Australian television, running several years behind the rest of the developed world, stands on the precipice of a multichannel frontier.
But should we embark on launching free-to-air channels when the art of programming the ones we already have eludes us still? Free-to-air digital TV is almost a decade old and to describe it as steaming pile of nothing is an understatement.
The only success story is the ABC's stepchild, ABC2. Its commercial counterparts, hamstrung by years of self-inflicted legislative paralysis, are a waste of spectrum.
The hyped high-definition (HD) channels are bare bones and after eight years that's not good enough.
For those few who have installed consumer-unfriendly HD equipment and then bought the antenna they didn't realise they needed, these channels provide a service that amounts to a graveyard for repeats.
Even in the realm of pay TV, where a channel is often not much more than six or eight hours of programming, turned over three or four times in a day, there's enough fresh programming to please most.
The effort is worthy of applause, even if some programs aren't.
The commercial networks pack their schedules with infomercials and too often pepper their prime-time programming with repeats.
In the case of CSI, it is not uncommon for Channel Nine to omit the "R" tag denoting the show is a repeat.
At the ABC, its package of late-night movies has been replayed so often the tapes must be almost worn out.
The mediocre service provided by the networks does not inspire consumers with the kind of confidence free-to-air digital television needs to flourish.
Perhaps the market needs smarter, better operators? Better yet, a reader suggests networks should be obliged to identify the number of times they repeat a program. "R" might be annoying but "R23" is much more honest.
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