Boku_
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2008
- Messages
- 935
It was October of 1996 and i remember being blown away by the sheer number of channels available on American cable TV. I was staying at my cousin's houses in the suburban south side of Chicago near Oak Lawn for those familiar with CHI-town and i recall how much better American cable TV was with a choice of over an 100+ channels to watch. Comparing US cable Tv to Australian pay tv at the time was a joke cos i had first hand experience as only one year earlier we had got the two Aussie versions of cable TV called Optus Vision and Foxtel in our household lounge room.
Optus Vision and Foxtel both started in 1995 and either platform only had approx 20 Channels. With the main selling point being live broadcasts of sporting events from across the globe with Optus Vision having the rights to ESPN to show live NBA European Champion's league soccer Italian Seria A soccer and the X games, however Foxtel being owned by Rupert Murdoch had the rights to the British pay tv sports broadcaster SKY sports so live coverage of the English Premier league was on Foxtel.
There was even the Super league war
en.wikipedia.org
I won't comment on if pay TV content was better in Australia when Foxtel was competing with Optus Vision but after 2002 Foxtel gained the rights to most of Optus Visions marquee channels like MTV, ESPN so the Optus Vs Fox rivalry was a short lived affair. fast forward to now Foxtel is competing with online pay tv like NBA gameday pass and Amazon Prime that has the rights to stream the 2019/2020 EPL season.
The only reason my household got them was for live sport as my dad is a European soccer buff.
Yeah i know, internet streaming is the future but the way i see it they're is always going to be poor people who spend ,most of their money on drugs or drink and can't afford an unlimited data internet connection. For those in that situation free to air television will always be needed.
Which leads to my main question? What's free to air tv like on either sides of the Atlantic now since Freeview digital TV came in and the traditional free to air TV networks had to up their game and shake things up a bit to compete with online media providers. I ask this question because i watched a lot of American, British, Irish and Australian free to air TV during the 1980's and 1990's which some would say was a time free to air TV actually had decent programme's on. Live sports, current affairs shows, cop drama's, animation, variety shows and action movies to boot. Free to air tv peaked in the 1990s.
I remember while visiting family overseas seeing how big a deal watching live prime time sport coverage was in Europe and North America if you were in a city where a home time that was playing had a big supporter base. Also getting the chance to watch great American tv programs we didn't get in Australia like Saturday night live, late nights with Jay Leno and Space Ghost Coast to Coast was pretty cool.
One particular Irish variety show i can vaguely remember from the eighties was on RTE once a week and was called the late night show with gay byrne. My grandparents loved that show.
As you would imagine I myself like most tv viewers under 50 would stream any program ondemand that interests them.
There was a time on Australian free to air TV when both the commercial networks and National tax payer funded television stations like ABC and SBS made an effort to make entertaining tv shows like network 9NINE's Underbelly series, undercover cop crime drama Stingers. Or ABC Australia's locally made Police rescue, Wild Side, Crownies not to mention SBS producing great Sydney cop show East West 101 or the telemovie Better Man. i hate to say it but most of the tv shows made since 2010 that i liked were made by FX or Netflixs.
In the nighties there was only 5 television stations broadcasting in Australia but I swear there was none of that reality competition television show crap yet back then, Even when pay tv came to Australia free to air television got first dibs for the rights to the best American/British tv show's like ER 1994-2009. ...
Law and order
NYPD blues
Cheers 1982-1993. ...
3rd Rock from the Sun 1996-2001. ...
King of the Hill 1997-2010. ...
In Living Color 1990-1994. ...
South Park 1997-present. ...
Mad About You 1992-1999.
Pay TV in Australia mostly shows repeats. Foxtel does produce some local shows and show FX originals from America but anything good you can get off torrentz.
Aussie free to air used to broadcast live coverage of every Grand slam tennis tournament, every game in the cricket/rugby/Soccer world cups plus the Euro soccer cup and when the Olympic games or Commonwealth games were on out of channel 7,9 or 10 whoever had the broadcast rights they would show all the live action and play replays when each days events had come to a close. Like 20 hours a day devoted to the Olympics, only stopping coverage to show the news. Even ABC Australia used to show the Super Bowl live and free. I've heard you can stream lots of live sport online for free but i am not that tech savvy.
Now to watch most live sport you need to pay for Foxtel or OptusSports internet fetchTV. The only thing saving sports fans who can't get pay tv is AM radio as you can tune into BBC or TALKSport UK commentary of soccer matches from England or the fifa world cup. if Australia is playing cricket on tour in England or India SEN``1116 has late night live commentary.
I don't know about the United Kingdom or the United States in recent years but on Aussie television now in 2019 most of the prime time programme's are reality TV bullshit like MasterChef, dancing with the stars, married at first sight, Australia's got talent blah blah blah if you want entertaining tv shows like crime drama series, action movies or sports highlights you need to analyse your TV's EPG and set reminders or set a series link to record episode on a PVR unit. Or failing that stream shows off each Aussie tv networks ondemand service. If you want good drama you need to pay for netflix stan etc.
one thing living in Australia does have going for it is getting access to torrentz is easy. Hence most Australian's download whatever television shows or movies they want to watch. How long access to free pirated content lasts in Australia who knows.
