iView - you complete me
I’ve been surprised at the number of people who don’t know about the individual online catch-up services the free-to-air channels offer. For free. It’s most surprising because both Channel 9 & the ABC do offer frequent advertisements about their services (FixPlay & iView respectively).
With that in mind, this is my review of the services, their workings & their offerings…
ABC’s iView
Modelled very directlyon the BBC’s iPlayer service, iView set the standard early. LOTS of content, really easy to use, and in partnership with a number of Internet Service Providers (e.g. iiNet) ensuring that access to this service was not included in your download limit. Does not contain all televised content, however does contain a significant back catalogue including a lot of ABC2 children’s programming. It scales to fit your browser window and runs full screen almost independent of your internet connection speed (faster is always better, however). iPhone app exists that plugs into this content; iPad app due “soon”. A leader in online catch-up television for the Australian market.
Ease of use: 4/5
Content: 5/5
Delivery: 4/5
SBS’s Watch Full Episodes (then click on “Watch Full Episodes” link)
A pop-up window to run this is very 1995, but the application within is still strong. Again, lots of SBS content available very quickly after inital broadcast (some immediately after, most dropping at midnight at the end of the day of screening). A strong contender that, given funding, could compete with the iView offering for quality.
Ease of use: 3/5
Content: 4/5
Delivery: 2/5
Channel7’s Plus7
I still don't get what the "plus" bit is about
Reflecting on the ratings battle that exists currently, the catch-up service offered by Channel 7 is neck & neck in terms of quality (and similarity in style) to that of Channel 9. Lots of local content, lots of archived content, slick in presentation. Advertisments are embedded in the page & not in the stream of the show, which I find to be important (if I’m watching it on your site, don’t interrupt me with ads when I’m already paying for the download costs). Given the boiling battle of breakfast, Channel 7 are smart enough to not load up this service with a full version of Sunrise, but rather an edited highlights package “Sunrise Extra”. Mind you, if you own a Telstra NextG compatible phone, you can watch Sunrise wherever you are as it has been recently added as unmetered content – a smart move for commuters across the nation.
Ease of use: 4/5
Content: 4/5
Delivery: 4/5
Channel 9’s FixPlay
See everything written for Channel7, & change all references to Channel 9. Both services don’t simply focus on their primary channel either with Go! & GEM content featured within FixPlay as 7TWO & 7Mate is for Plus7. There is no Today Show catch up offering available. As Channel 9 have a standing integration deal with Microsoft (Ninemsn), this service uses the Microsoft Silverlight plug-in as opposed to the Adobe Flash plug-in used by all other services – so you’ll need to install this application the first time you try to watch anything online (if you’ve not already).
Ease of use: 4/5
Content: 4/5
Delivery: 4/5
Channel 10’s Full Episodes & Video
By far the worst of the 3 commercial station offerings, due mainly to the fact they integrate ads into the program as you watch it – and they can’t be skipped. Channel 10 also opt to deliver their programs in segments, so to watch a show you need to either build a playlist of the segments you want beforehand, or roll the dice & click on the first segment and let the show run. I’m torn as to the usefulness of this delivery method: it’s good if you just want to watch that last bit of a show that was cut off when you recorded it last night; it’s bad because you get ads inserted before each segment starts & these are downloaded by you at your cost. It also means you can’t absorb yourself in the show proper.
Ease of use: 3/5
Content: 4/5
Delivery: 2/5
Which of the services is your favourite? What you seen done differently to make the ultimate catch-up TV service?
Image Sources: rbi.com.au; tvcentral.com.au; allofit.com.au; google.com
The networks should get their acts together via their Freeview thing, and do a deal with TiVo to offer missed episodes streamed to your player. And hell, why not anyone else who wants the service for their Wndows Media Center, Topfield PVR, etc, etc.
Do peering deals with ISP’s so they allow it as unmetered, and the public will love it.
Let the networks do some kind of advertising, lest people skip the original broadcast and opt for replay to avoid ads, and to get more revenue than they’d otherwise have had. But keep the ability to fast forward.
Money and value-add for the taking, and both the viewers and the networks win.
In a perfect world, they’d see sense and do this. But it’s not a perfect world, sadly.
Great blog post. I always forget about it.
So people can watch Sunrise whilst they are on the train or bus, good for TV lovers, but not so good for the newspaper, magazine and book industry.
I don’t suppose you know what Foxtel is doing with catch TV?
no experience with Foxtel, but I understand they provide their own catch up service so that people can see shows the missed BUT Foxtel decides what and the catalogue is limited. The new integrated service with XBOX Live will allow whole seasons to be watched on demand, but at a fee per ep. But, for $20, you get access to the basic Foxtel package on your XBOX which is great if you don’t have Foxtel but a great big Internet connecttion to eat up. Allegedly an iPad app is coming to allow subscribers to view content too.
I did also forget to add that iView is also available via the PS3 dashboard also. It’s bringing content back into the lounge room that had been hijacked by gamers. 😉
I think the CATCHUP service from all the TV stations should be viewable on my new LG SMART TV, but was disappointed to find that ADOBE FLASH Player is required 🙁
Hope this is all sorted soon, as I love the smart tv concept