We take a look in the crystal ball to see where the television industry is heading. The Australian ABC’s Jonathan Holmes and the Media Watch team did the same in 2008, and a number of their findings are still relevant today.

Future of Australian TV

WA TV History

Veterans who worked in the television industry have witnessed many changes, not only in the technology, but the organisational adjustments too. We started off with local independent stations, which later affiliated into networks to share content and gain a program buying advantage. Eventually the individual stations were acquired to become networks under a common owner. Now the networks are facing new challenges, as are other industries in a world that seems to be shrinking, with rapid transportation speeds and faster data transfer rates.

Since the advent of the Internet, many business practices have changed. There has been the recent argument over online shopping and its impact on local retailers. Customers seeking cheaper prices overseas and willing to wait the air freight time. This trend will eventually put pressure on most local commodities and services that are not competitive, and given time, there is likely to be a single world marketplace rather than a multitude of provincial providers servicing each locality. Perishables are less suited to long distance sales, though if the product is durable, its a likely candidate. Even more so for products that do not exhibit a physical size and are not limited by transport constraints, such as television shows, movies, computer software and games. For they can be transmitted swiftly as data across borders and vast distances, at the speed of light.

Internet Shopping – Will this include television content?

Courtesy Seven News
But what about television show which traditionally have been the domain of the local TV broadcasting stations? They are now becoming available online too in vast quantities.

It’s mind boggling to see what’s happening in the United States, who are often the trend setters with Australia following some time later. Even though the Internet is global, not all overseas streaming services are available here, due to fire-walling efforts to restrict them within the U.S. borders, which up until now has offered some protection for the local broadcasters. But this does not stop the tech savvy youngsters who find clever ways to circumvent these restrictions. Where there’s a will, there’s a smart teenager with a way.

There is an increasing range of legal content delivery methods over the Internet, which cater for all tastes in recorded programs. Though free-to-air television is still best suited to live sporting and other events of major interest. The arrival of Internet streaming now means that television stations can no longer monopolise this form. The only obstacle being the issue of rights. Older generations presently identify with the TV set, whilst younger viewers prefer computers, tablets and smart-phones. Streaming has become a viable option over the last decade, aided by increased Internet speeds and more liberal data limits. Many online content providers have come up with unique business models, each challenging the other.

Apple’s iTunes expanded from selling music to distributing Movies, TV shows, Podcasts, Audiobooks, University related learning, games and software in the form of Apps to the new iBookstore and its range of publications. The latest Apple TV provides an intuitive, low cost, user-friendly device for accessing not only Apple sourced shows, but opens it to competition in the form of Netflix, YouTube, Flickr and possibly Hulu in the future.

Introducing the Apple TV

WA TV History

Apple TV therefore lets you rent new movies and TV shows, stream Netflix content, watch YouTube videos, and enjoy photos, music, and more right from your HDTV.

Netflix also supplies TV shows and movies online, which can be streamed to your TV via the Apple TV, Wii, Xbox, PS3 and many other devices. Netflix is an American corporation that first offered flat rate online rental (rental-by-mail) of DVD-Video and Blu-ray Discs in the United States and later on-demand video streaming over the Internet, in the United States and Canada. The company obtains content from various studios and other content providers through fixed-fee licenses, revenue sharing agreements and direct purchases. Netflix has been around for more than a decade but became a powerhouse only recently, as its subscriber count more than doubled in the last two years and its market capitalisation more than quintupled to $12.5 billion. Last year was a bumper year for the company. Its stock price increased 219% to $175.70 whilst they added 8 million subscribers, bringing its total to 20 million. Revenue jumped 29% to $2.16 billion and net income was up 39% to $161 million.

Netflix demo on the Apple TV

WA TV History

Netflix not only competes with Apple’s iTunes and Hulu, but also video on demand (VoD) services from pay-TV providers like Comcast and Time Warner Cable, and specialised movie rental companies like Redbox, who deal in DVD and Blu-ray rentals. Netflix has been the only company to streams a large selection of movies and TV shows online for a monthly fee of $7.99, though retail giants such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and Best Buy Co., Internet television provider Hulu, and satellite broadcaster Dish Network Corp are contemplating or in the process of getting on the bandwagon. Until now, Wal-Mart’s Vudu and Best Buy’s CinemaNow have been running a pay-per-view system. Google’s YouTube and Apple’s iTunes Store could also pose a serious threat to Netflix if they moved into subscriptions.

Meanwhile, U.S. domiciled citizens can use Amazon’s new unlimited streaming deal to watch more than 5,000 movies and TV shows on their Mac or Windows PC, as well as Internet-connected TVs, Blu-ray players, and select set-top boxes. That’s miniscule compared with Netflix, but Amazon is prepared to spend more to beef up its library to make instant access available to new TV shows from the broadcast networks and classic, kids and family shows as well as premium TV shows from HBO or Showtime. They can watch new release and blockbuster movies, classic favourites, and foreign films. With Amazon Prime instant videos, they get unlimited, commercial-free viewing of over 5,000 movies and TV shows with a Prime membership (annual $79 membership fee) for their shipping discount service. TV shows are $1.99 per episode with discounts up to 30% for full season purchases. Rent movies for as little as $0.99 or buy movies for as low as $4.99. Downloads available to TiVo and Personal Computers. Its also possible to stream movies on Roku, Vizio, Samsung, Sony Bravia, Sony Blu-ray, Panasonic Blu-ray, Panasonic TV and Google TV.

