & Specks (one of their high raters) is not on the menu... & disappointing

by Kate on July 27, 2008 at 02:53 PM

David I would like to propose a third way (sorry for the political dramatics).
I have been watching The Wire, which I recenntly purchased on DVD. Another excellent HBO production.
Why can't we purchase programs on demand from around the world? Think of all the shows produced around the world that may have different niche markets. Allow people to view one or two episodes as introductory offers, but after that; pay for view.
I don't have cable because I refuse to pay for a large amount of crap in the hope I may get one or two jems. However if I had access to shows from around the world, I would gladly play for shows such as the wire.
It may also be a godsend for Australian shows because out of a world population of how many billion; surely there is enough people that may be interested in something we produce.

by Neil on July 27, 2008 at 06:47 PM

hahahahaha who cares what they do!!!! their programming is crap, their shows are crap... your a dick if you watch the shows.... so good luck to you people that have a "weekly" show your the "real" winners.. hahahahaha

by blahblah on July 27, 2008 at 07:49 PM

I guess the commercial networks will bring out their own Internet viewers without the fastforward feature and with even more advertisements flashing everywhere.
I'm right in thinking they can do what they like on the Internet?

by Dave on July 28, 2008 at 07:57 AM

Well advances in technology are inevitable. The concept of the ABC iView is the same as the BBC's iPlayer. These solutions are great for streaming on demand, yet sometimes lack quality due to the high demands of streaming. There is innovative technology built in Sydney called Hyper MP that supports high quality video to download to the computer through its own viewer. It cleverly wraps the video and the viewer together. This way the user never needs to install anything to their computer. It will show ads, or it will allow you to pay to view the video without the ads. Its the best of both worlds I think, since the user gets to decide.

Tribal Mind asks: But is it legal? And if so, how has it negotiated copyright payments to the creators?

by Ric on July 28, 2008 at 09:49 AM

I believe a one hour show will use up approximately 300Mb. With the realtively paltry download limits we have, it would be very easy to use up your full monthly download limit in a matter of days. Until we get better download limits, or the service isn't counted towards your monthly download limt, I can't see this type of service really catching on in a big way

by Fats on July 28, 2008 at 10:43 AM

I have asked my self for so long why each station / broadcaster does not offer this service and what has taken so long for the ABC to get on board. There are so many benefits of this sort of system to viewers and broadcasters alike:
first off the broadcaster can get accurate stats on how many people view a show, they can gather stats that segment the viewers into states by using the ip address info and of course they can force you to "become a member" to view shows and gather individual member info in order to stream targeted ads at viewers in the future. its just another way to distribute a TV stations "products" besides having to use a big box in a living room.
viewers enjoy the convenience of watching what they really want to watch and when, I am sure that players will be developed that wont let you fast fwd the ads and record the the show for viewing later or distribution keeping the copyright and advertisers (station revenue $$ ) happy and it lets viewers watch shows on a medium they choose i.e. home computer, work computer, laptop while waiting for your cancelled Qantas flight to show up.
get the picture? (no Pun)
and this whole comment from a guy who does not even own nor watch TV
Michael

by michael on July 28, 2008 at 10:56 AM

Neil is spot on. I also refuse to get cable because of the crap. The only show that I watch on commercial TV is "City Homicide" which is very good (and thank God for the mute button during ads.). I would also pay money to watch overseas shows on the net.

by Mary on July 28, 2008 at 11:21 AM

All video content is to be legally signed as a license to distribute through Hyper MP technology. Therefore legitimate content rights holders are invited to prove their legal ownership of the content before distribution can occur. Revenue is shared between all parties of the distribution and supply chains. It's a fair system that guarantees revenue for content owners and is free or low cost for content consumers.

by Ric on July 28, 2008 at 11:23 AM

I tried iView over the weekend and was impressed. Watched full episode Q&A without any problem quality was fine. Note however that I have a PC sitting in the lounge room which is connected to my TV. (Have a video card with TV out). If you watch via your PC screen and enlarge to full screen the quality will appear poor due to the software up-scaling the resolution to suit your screen.
Ie Your standard TV (ie not HD) has a resolution of 720 x 576 where as a PC screen has a resolution 1024 x 768 at a bare minimum most now would be able to display at 1600 x 1200 or greater. Having to scale the picture to these sizes will make the picture appear blocky.
If you changed your screen resolution within Windows (to 800 x 600) before watching you would get an apparent better picture. (Though all your desktop icons will have moved when you switch back).
I�m also at an advantage as my ISP doesn�t charge to use iView. Since I usually watch ABC anyhow most of the shows available I have already watched. However this may change my viewing habit. If I know I can watch a show anytime later. (within a week anyhow).
A curious thing I noticed was that the voice over at the end of the show announcing what was on next etc was included indicating that they effectively recorded the original transmission rather than using the original �tape� provided by the owner. (eg Dr Who Confidential).
A few gripes, The fonts used in the navigation screens are un-readable when viewed on a regular TV. There was only one episode of The Bill available, since they screen two episode back to back I would have expected to be able to see both. Unless they joined them together or the running time was incorrect at 40 min. Had already seem them so didn�t watch.
All in all, I think this is a great step forward, hope other ISP and networks get on board.

by sygul on July 28, 2008 at 12:08 PM

As my television is old, and the tuner in it is cactus, I only use it for watching dvds - and I have no particular interest in buying a new one. So the iView announcement particularly caught my attention & I tried it on its first day. To my joy (& surprise!) there were no technological glitches whatsoever - it worked perfectly, and was pretty good quality (ok, so not quite tv quality) even at my 1680 x 1050 iMac screen resolution. And by pure luck, my isp, iinet, was the only one that currently supports free downloads from iView. Congratulations ABC. Cutting edge yet again!

by Jonathan Cohen on July 28, 2008 at 12:12 PM

I'd have to argue that the 16 to 39's would miss the Simpsons if it wasn't aired. The repeats still bring a large audience and are a staple for the time between when you get home and start making dinner.

by Alex on July 28, 2008 at 01:08 PM

It's my hope that things like iview will create a demand for a better standard of broadband pricing in this country - what exists currently is pathetic and probably amounts to gouging.
Television over the internet is still pay television except you're paying the phone company - which strangely enough you do with real pay TV also!

by Jimmy James on July 28, 2008 at 02:52 PM

Loading iPods takes very little time. We have three lads in their 20s where I work and almost every lunchtime they get together to discuss the console games they are playing at the moment. That's what takes up a lot of their time and because they're using the TV in the loungeroom, that means FTA/Pay programming isn't playing in the background. Alex at 1:08 is right though, they would miss The Simpsons.

by Yuri on July 28, 2008 at 03:13 PM

I just tried iView and i think its brilliant. Watched the last episode of The Hollowmen, quality was good (about the same as standard def).And a bounus: iinet doesn't count iView towards its monthly download quota

by keith on July 28, 2008 at 03:59 PM

Free to watch only if you are actually in Australia. I am in Shanghai and tried to use iview and got a notice that I could not access iview overseas because of copyright. I might live overseas but I still pay Australian Taxes and the ABC is a public broadcaster. Great idea, poor implementation.

by Rowan on July 28, 2008 at 08:53 PM

REPEAT ..... Speed is not the problem it's bandwidth. It what prevents me from watching Hulu - can be done, use an anonymous proxy server.

Soundtrack copyright is a bitch. It's what prevents MTV from releasing Daria and other shows on DVDs.

by canoli on August 05, 2008 at 09:28 AM

The Sun-Herald

Who We Are

The Tribal Mind: A generation found in space

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