Ken Ticehurst (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the report of the Standing Committee on Communications, Information Technology and the Arts entitled Digital television: who’s buying it? Better digital pictures are possible. Better television and better sound can be provided by digital broadcasts. There has been a very slow take-up of digital TV in Australia, but most of that is due to consumers not really being aware of the benefits of this technology. We have seen an increased take-up in recent times, but it still only amounts to about 12 per cent of consumers. Digital TV can be obtained on the old analog TVs. Many people have these sets which, in some cases, are 10 to 15 years old. The old sets will not be replaced. By using either a standard definition or a high definition set-top box, the old TVs can continue to be used. Also, the productions of most of the television networks in Australia are almost exclusively in high definition. It needs to be encouraged to continue. Australia represents less than five per cent of the world’s market. We are in a global economy and there is no way in the world that we will set any standards here in Australia.

The committee visited the sole manufacturer of TVs in Australia. I have read recently that it will cease production very soon. So we will be relying on imported technology. Essentially, the standards for high definition will be determined by countries other than Australia. This, of course, is nothing new. We had the same with FM and AM broadcasts. There was a bit of tinkering around the edges with frequency bands. In television, we had two analog systems. We selected the European system—the PAL-B system. America is still operating on an inferior system called NTSC. Hopefully, we will still have a converging of the standards for high definition so that we in this country have the same as in the majority of the world. This will lead, of course, to cheaper sets. We also now have a variety of set-top boxes. We can buy them for $70 to $80 up to several hundred dollars. High definition boxes were $1,000 this time last year. Now you can buy them for, in some cases, 300 bucks. We can buy the boxes with hard disks built into them. So instead of having a digital recorder—the VCR as we know it—we can now have a set-top box and a personal video recorder in one device.

Also, just around the corner is wireless networking built into a set-top box. This will enable you to link your wireless home network from your computer through to the TV, allowing you to pick up programs or other forms of content over broadband internet and play it on your PC through the wireless network onto the larger screen. For that reason, during committee hearings I was adamant that we do not need to mandate digital tuners in TVs, because the standard will change. We are now using what is called an MPEG2, which is a standard for graphics. The computer manufacturers are already looking at MPEG4, and another standard called MPEG6 is being introduced. As the definition of these new video standards emanate, we will find that more and more signal can be compressed into the tight bandwidth that is allocated. Essentially, with what we have today, in a few years we will be able to put two or three channels down the same bandwidth. These developments, like computers, are travelling at a rapid rate. It is also now possible to have TV tuners in computers. You can even buy an add-on box, where you plug a TV antenna into the USB port in your computer, and there is digital TV. Some of these boxes will be able to handle analog as well.

Unfortunately, most people do not understand the benefits of digital. Really, it is not for the government to explain it to people; it is up to the suppliers, the manufacturers and the entertainment industry. It is in their interests to convince people to move to the new standard. Of course, the government does take some responsibility for that move, and that is why we have the cut-off date for analog of 2010. It was obvious that the initial date of 2008 would not be realistically achievable, but 2010 should be able to be attained.

We find now that much of the change is being pushed across by large screen TVs. If we go back a few years, a plasma screen TV was retailing for about $30,000. Since the introduction of the GST, the 32 per cent wholesale tax on those screens—and all entertainment gear, for that matter—has been abolished and we are only paying 10 per cent GST on them. This has led to more take-up of the large screens. We have also seen developments in LCD screens. They used to be restricted to small computers; now you can buy large screens of 40 inches and more. Another technology has been developed called DLP. It is not the Democratic Labour Party we know from the fifties and sixties; it is a system called digital light processing. It is a new way of producing very lightweight, large-screen sets and is quite interesting—in fact, I have one myself. They give a brilliant picture and the colour switching is done in electronic circuitry. You get a large picture which is very much lighter than either plasma or the old cathode ray tube.

We are also looking at other forms of digital. The technology of the digital signal is really moving through not only our whole industry but also our mobile phone network. With the new 3G networks it is possible to receive video on mobile phones. As Telstra’s new installation moves along and gets developed further, we will have really high bandwidth available on mobile phones, which will enable you to watch video and movies. Further, with video on demand you will be able to download video signals over your computer, play them back on your large-screen TV and listen to wonderful sound on a home theatre network. Then, of course, there is podcasting, which is the latest way to bring down digital signals. Some time ago there was a song called Video Killed the Radio Star. Now we find that the radio stations, particularly 2GB in Sydney, are producing a podcast of their signal but will also do it in video: you will be able to download the announcer doing a program and watch it on video along with the audio. Then, of course, we have wireless internet and satellite internet. So there are many ways to deliver a signal, and it will not just be free to air.

Also, as the member for Kingsford Smith mentioned, content is the king. It was extra content that drove the uptake in the UK. It is not really being left to the ABC to produce all this content. We have very adequate capabilities in our TV networks and also in our other producers who are producing movies in this country. We need to encourage those producers to lift the availability of digital product. Also, we have datacasting. Datacasting was a means of transmitting signals over the TV network. This was largely misinterpreted in many cases but, in February 1993, I was doing some digital datacasting with the Seven Network and that still continues today. Very small low-bandwidth signals were able to be incorporated into the TV signal and, in my case, produce lightning data. Financial information is available. The RTA uses it for conveying road and traffic information to control centres. Datacasting is not just about taking movies or videos and having an alternative to pay TV. There are many other applications where data can be transmitted through TV media for all sorts of applications.

We also heard about an idea of having relevant standards and testing. We have Australian standards. Australian standards provide guidelines and rules for connecting equipment to our electrical mains. Very stringent requirements already exist. We have standards for production of video. I mentioned the MPEG system, which is internationally recognised. It is primarily driven out of America, but it is a common standard in the PC industry. That is the sort of standard that should be adopted in digital TV. As I mentioned earlier, the whole digital circuits and systems are integrated from PCs to podcasts, mobile phones and TVs. It is a digital future and we need to get behind it.

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