Amazon Prime instant videos

Google TV is another concept that is being incorporated into new high-definition television sets and Blu-ray players by Sony. Set-top boxes developed by Logitech will service older TV sets. Using Google’s Chrome web browser, viewers will be able to access the Internet from their TV, browsing web sites whilst watching television. This will be assisted by a wireless remote control with a full QWERTY keypad, which ship with the Google TV products. Software developers are being encouraged to create applications that can extend the system’s functionality. For example, Netflix has built an application that allows customers to access their large library of movies and television shows. Though not everyone has warmed to the Google TV concept. NBC, ABC,and Hulu have blocked Google TV enabled devices from accessing their web content since Google TV’s launch.

Google TV explained

Hulu is another successful business model that is fast gaining popularity. Owned by NBC Universal (Comcast/General Electric), Fox Entertainment Group (News Corp) and Disney-ABC Television Group (The Walt Disney Company), it presently services viewers in the United States and its overseas territories. Hulu was formed to counter the piracy culture of youthful downloaders, desiring free copies of the latest and most popular movies and TV shows. Hulu videos are played in their own embeddable web-player. Content comes from at least a dozen TV networks and two major film studios. Hulu also carries shows from other networks, such as Current TV, PBS, USA Network, Bravo, Fuel TV, FX, NFL Network, Speed, Big Ten Network, Syfy, Style, Sundance, E!, G4, Versus, A&E, Oxygen and online comedy sources such as the Onion News Network. Participating content suppliers gets 50 to 70 percent of advertising revenue derived from showing their content. Hulu’s basic model is free to viewers, whilst Hulu Plus offers an enhanced subscription based service.

Hulu Plus App for iPhone, iPad, iPod and Touch

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Hulu’s revenue was $25 million in 2008, $108 million in 2009 and $263 million in 2010. It’s currently experiencing an exponential growth rate just supplying the United States. Now they are using traditional TV Ads to lure television viewers away from the free-to-air and cable networks to an ever increasing source of on-demand content, and its a strategy that has been incredibly effective.

Hulu currently carries thousands of hours of programming which viewers can not only watch on their TVs (by connecting a computer with a streaming capable video card to the TV via HDMI or other connection) but also the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch running iOS4 or higher. Hulu Plus will be available on Sony games devices such as the PlayStation 3 as well as via Samsung TVs. Discussions are ongoing with Microsoft about putting Hulu Plus on the XBox console.

Hulu access from Australia is restricted, unless the user employs a U.S. based proxy server to trick Hulu into thinking the user resides in America. Products like VPN Authority claim to overcome this access problem by providing an encrypted tunnelling solution between your computer and their relay servers in the United States. Australian viewers then use the Internet normally, except that their data is encrypted en route and the outside world only sees the proxy server’s IP address. This then allows you to view the normally blocked Hulu web video content.

In July 2010, the Financial Times revealed that Hulu had been working on plans for an international launch, but they first need to have global streaming rights for the content. This requires working with the content owners to clear the rights for each show or film in every region. It’s a long-term project and Hulu has no definite timeline yet, but emphasise that they’ll continue to work to make it happen.

The future may be closer that you think as Netflix increases its spending for online content from $180 million last year to nearly $2 billion for 2012, according to Wedbush Morgan Securities. The LA Times reports that Netflix has been in a deal-making frenzy, agreeing to pay cable channel Epix nearly $1 billion over five years for movies from Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.

“Studios can’t scoff at that money, but some fret that it’s a deal with the devil, securing short-term gains that come with a long-term erosion of their other businesses as consumers come to rely on Netflix.”

Should the day arrive when it is more profitable for the overseas production companies to sell all their programs and global rights to the Internet streamers, rather than the traditional broadcasters, then our television networks will have to rely on local production houses or be self sufficient. The loss of cheap overseas shows will impact on profitability, owing to the greater cost associated with making quality local shows. This can be offset by sales, should their product be capable of attracting an international audience. Survival is likely to depend on a strong regional focus, catering best to the needs of the local Australian audience to hold viewers, once overseas content bypasses them by being delivered direct and on-demand over the internet.

Interestingly, the last few decades has witnessed a loss of autonomy within television stations, as they’ve been amalgamated into networks. Centralisation has taken over from local program coordination, presentation and decision making. Cost cutting took place as each State went on the national relay and many jobs were shed. A priority in issuing television licenses in the first place, was to give an emphasis to local ownership, designed to served the local needs. The last 50 years has seen the exact opposite take place, as this doctrine has been unravelled and ownership fall into the hands of a few.

Roku Instant Internet TV

Roku is a highly popular set-top-box that allows U.S. users to instantly stream tons of entertainment on their TV. Watch movies and TV shows from Netflix, Hulu Plus or Amazon Instant Video, listen to music on Pandora and more, whenever they want it. The cost of the device starts at US$59 and from that point on, additional costs depend on the U.S. based streaming services one is subscribed to.

