SBS changes on 29 January 2009

[chopper]

I see from this http://www.sbs.com.au/article/109044/Austr...Digital-Upgrade that SBS are changing on 29 January 2009 - they list channels for SBS HD, and SD SBS channels 1 through 4.

Any news on when the SA EPG feed for WebScheduler will be updated to reflect that content ?  I may have missed it.  Thanks.

[Daniel Hall at IceTV]

From the notice (and checking this morning) there does not appear to be any additional content at all, these extra channels that will appear are really place holders for possible future services (like ABC3, 7 Digital 1 and so on).

The biggest question at the moment is which LCN will be used for SBS World News Digital going forward, it looks like it might be SBS2 at channel 32 but this won't be able to be confirmed until later today.

[prl]

From the notice (and checking this morning) there does not appear to be any additional content at all, these extra channels that will appear are really place holders for possible future services (like ABC3, 7 Digital 1 and so on).

The biggest question at the moment is which LCN will be used for SBS World News Digital going forward, it looks like it might be SBS2 at channel 32 but this won't be able to be confirmed until later today.

Freeview's "More channels and more choice - 15 channels" appears to simply amount to 3 extra SD services, one for each commercial broadcaster.

I don't think there will be much more content made available on either SBS or the ABC. Perhaps the SBS will go to 24 hours/day? Perhaps ABC3 will happen? Who knows? SBS will probably go to 7-day EPG, which is good, but hardly earth-shattering :)

Ten, the only commercial broadcaster to announce their plans, has said they will change their HD service to be 24/7 sport, and the "new" service will simulcast the HD sport service in SD. So Freeview means no drama or movies in HD on Ten, and no extra non-sport content. Neither the commercial or national broadcasters appear to have any money to do anything interesting with Freeview.

Freeview appears to be mostly about preparation for the analog switchoff, and by painting FTA digital as something like "pay TV that you get for free" to avoid losing a big chunk of the analog TV market to pay TV.