As i said i don't know about UK or USA free to air but in Australia the traditional tv networks have had to create new television channels to offer television viewers more variety in order to firstly keep viewers switched on to their television programme's and make network tv remain relevant in the media landscape and second to try to battle for the almighty advertising dollar that won't exist without strong viewership.
I did a lot of travelling to North America (LA Chicago British Colombia) and both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom during the heyday of free to air TV verses subscription cable Pay TV of the 1980s 1990s early in my life and like all children of the 1980's free to Air Network television was my only passage into what was going on in the world, I know Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction summed it nicely when he said on the difference between America and Europe "They got the same shit there as here, it's just a little bit different" And he was right. For example you can watch popular Aussie soap opera's Home and Away plus Neighbours twice a day on British TV with Home and away as an example on Channel 5 at lunch time as well at 6;00pm but if i remember right if you are watching free TV in Ireland you get all the British TV channels like BBC1 BBC2 ITV Channel 4 UlsterTV plus Irish national broadcaster RTE1 RTE2. So sometimes you can see a popular TV show on British television and then an hour later see the same show but a different episode on Irish TV. Same thing goes for free to air tv in B,C Canada. You get Canadian channels from Vancouver and Edmonton plus American TV from Seattle. But i guess with digital freeview being around now everything is different.
Watching English speaking free to air network television back during the 1990's it was interesting to observe the characteristics and nuances of different TV channels and what television news bulletins on either side of the Atlantic would show on global issues like international conflicts between nations as well as local issues like gun crime in Chicago and sectarian violence and terrorism in Belfast. Of course being a young person visiting the other side of the world I watched a hell of a lot of both Free to air TV and cable TV when i could. Being from Australia where the latest American hit show episodes being shown on Aussie channel 7, the NINE network or Channel TEN were no word of a joke a good 6-9 months behind the US networks i felt special watching the latest American hit show episodes. Prime time nineties network TV shows like the Simpsons Melrose place Law and order Northern Exposure and Seinfeld were all shown on Aussie free to air TV but on a delay.
For example in the Simpsons two part episode when Mr Burns was shot at the end of season six and everyone had to wait till 6 months later for season seven to start to find out who shot him because of the delay between the American premier of season seven of the Simpsons and when it was shown on aussie tv you could find out on the internet Maggie shot Mr Burns before the second part was officially premiered on channel ten Australia. I also remember when i was a really young kid watching the Emmy's award show on Aussie TV in 1990 and a TV show i had never seen or heard off called Northern Exposure was winning a whole bunch of emmy's that was because of how behind Australian TV was back then.
Optus Vision and Foxtel both started in 1995 and either platform only had approx 20 Channels. With the main selling point being live broadcasts of sporting events from across the globe with Optus Vision having the rights to ESPN to show live NBA European Champion's league soccer Italian Seria A soccer and the X games, however Foxtel being owned by Rupert Murdoch had the rights to the British pay tv sports broadcaster SKY sports so live coverage of the English Premier league was on Foxtel.
There was even the Super league war
Super League war - Wikipedia
I won't comment on if pay TV content was better in Australia when Foxtel was competing with Optus Vision but after 2002 Foxtel gained the rights to most of Optus Visions marquee channels like MTV, ESPN so the Optus Vs Fox rivalry was a short lived affair. fast forward to now Foxtel is competing with online pay tv like NBA gameday pass and Amazon Prime that has the rights to stream the 2019/2020 EPL season.
The only reason my household got them was for live sport as my dad is a European soccer buff.
Yeah i know, internet streaming is the future but the way i see it they're is always going to be poor people who spend ,most of their money on drugs or drink and can't afford an unlimited data internet connection. For those in that situation free to air television will always be needed.
Which leads to my main question? What's free to air tv like on either sides of the Atlantic now since Freeview digital TV came in and the traditional free to air TV networks had to up their game and shake things up a bit to compete with online media providers. I ask this question because i watched a lot of American, British, Irish and Australian free to air TV during the 1980's and 1990's which some would say was a time free to air TV actually had decent programme's on. Live sports, current affairs shows, cop drama's, animation, variety shows and action movies to boot. Free to air tv peaked in the 1990s.
I remember while visiting family overseas seeing how big a deal watching live prime time sport coverage was in Europe and North America if you were in a city where a home time that was playing had a big supporter base. Also getting the chance to watch great American tv programs we didn't get in Australia like Saturday night live, late nights with Jay Leno and Space Ghost Coast to Coast was pretty cool.
One particular Irish variety show i can vaguely remember from the eighties was on RTE once a week and was called the late night show with gay byrne. My grandparents loved that show.
As you would imagine I myself like most tv viewers under 50 would stream any program ondemand that interests them.