WA TV History

What local TV streaming services are now available in Australian?

Telstra T-Box

This video guide shows how you can access BigPond Movies and TV on your Telstra T-Box™.

Telstra has introduced the T-Box which enables you to access and rent movies and TV shows from the BigPond Movies library, all from the comfort of your lounge room. Unfortunately the T-Box locks you into the BigPond® Broadband service before you can purchase the T-Box and access its features. The device costs $299 outright, compared to the A$129.00 for the Apple TV, which can be used with any provider. What’s more, the real minimum cost of the T-Box service is $908.35 based on T-Box, BigPond 2GB Elite ADSL $49.95 per month over 12 months and $9.95 delivery fee. Customers with an existing eligible BigPond Broadband service can pay $299 to buy the T-Box outright, or $35 upfront plus $11 per month for 24 months on your Telstra Bill. FOXTEL on the T-Box service is also coming soon.

iiNet’s FetchTV

The launch of the new FetchTV Internet protocol television service by major ISP iiNet in Australia, which is also supported by other ISP’s like Internode and ADAM internet, has created a threat to leading Pay TV cable and satellite player FOXTEL. The FetchTV 2 requires a $399 set-top-box and a minimum $19.95 per month. The set-top-box can either be bought outright or rented over a 24 month contract at $29.95 per month. A cheaper FetchTV 1 rental package starts at $14.95 per month, but does not include the 30 on demand movies at any time and additional TV channels.

WA TV History

FOXTEL now delivered over the Internet to Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is a video game console produced by Microsoft. As of January 2011, there are over 50 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide. Its integrated Xbox Live service allows players to compete online, download arcade games, game demos, trailers, TV shows, music and movies. The device is about A$500 subject to future discounting.

FOXTEL on the Xbox 360 has an entry price of less than $20 per month and additional packages from $10. Access to the Live channels, hundreds of Catch Up TV titles and pay-per-view titles from FOXTEL On Demand costs less than $75.

Australian iTunes Store

The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Originally only Mac OS X users, who had credit cards with a U.S. billing address, could buy songs through the service, but since 2004, the service is now available in a wide range of countries, including Australia and New Zealand. This gives Apple a wider reach than Netflix, Amazon Prime instant videos and Hulu, until these providers go global. iTunes is now available on a wider range of platforms including Windows PC’s, the iPhone, Touch, iPad and the Apple TV. A user must pay with an iTunes gift card or a credit card with a billing address in the country of the appropriate store. The iTunes Store is the number #1 music download store according to Nielsen SoundScan and a significant player in the provision of online movies and TV shows. The Apps Store and the iBookstore extend their reach into mobile software, games and publications. The latest Apple TV is a small, inexpensive but powerful set-top-box, where everything is stored on the cloud (Apple’s vast data centres). The Apple TV not only provides access to the iTunes Store, but also Netflix (in the U.S.), YouTube and Flickr.

Steve Jobs with iTunes and Apple TV

WA TV History
Who better to describe the remarkable popularity of the iTunes Store and the revolutionary Apple TV concept than Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Home entertainment has undergone a considerable change from singing around the piano, listening to the radio and watching the new fangled television sets on opening night in a shop window, to home cinemas with high definition widescreens, 3D and surround sound. The program source is no longer restricted to a TV transmitter within one’s reception area, affected by snow or ghosting. Nor do we need to be subjected to shows of less appeal than we desire. There is a enormous collection of content awaiting us from a vast range of suppliers and program makers, that can stimulate us like never before. This change is taking place at an ever increasing rate. What was considered new today is likely to be ancient history tomorrow, and the big story will centre on who has the smarts and the muscle to take best advantage of the latest trends, to come out the winners in the long run.

June Holmes, formerly of STW Publicity & Programs solemnly advised that the highly respected and well liked Vick Evans has passed away. June said that Vick was a friendly and jovial work mate who, after working for a number of years at STW-9, became CEO of the Constable Care program for 14 years, and sadly passed away after a battle with motor neurone disease.

Present Nine Perth Traffic Manager Alan Hooper also spoke highly of Vick, who at the time of Alan’s engagement at STW, was the Traffic Manager until about 1983.

WIN’s Jenny Satchell, a former colleague and close friend for 30 years pointed out that Vick’s family was his life. Vick and wife Mary were married for 40 years, with four children, Michael, twins Sarah & Lisa, Daniel and three grandchildren, Savanah, Talyah and Harli. He was also very devoted to his parents, mother Peggy and father Alec, who have survived him.

After leaving STW-9, Vick operated his own businesses, first in food retail and then menswear.

Graeme Plummer reminisced about the formative days of the Golden West Network when Vick was recruited as Public Relations and Promotions Manager. Vick was very much a people person, excelling in this area.

Vick then went on to be the head and heart of the Constable Care program, as the CEO of the program for 14 years. Constable Care is a major crime prevention and early intervention strategy that works with children aged between two and 12.

