Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
The problem for Australians is that there are few legal download sources for TV shows. Channel 7 doesn't seem to offer anything for download, though clips from some shows are available for online viewing in Flash format (those I've seen squish widescreen content into 4:3). The same seems to go for Channel 10, but at least it does have some full shows rather than mere clips. The SBS also offers Flash clips, and does get the 16:9 thing right.
The ABC is probably the most advanced, offering complete episodes of various shows in MP4 or WMV versions - you can even subscribe to them as video podcasts. And the aspect ratio is correct whether you watch on the web or after downloading, but 320 x 180 resolution isn't great for viewing on anything other than a mobile device.
And that leaves Channel 9. There's a small selection of full shows (good), they're relatively high resolution for downloadable content - 1024 x 576 for the one I sampled (also good), but the network chose Hiro which limits their playability (bad). One of the benefits of Hiro is said to be that the content can be distributed efficiently via P2P, but 9 makes no attempt to do this - instead, would-be watchers face a relatively slow download from the network's web site.
So I'm left wondering: is all this an experiment that's designed to fail? If providers deliver legitimate content online using formats that severely restrict their usefulness, will it be any surprise if they are largely ignored? And if that happens, will the networks claim there's no real demand for full downloads? After all, if they can't give the shows away, who's going to buy them if the local iTunes Store ever gets TV shows and movies?
Is this going to drive people back to broadcast TV? I doubt it - the individuals I hear from that use P2P to feed their viewing habit seem content to stick with it. Others will just continue to use VCRs and PVRs to skip over the ads.
There's an opportunity here, but the commercial outlets seem content to muffle its knocking sound rather than make the most of it - even if that does mean pressuring Hiro-Media to get rid of its system's rough edges.
David Bass
| For the fourth year in a row, IDC has placed content security provider Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) at the top of the IDC Worldwide Web Security 2011 –…
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