I feel some comment is due on the state of Internet based TV available right now – we do make video so it is pertinent. And there is a filmmaker/docco maker angle if you keep reading.

In my view, the ABC’s iView is King. It works, doesn’t stutter, has lots of content and I like it.

Now I am based in the country (300Kms south east of Perth) so TV is at a premium. No 7, 9 or 10. SBS is flaky. No SBS is almost non-existent. ABC IS digital and we get WIN and GWN on analogue. As such internet based TV is a Godsend, but via my connection of accessibility choice, a PS3, I can only get iView and 7Now. Why is that?

Where are the offerings from 9 and 10? And SBS for that matter?

7NOW stinks. Watching their offerings in 10 second bursts followed by 5 seconds of stop motion is not my idea of fun. And I have a very fast 'net connection.

Nor do I do NOT want to watch Sunrise. Pr MKR.  I DO want to see other stuff I may have missed – V8 Supercars are a good example, and from 10, the Formula 1. And the MotoGP.

I just watched Adam Hills' "In Gordon Street Tonight" as if it was a love broadcast, and then tried an episode on Torchwood (which I love) from 7NOW and it was worse than pulling teeth. Ch 7, if U need some tech's to make it work, make an offer to some ABC bods! They'd like the money! Your existing folk cannot do it. I have persisting for 6 months. And an inside mole at 7 shares my frustration and is embarassed by it. He is a top dog in the organisation too.

The commercial stations could make a killing in the country if they took advantage of this avenue of delivery. Internet TV is apparently on the uptake and that is a good thing. Well as long as the ISP’s don’t gouge us on download charges (I have recently beaten BigPond on a $7000 bill in this very area).

It also gives an opportunity for smaller film/doccos makers to have their wares shown to a potential mass market at bugger all cost to all and get some fabulous exposure. World wide in fact. We could be a world leader.

So, have the TV stations got this Internet thing sussed? The ABC has. For the rest, dunno, can’t get it. Apart from 7’s hopeless, hopeless offering. C'mon Kerry Stokes. Give the troops a major kick.

By David Hague

David is the owner and publisher of AusCam Online. He has a background in media dating back to 1979 when he first got involved with photojournalism in motorsport, and went from there into technology via a 5 year stint with Tandy Computers. Following that, he ran a software distribution company on the Gold Coast and was one of the first to recognise the potential of Microsoft Windows.

Moving back to WA, David wrote scripts for Computer Television for video training for the just released Windows and Office 95 among others, and was then lured to Sydney to create web sites for the newly commercial Internet in 1995, building hundreds of sites under contract to OzEmail including Coates Hire, Hertz Queensland, John Williamson, the NSW Board of Studies and many, many more.

He went back into full time journalism as the Managing Editor for Channel 7's 'Gadget Guy', Peter Blasina's publications VideoCamera and Pixelmag, before starting Australasian Camcorder magazine when these publications were shelved. He lives at Sydney's Avalon Beaches nearly on the ocean front with dog Budweiser and in his spare time is a nut for motor sport, road safety, fishing, science fiction - especially Dr Who - and technology.

David can be contacted via david@auscamonline.com