More than 180,000 school-age children are taught Constable Care ‘respect and responsibility’ messages each year in WA to help shape their attitudes on a range of social issues as they grow into adulthood.

Vick brought the program into the modern age, making it viable by gaining a lot of corporate support and reducing debt.

When the early warning signs of motor neurone disease (MND) appeared in February 2010, Vick noticed weakness in his right thumb and hand. By March, twitching and shaking had set in. Then just three days after their return to Perth in September from a round-the-world holiday to Canada, the US, Turkey, Greece and a 12-day cruise from Spain to Italy, Vick and his wife were told the reason his body was growing weaker. He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, a terminal condition that affects body movement. Four months later, Mr Evans was confined to a wheelchair. He had lost the use of his arms and legs and had difficulty swallowing and needed 24-hour care.

Mary gave up her job to look after the man she has been married to since she was 18. When interviewed by The Sunday Times in December last year, Mrs Evans said: “For someone who was always a very positive person, full of life, never been sick in his life, never had any illnesses, this has just cut him off at the knees.”

Since his diagnosis the family contacted stem-cell research clinics in the US and Europe. Mr Evans was placed on five waiting lists in the US, but the wait was up to a year and at $30,000 a time, the experimental treatment was unproven.

Mr Evans said that, “We need to raise the awareness, make the Government put their bloody hand in their pocket, more research, more help.”

Mrs Evans added, “The frustrating thing about this illness is that there’s really nothing they can give you to slow it down.

“We know that there’s no cure and the other frustrating thing is that in Australia they’re not doing trials, they’re not really doing anything, so you can’t even be a candidate for research.”

The family has urged the Federal Government to give the green light to further stem-cell research and trials. They say more money and resources need to be directed towards MND.

Vick was buried at Karrakatta on Tuesday 19th April, 2011, and will he sadly missed by all. He was 59 years of age.

The introduction of television to Australia involved predominantly newspaper owning applicants competing for the licenses. Television was anticipated to be in direct competition with the newspaper audience and the soliciting of advertisements, therefore the powerful media moguls were keen to have a part of the action.

In the process, all successful applicants for Australia’s first TV stations went to newspaper publishers.

Four commercial licenses were granted for the initial stations opening in 1956, two each for Sydney and Melbourne.

• TCN Channel 9 in Sydney, was issued to a company named Television Corporation Ltd, headed by the owner of The Daily Telegraph, Frank Packer.
• ATN Channel 7, was issued to a company named Amalgamated Television Services, a subsidiary of Fairfax, which owned the Sydney Morning Herald.
• GTV Channel 9 in Melbourne was first licensed to the General Television Corporation Limited, a consortium which included two newspapers, The Argus and The Age.
• HSV Channel 7 in Melbourne was originally owned by The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd, owners of The Herald and The Sun.

More licenses were issued later for the less populated states, resulting in further commercial stations opening in 1959.

• QTQ Channel 9 in Brisbane was licensed to Fairfax.
• BTQ Channel 7 in Brisbane went to Queensland Press, owned by the Herald group.
• NWS Channel 9 in Adelaide was owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owned The News newspaper.
• ADS Channel 7 was launched by Adelaide Television Broadcasters Limited, which was owned by the Advertiser Newspapers, then controlled by The Herald and Weekly Times.
• West Australian newspapers formed a company which was the successful applicant for the license of TVW Channel 7 in Perth, the first television station in WA.

It has taken 50 years for the status quo to change, thereby opening up the means for all to participate in the creation and dissemination of information and entertainment. Now as a result of vast technological advancements and dramatic cost reductions, the ordinary person has available affordable tools to self publish in so many ways. A domestic video camera with hard drive can record broadcast quality moving pictures with stereo sound. Personal computers can be used to professionally edit videos. Musicians can now produce quality music in their garage. People can now publish their novels in eBook form and sell them through Amazon or the iBookstore.

Not only that, but there has been a quantum leap in the relationship between content provider and content consumer. The new breed of tech savvy entrepreneurs employ clever math that measure user habits to build their advertising model. Targeting potential buyers in a more sophisticated manner than any television rating scheme. TV ratings usually measure how many sets are tuned in and not the level of participation. The internet data collection goes well beyond that, often taking it to a very personal and intimate level.

Traditional television and particularly print technology is constrained by its more static nature. Much has evolved in the last 50 years. The dynamic nature of the web enables both real time happenings and full user interactivity. Its a two way street with email, forums, live chat with photo and video sharing. All manner of user generated content can also be put out there to a global audience.

The Internet revolution has brought with it a greater convergence of moving images, still photography, animated graphics and music, with talk and text all being a part.

There has developed a constant flow of clever software and games, which is creating new markets, much of it in the form of Apps. There’s also the hardware innovations such as the iPhone and iPad that often combine a mobile phone with computing power, a still and video camera, a multimedia centre and much more. People now buy more eBooks off Amazon than the printed versions, whilst younger generations are turning their backs on newspapers and the lounge room television, preferring instead to read and view their information via smart-phones, tablets or personal computers. They also have a tendency to want their content now, rather than rely on a schedule and the tastes of programming executives.