There was a time on Australian free to air TV when both the commercial networks and National tax payer funded television stations like ABC and SBS made an effort to make entertaining tv shows like network 9NINE's Underbelly series, undercover cop crime drama Stingers. Or ABC Australia's locally made Police rescue, Wild Side, Crownies not to mention SBS producing great Sydney cop show East West 101 or the telemovie Better Man. i hate to say it but most of the tv shows made since 2010 that i liked were made by FX or Netflixs.
In the nighties there was only 5 television stations broadcasting in Australia but I swear there was none of that reality competition television show crap yet back then, Even when pay tv came to Australia free to air television got first dibs for the rights to the best American/British tv show's like ER 1994-2009. ...
Law and order
NYPD blues
Cheers 1982-1993. ...
3rd Rock from the Sun 1996-2001. ...
King of the Hill 1997-2010. ...
In Living Color 1990-1994. ...
South Park 1997-present. ...
Mad About You 1992-1999.
Pay TV in Australia mostly shows repeats. Foxtel does produce some local shows and show FX originals from America but anything good you can get off torrentz.
Aussie free to air used to broadcast live coverage of every Grand slam tennis tournament, every game in the cricket/rugby/Soccer world cups plus the Euro soccer cup and when the Olympic games or Commonwealth games were on out of channel 7,9 or 10 whoever had the broadcast rights they would show all the live action and play replays when each days events had come to a close. Like 20 hours a day devoted to the Olympics, only stopping coverage to show the news. Even ABC Australia used to show the Super Bowl live and free. I've heard you can stream lots of live sport online for free but i am not that tech savvy.
Now to watch most live sport you need to pay for Foxtel or OptusSports internet fetchTV. The only thing saving sports fans who can't get pay tv is AM radio as you can tune into BBC or TALKSport UK commentary of soccer matches from England or the fifa world cup. if Australia is playing cricket on tour in England or India SEN``1116 has late night live commentary.
I don't know about the United Kingdom or the United States in recent years but on Aussie television now in 2019 most of the prime time programme's are reality TV bullshit like MasterChef, dancing with the stars, married at first sight, Australia's got talent blah blah blah if you want entertaining tv shows like crime drama series, action movies or sports highlights you need to analyse your TV's EPG and set reminders or set a series link to record episode on a PVR unit. Or failing that stream shows off each Aussie tv networks ondemand service. If you want good drama you need to pay for netflix stan etc.
one thing living in Australia does have going for it is getting access to torrentz is easy. Hence most Australian's download whatever television shows or movies they want to watch. How long access to free pirated content lasts in Australia who knows.
As i said i don't know about UK or USA free to air but in Australia the traditional tv networks have had to create new television channels to offer television viewers more variety in order to firstly keep viewers switched on to their television programme's and make network tv remain relevant in the media landscape and second to try to battle for the almighty advertising dollar that won't exist without strong viewership.
I did a lot of travelling to North America (LA Chicago British Colombia) and both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom during the heyday of free to air TV verses subscription cable Pay TV of the 1980s 1990s early in my life and like all children of the 1980's free to Air Network television was my only passage into what was going on in the world, I know Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction summed it nicely when he said on the difference between America and Europe "They got the same shit there as here, it's just a little bit different" And he was right. For example you can watch popular Aussie soap opera's Home and Away plus Neighbours twice a day on British TV with Home and away as an example on Channel 5 at lunch time as well at 6;00pm but if i remember right if you are watching free TV in Ireland you get all the British TV channels like BBC1 BBC2 ITV Channel 4 UlsterTV plus Irish national broadcaster RTE1 RTE2. So sometimes you can see a popular TV show on British television and then an hour later see the same show but a different episode on Irish TV. Same thing goes for free to air tv in B,C Canada. You get Canadian channels from Vancouver and Edmonton plus American TV from Seattle. But i guess with digital freeview being around now everything is different.
Watching English speaking free to air network television back during the 1990's it was interesting to observe the characteristics and nuances of different TV channels and what television news bulletins on either side of the Atlantic would show on global issues like international conflicts between nations as well as local issues like gun crime in Chicago and sectarian violence and terrorism in Belfast. Of course being a young person visiting the other side of the world I watched a hell of a lot of both Free to air TV and cable TV when i could. Being from Australia where the latest American hit show episodes being shown on Aussie channel 7, the NINE network or Channel TEN were no word of a joke a good 6-9 months behind the US networks i felt special watching the latest American hit show episodes. Prime time nineties network TV shows like the Simpsons Melrose place Law and order Northern Exposure and Seinfeld were all shown on Aussie free to air TV but on a delay.
For example in the Simpsons two part episode when Mr Burns was shot at the end of season six and everyone had to wait till 6 months later for season seven to start to find out who shot him because of the delay between the American premier of season seven of the Simpsons and when it was shown on aussie tv you could find out on the internet Maggie shot Mr Burns before the second part was officially premiered on channel ten Australia. I also remember when i was a really young kid watching the Emmy's award show on Aussie TV in 1990 and a TV show i had never seen or heard off called Northern Exposure was winning a whole bunch of emmy's that was because of how behind Australian TV was back then.