Labor’s move this week to amend digital television and datacasting laws is worse than closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. Because Labor provided the bullet to shoot the horse.
The horse is the fantastic opportunities that should have been available to Australians with the digital tweaking of the available spectrum. It could have, and should have, provided for five networks (the ABC, SBS and the three commercials) to have up to four programming signals each of standard digital definition, and perhaps half a dozen datacasters to provide (over the airwaves) super Internet services which would have included video quality services.
But no, the Government bowed to commcerial television interests. It canned the idea of any of the present networks offering four standard definition programs and instead ordered that all five netowrks must burn up all their spectrum in offering one high-definition signal (with a few add-ons so you can see the same sport from several angles and some extra text searching). This is good for the commercials because all their audience is concentrated, as now, into one programming and one advertising stream which is much cheaper and easier to deliver than four program streams of standard definition.
Bear in mind, high definition is cinema quality well beyond household requirements and standard digital is fabulous television with no ghosting or snowing and better than you could imagine. It is easily good enough for households, and is the way the Americans and Europeans have gone. But American and the Europe do not have a Kerry Packer equivalent who have enough media clout for politicians to be intimidated.
Labor’s communications spokesman Stephen Smith quite rightly wants a different digitial television and datacasting law in Australia, but where was he last year when the law was before the Parliament? He says he wants to amend “”the Government’s” rules. But this is hypocritical twaddle. They are not “”the Government’s” rules. They are the rules that Labor stupidly voted for in the Senate. The present regime was supported in the Senate by Labor and the Democrats because they were too hopeless to agree to and force amendments that would have been in the interests of the viewing public and in the national interest to promote new datacasting technology. Labor said they would not support the Democrats’ amendments and the Democrats would not support Labor’s amendments. So the horse was shot and the Governemnt’s Packer-friendly Bill became law. Only Senator Bob Brown of the Greens and Independent Peter Andren consistently opposed the Government’s regime.
So it utterly lame of Labor and Smith to now propose new laws. How on earth does he expect to get them through the House of Representatives where the Government has a majority? Labor missed the opportunity last year when the Government needed numbers in the Senate to gets its Bill through. That was the time for Labor to talk about “”a more viable environment for datacasting”.
The passing of the digital broadcasting law last year culminated more than 40 years of governments of both major parties kow-towing to major media players at the expense of the Australian public. And it was the worst because it shuts out huge opportunities to deliver educational programs (both datacasting and through second, third and fourth programs streams that would have been technically possible but now legally prohibited).
The Government (if it had been true to its free market principles) should have merely allocated the spectrum and let the networks have the choice of either producing one high-defintion or four standard definition programs instead of forcing them to produce much the same restrictive choice as we have now except at an unnecessarily high definition.
The Government (if it had been true to its competition principles) should have allocated the datacasting spectrum to the highest bidders and let them put whatever content they wanted on it (obsecenity aside) rather than prohibiting video streaming of entertainment and other television-style content.
Labor if it had been true to its principles of the Knowledge Nation would have insisted that the public broadcasters (ABC and SBS) be able to use its spectrum as its sees fit to fulfil its public charter. If that meant a channel of nature, one of current affairs, one of sport and one of drama, so be it. If that meant too much competition for the commercial networks, too bad. If it was interested in knowledge, it should not have voted for the restriction of datacasting to such a degree that no-one wants to both with it, so the public misses out on this wonderfulk educational opportunity.
It was a major shameful betrayal by the Coaltion, Labor and the Democrats, and this week’s plaintive wimpering by Smith should be seen for what it is: not an attempt to fix a mess created by Government, but a mess which his party helped create.
We should not look to politicians to fix this mess. Consumers have power. We should all boycott high-definition television. Not that we need much encouragement, given the sets will cost $20,000. We should boycott the $600 conversion boxes, too.
Whenever, governemnt meddle by picking favourites or prescribing technology, they make a hash of it. When there is no government control (for constitutional reasons) things go well. The introduction of videos is a good example. The industry employs thousands of people. Viewers are well-served. The Internet is another good example. It has provided untold educational and other services.
As with video and the Internet, we need a technological and consumer-provided solution because the politicians have failed us.