Unlike broadcasting, there is an absence of Internet licences in Australia, the field is wide open for all to broadcast. The latest online entities such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo, YouTube and Twitter were conceived by youthful, technically savvy upstarts, rather than the established media moguls. This has not stopped the moguls from buying into new media, but in a number of cases it has been counter productive. The Warner/CNN/AOL venture soured and the purchase of MySpace by News Corp saw that enterprise lose market prominence.

Now one of the most crucial experiments in making an online newspaper viable is being bankrolled by Rupert Murdoch. Though the establishment and running costs are modest by Murdoch standards, the importance of this venture cannot be underestimated. Old media is experiencing an audience decline which will reach critical when the older generations of newspaper readers fade away, for the younger generations exhibit less inclination to follow their forebearers reading habits.

Newspapers are concerned with declining readers and advertising, whilst television has to contend with greater competition from not only free-to-air multiple digital channels and Pay TV, but also the downloading of content, both legal and illegal.

On the assumption that consumers are awaiting the definitive application which combines all media forms into an online newspaper rich in imbedded sound and visual content, and in anticipation of a market developing where people will pay rather than leach news and information content, Rupert Murdoch is employing his newspaper and television resources to seize this perceived opportunity.

Introducing ‘The Daily’

WA TV History
The first daily news, entertainment and sport publication created by News Corporation for the iPad. A pioneering multimedia rich concept from a global vertically integrated company founded by Rupert Murdoch, with properties in film, television, cable, magazines, newspapers and publishing. Designed to generate an online demand for a subscription based publication that is anticipated to replace the traditional ink and paper versions, as new generations increasingly have less need for older forms of media. This also presents greater economies of scale as production and distribution costs are dramatically scaled back.

Rupert Murdoch – Launch of ‘The Daily’

WA TV History
The Daily launched on February 2, 2011 as an iPad based News publication with interactive capabilities. The Daily is offered exclusively in Apple’s iPad App Store and was available free for two weeks. It costs just 99 cents a week, or $39.99 a year.

iPad based ‘The Daily’ Demonstration

WA TV History
Watch The Daily’s official launch event from February 2, 2011, led by Editor-in-Chief Jesse Angelo and Publisher Greg Clayman. Also present was Eddy Cue, vice president of Internet Services from Apple.

Question and Answer session about ‘The Daily’

WA TV History
The Daily launched on February 2, 2011 as an iPad based News publication with interactive capabilities. The Daily is offered exclusively in Apple’s iPad App Store and was available free for two weeks. It costs just 99 cents a week, or $39.99 a year. The panel consists of Rupert Murdoch, Jesse Angelo, Greg Clayman and Eddy Cue.

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Ron Tutt (1924-2011) a well known and respected Perth film industry identity.

Daryl Binning with Ron Tutt in 2006

Ron was born in Tasmania where his father was a government photographer. He was to pursue a career as a pilot in England, prior to the second world war. During the war he flew sorties throughout Europe and North Africa employing photographic skills he had acquired for photo reconnaissance. After the war, he worked as a professional photographer in England, before heading to Hollywood in 1957, where he trained as a cinematographer.

Richard Rennie, Ron Tutt and Gerry Voutsinas at the Light and Sound Discovery Centre in 2006

He had hopes of entering this field in Australia when an attempt was made during the 1960’s to invigorate the local film industry. By the 1970’s, Ron was concentrating more on the projection field.

In 2008, Television and Cinema historian Richard Ashton produced a short video on Perth’s summertime outdoor movie venue, the Burswood Cinema. This popular outdoor attraction was designed and built under the directions of Ron Tutt.

Ron Tutt – Burswood Cinema

WA TV History The late Ron Tutt: a well known and respected Perth cinema identity.

Not only was Ron responsible for the Burswood, which each summer features prime movie releases, but he also organised and designed a number of the popular outdoor cinemas around Western Australia. This includes the Poon Saan Cinema for the Christmas Island Cinema Club.

Throughout his life Ron was a significant contributor to Western Australia’s screen industry and especially the Film and Television Institute (FTI), for which Ron was instrumental in the renovation of the FTI Cinema and the creation of the Bohemia Outdoor Cinema, which is the place to see short films and showcase events including Tropfest; Doco Club, films Made at FTI and nominations for the WA Screen Awards. There’s also the Bohemia Outdoor Film Festival.

Not only was Ron a long time supporter of FTI and made an Honorary Life Member in 2007, he was also an AMMPT member who participated in a number of valued projects.

FTI course graduate Jake McCallum made a 4 minute long micro-documentary featuring Ron as he reminisces on his years in the screen industry and the changing roles of projectionists.

Ron Tutt reminisces

In February of this year, a memorial service for Ron Tutt was held at the Astor in Mt Lawley for those who knew him and wished to pay their respects.

Ron was a pioneer of the Australian film industry and a great friend to many – he will be dearly missed.

