Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 09 October 2008 10:16
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
Calling it the “first” online and mobile dedicated 24 hour news
channel, Telstra has taken a customised “Sky News” feed and made it
“freely” available online, or for $1.95 per day or $4.95 per month for
Telstra Next G mobile customers.
Although there is plenty of video programming available online to watch “on demand” or download in Australia, Telstra is the first “media” company to make a 24/7 news channel available for anyone to watch online, free of any Telstra charges.
Naturally, non-Bigpond customers will pay for the data used to deliver the Flash live video stream, as they would when watching YouTube videos or any other live video stream.
However, as is usual for BigPond customers, watching the new channel from their BigPond connected computer results in that usage being unmetered – i.e. it won’t chew up any of their download limits.
The new channel, officially called “
BigPond Live TV News”, is a continuous live video stream of general news, politics, finance, sport and weather.
Telstra says “it will combine regular news bulletins with wider coverage of business, health, environment, entertainment and technology.”
What this means is that Sky News (or more specifically, the Australian News Channel) is providing an ongoing “loop” of news, politics, finance, sport and weather which will be updated as needed, and where appropriate, the loop will be broken into to display live programming, be it a press conference from the Prime Minister, or the broadcast of one of the Presidential Debates in the US.
Telstra Next G (and some 3G) phone customers won’t be able to access the news channel free of charge, they will need to pay $1.95 per day or sign up to a $4.95 per month fee to watch the channel as much as they want.
Clearly if consumers want MORE news, or a more dynamic news service, then signing up to Mobile Foxtel (from $12 per month) is a better deal, because you’ll get the real Sky News broadcast (live from Foxte), the Sky Business Channel (also live), BBC, CNN, Fox News and more – all live.
You’ll also get lots of other channels too, so true news junkies may find Mobile Foxtel better value, although clearly BigPond users don’t need to worry about any charges.
What does Telstra have to say about its new service? Please read on to page 2.