On 26/04/2011, at 1:59 PM, ian stimson wrote:

Hi Ken,

After being demobbed from WW2 Ron Tutt aquired the Italian SAFAR 16 mm Projector Moulds/Castings and setup a works making these little projectors. He set about making a curved film gate, replacing the straight gate that SAFAR used,These projectors were totally self contained with an amplifier made by ECHO-BEAM Ltd UK. and were know as DANSON 540 projectors.These were made from about 1948 until the 1953s. Eddie Mills used to assemble the Audio Amplifiers.The year of manufacture was part of the serial number the one that I have is 5223 This I picked up at an auction in Bunbury for $2.00. You can find a picture of one on Michael Rogge’ website http://www.xs4all.nl/~wichm/cinemat.html  or do a google for DANSON

I believe that he brought out to Australia all the spare parts with him when the business closed up.  

As Richard would say thats Yer bloomin Lot!

Regards,

IAN

West Australian artist Greg Baker has entered a portrait titled ‘Peter Harries Presents’ as a candidate for the 2011 Archibald Prize, the nation’s best-known portraiture prize. Finalists for the prize will be named on April 8 and the winner on April 15.

The Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin who died in 1919. It is administered by the Trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and awarded for “the best portrait, preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in Art, Letters, Science or Politics”.

Official web site: http://thearchibaldprize.com.au/

Dr Peter Harries is not only a television historian and a man of letters, but was also a producer/presenter at STW Channel 9 Perth of daily wholesome Children’s Television Programs before venturing into owning nightclubs and restaurants. More about Peter can be found at: http://watvhistory.com/2010/09/peter-harries-reminisces/

Greg Baker Artist

In this video, West Australian artist Greg Baker talks candidly about what inspires his art and shares with us his beautiful home, gallery and studio which is located at Gooseberry Hill.

See the glamour of the red carpet, the drama of the awards ceremony, the joy of the winners and the buzz of the party!

WTV has put together a half-hour special capturing the highlights of the 2011 WASA’s. It was great night for the screen industry to celebrate the achievements of the past year by emerging and professional filmmakers. The program features interviews with nominees and recipients, industry identities and the Minister for Culture and the Arts, the Honourable John Day.

The special will be broadcast on WTV, Channel 44 on Wednesday April 6th at 8.30pm and repeated on Saturday April 9th at 5.00pm. Tell your friends of Facebook and if you Twitter, tweet!

The broadcast is proudly sponsored by ScreenWest and supported by Central Institute of Technology, Curtin University, Murdoch University, The WA Screen Academy and the University of Notre Dame.

As part of Museum Week, the Australian Museum of Motion Picture and Television (AMMPT) will conduct a public presentation with demonstrations of very early equipment. Featured will be a shadow puppet theatre, Magic Lantern show and a range of early carnival and sideshow moving image attractions, which captivated young children and parents during the mid 1800’s to early 1900’s, before the cinema. Baby boomers may remember a number of these coin operated machines still existing in the 1940’s and 1950’s.

Early History of the Moving Image

WA TV History
This video gives a glimpse of many of the exhibits that AMMPT will have on display.

Thaumatrope

The Thaumatrope was the first of many optical toys, popular in Victorian times, which provided animated entertainment until the development of modern cinema.

Phenakistoscope

The Phenakistoscope was an early animation device that used the persistence of vision principle to create an illusion of motion. It was the predecessor to the zoetrope.

Zoetrope

The modern zoetrope was invented in 1834 by British mathematician William George Horner. The earliest projected moving images were displayed by using a magic lantern Zoetrope

Praxinoscope

The Praxinoscope was an improvement on the Zoetrope that became popular toward the end of the 19th century. A magic lantern version was demonstrated in the 1880s.

Mutoscope

The Mutoscope was an early motion picture device that worked on the same principle as the “flip book.” It was patented in 1894 and provided viewing to only one person at a time. It quickly dominated the coin-in-the-slot “peep-show” business.

Kinetoscope

The Kinetoscope used a strip of 35mm film to also provide viewing to one person at a time. A popular attraction was a 35 mm filmstrip of the Butterfly Dance (circa 1894–95), featuring Annabelle Whitford Moore, in the format that would become standard for both still and motion picture photography around the world.

When: Sunday May 22nd at 2pm
Where: Old School Library Community Hall on the corner of Kitchener and Curtis Roads in Melville, Western Australia.

The importance attached to keeping our heritage differs greatly between individuals, organisations and governments. Fortunately there are many who devote their time and energy to collecting artefacts which may otherwise be lost.

The ABC Collectors program does a wonderful job of maintaining the profile of people engaged in keeping memorabilia, by doing so in a most entertaining and informing manner. Screening on ABC TV, The Collectors explores the many aspects of collecting; from how to get started, tracking down a bargain, spotting a fake, to what’s hot and what’s not. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/collectors/

The show deals with a vast range of interests from household objects of old, vintage toys, cars, paddle steamers, jewellery, books, early computers, Titanic artefacts, radios, television sets, gramophones and making us aware of the increasing range of small private museums.

Sadly, many of the large established museums are tight for funds. The Australian War Memorial, like other national institutions, faces pressure through the public service efficiency drive launched by the former Coalition government in Canberra.

In letters to the federal government last year, Council War Memorial chairman Peter Cosgrove repeatedly sought more funds, warning of inexorable decline which would leave it unable to commemorate the centenary of Anzac as the nation would expect.

Now the memorial is tipped to receive a big funding boost at the budget on 10 May, 2011.

Meanwhile in WA, Historian Geoffrey Bolton and former Australia Council chairwoman Margaret Seares have accused the state government of failing to invest its resource wealth in more funding for the state museum, art gallery and library network, and other cultural organisations. Budget cutbacks have forced the museum and art gallery to restrict hours, whilst The Western Australian Museum, West Australian Ballet and West Australian Symphony Orchestra have been seeking financial support to relocate to more suitable premises after waiting up to 10 years.

The WA Museum’s 1970’s asbestos-riddled Francis Street building was closed for safety reasons in 2003 and about three million objects in the museum’s collection moved to a warehouse in Welshpool.

Culture and the Arts Minister John Day now reports that the five-floor building will be demolished and the site landscaped in time for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in October, 2011, so that the Queen is not inconvenienced by an eyesore should she visit Perth and venture north of the railway tracks. This will be an interim measure before the development of a new museum facility.

Until now, the Northbridge museum has been in a slow decline during more than a decade of uncertainty over when and where a new complex would be built.

Sadly vast public funds are often expended on activities which deliver little or no tangible heritage results for the public benefit, such as the huge legal costs associated with a protest against the State Labor Government’s deal with Multiplex to redevelop The Old Swan Brewery site on Mounts Bay Road, which our indigenous brethren, the Nyungar and their supporters, consider a sacred site. Deemed to be one of the many locations the mythical Rainbow Serpent frequents whilst meandering through water across our landscape, a mythical creature the local tribes refer to as the Waugal. In the process the government faced major cost overruns and delays at every turn. Around the time the brewery case entered the courts in 1992, a number of lengthy debates against wholesale urban demolition were mounted in the Western Australian Parliament. The former Minister for Heritage saw the brewery as “an opportunity to protect something of our past, and we have little of it left… we have been very careless with our past and have let beautiful buildings be demolished.”

Today the Swan Brewery site has been expanded, whilst trying to maintain some semblance of its previous architectural style, to now contain luxury apartments, offices and a restaurant and bar complex with plenty of on-site parking. The public can access the bar and restaurant, while recreational users have a public walk and cycle track along the river’s edge. An Aboriginal cultural centre, art gallery and theatre did not eventuate.

In 2009, the Fremantle Arts Centre and History Museum was stripped of it’s museum component following the WA Government Budget reductions. The closure then allowed the Arts Centre to expand. Sadly, Richard Rennie’s Fremantle Light and Sound Discovery Centre was also a casualty of this decision. This centre provided a wonderful glimpse of early technology with rotating displays depicting the evolution of photography, motion pictures, sound recording and television whilst conducting many educational programs aimed largely at school children. http://lightandsound.net.au/

This was housed in a heritage listed building that was built by convicts between 1861 and 1868. It was used as a psychiatric hospital, initially called the Fremantle Lunatic Asylum, and later known as the Asylum for the Criminally Insane. A number of urban myths relate to ghost sighting in the old building.

Richard Rennie’s collection is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to such memorabilia, as private collectors in WA alone have kept a full range of gramophone players, radios and TV sets from the dawn of time… much stored at the Wireless Hill Telecommunications Museum in Ardross WA. Other local collectors have kept everything from hand crank movie cameras and projectors of the silent era to 35mm movie studio cameras. There’s even an authentic working recreation of the original Logie Baird TV set, plus a range of hand crank amusement park movie viewers. Richard Rennie has done some remarkable work in this area. The Australian Museum of Motion Picture and Television (AMMPT) has in storage at least 200 cinema projectors alone, not to mention items held by individual members such as electronic TV cameras, telecine chains and videotape machines. http://www.ammpt.asn.au/

Meanwhile television veteran Richard Ashton has done some incredible work researching the origins of Australian cinema equipment and takes a delight restoring it. Richard is also a valuable member of the WA TV History research team.

At an AMMPT event, veteran collector Ian Stimson gave a talk on the issue of what happens to private collections once the owner dies, which raised awareness of the plight of such artefacts should they be dispersed widely through sales and auctions. Many of the collectors are in their twilight years, so much may be lost to future generations?

This is probably a good opportunity to mention that Channel 7 in Perth has some wonderful archives. Thousands of negatives which date back to the origins of TV in WA, not to mention film and videotape archives too. Much of this material needs to be digitalised, particularly the video and film before deterioration sets in.

Seven in Perth is fortunate as the early family spirit still survives with the veterans, as demonstrated during their most successful 50th anniversary reunion week in 2009. The other stations are not as lucky as much seems to have gone missing. Seven did a remarkable effort of keeping its heritage. In contrast, key Nine Perth veterans lament the lack of depth to their retained archives. ABC in Perth also seems to have gaps in the record too, though they do have vast centralised archives, which in themselves provide a wonderful time capsule of Australian life.

Its fortunate that many veterans have recorded oral histories, and Dr Peter Harries researched the first 30 years of commercial TV in this state. Though its sad to report that many veterans are now fading away, meaning that the job of recording and documenting the stories is becoming increasingly hard as we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface.

Media Archives Project

One important initiative is the Media Archives Project (MAP), which is based at the Centre for Media History at the Faculty of Arts of Macquarie University in NSW. This is an attempt to collate all the known resources into a database to assist media researchers locate information and collections of heritage importance.

The project is seeking to locate media archives across Australia, and they are looking for help to achieve this. Not only are they seeking information on archives for all formats of media in corporate and institutional hands, but also those held by private individuals.

All major commercial television networks, as well as Foxtel, have been contacted and some visited. Many of the 270 commercial radio stations across the country have been contacted and sent questionnaires on their archives. Approaches have been made to regional newspaper groups, representative associations and community newspapers. A number of private archival collections have been located. Archival collections at risk of disposal have been identified and liaison with collecting institutions initiated by the project to secure their retention.

Meetings and discussions have occurred with the National Library of Australia and the Macquarie University Library on the best way to set up the MAP database. Recommendations that the database be compliant with the Open Archives Initiative protocol have been accepted.

All types of material are of interest – not just the broadcasts, ads and articles produced, but also everything behind them: correspondence, photographs, scripts, contracts, publicity and so on. The database they are compiling is listing these collections, where they are held and what possibilities there are for researchers to access them. They believe this will be an important resource to promote media history work. The database will go online in the coming months. There is more about the project on: http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au/cmh/map.php

The Media Archives Project is appealing to anyone who holds an archive, or knows of other media archives in private hands, or in lesser-known collections, to please get in touch. If you can help, please contact Dr Nathalie Apouchtine on 0422 553 813 or by email on map@mq.edu.au

We followed the demolition of the former ABW Channel 2 Television studios in Perth, Western Australia, which are making way for two new apartment buildings.

UPDATE: Demolition of ABW Channel 2 Studios in Perth WA

WA TV History
We followed the demolition of the former ABW Channel 2 Television studios in Perth, Western Australia, which are making way for two new apartment buildings.

By Monday, 24th January 2011 the television studios, offices, OB garage, props area, operational areas and West Wing were removed. Workers were also chipping away at the Radio building, with the last remnants of the canteen sun-deck and generator plant still remaining. The demolition crew explained that the rest of the radio building will be left and that restoration work has begun on the heritage listed radio building interior.

The Terrace Road TV links tower was removed on Tuesday, 25th January 2011. One crane held a cage for the oxy acetylene torch cutting team, whilst another held the top portion of the tower. Only the top section of the tower will survive to be relocated to the Swan Valley Oasis at 10250 West Swan Road in Henley Brook, Western Australia, where it will be used as a launching point for a flying fox. The other tower segments were crushed as scrap metal.

• January 7th, 2011 – Most of television buildings now rubble, though Radio and News/Current Affairs buildings still intact.
• January 19th, 2011 – Half of canteen sun-deck now demolished on adjoining Radio building.
• January 20th, 2011 – The News/Current Affairs building now wrapped in black fabric on one side to protect the hotel and apartment tennis courts next door.
• January 24th, 2011 – Workers remove the air-conditioning boiler room at the base of the Radio building.
• January 25th, 2011 – Links tower removed.

Xmas Greetings from WA TV History

WA TV History
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year… May next year bring you Good Health, Happiness and considerable Prosperity.

It has been another great year topped off with the West Australian newspaper providing us with some wonderful publicity in the form of a Shannon Harvey penned article that takes up most of Page 5 of the ‘Today’ section – of the Wednesday, December 15, 2010 copy.

This amounts to an incredible Christmas present as it caused our readership to leap dramatically as the below analytics will show…

Growth in readers has been growing since the launch of our web site in February 2009. It reached an all time high coinciding with TVW Channel 7’s 50th anniversary, marking the first half century of television in Western Australia.

Interest tapered off the next month, with readers probably thinking that was all… but they soon discovered that the WA TV History is far from told… and even now we’re just scratching the surface. The below chart shows how our readership has been in continuous increase since then.

The above newspaper story was also mirrored on the West’s web site at… http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/entertainment/a/-/television/8515071/caught-on-the-web-of-history

There are a few points that need clarifying regarding the story…

Lloyd Lawson was technically the first person seen live on Western Australian television, though this was prior to the opening night.

About one week before the station opened, Lloyd Lawson was to make a brief unscheduled announcement to conclude the trade transmissions and introduce a film taken only hours before, but there was a hitch which caused a 20 minute delay, leaving Lloyd to ad lib frantically whilst the floor manager made time stretching gestures. As a result, Lloyd became the first person to represent TVW in a live on camera situation, before the official opening on Friday, October 16th, 1959.

This is how Lloyd Lawson related the event to Peter Harries…

“Oh! After we’d been doing these trade transmissions and of course the reason they had the trade transmissions was that nobody had ever seen a bloomin’ television programme so how did they sell television sets? So we got permission to go on the air for a certain number of days – hours, I can’t remember now, only a few hours, late afternoon and early evening. So we went around, we went to the Education Department, and we went to B.P., and Shell and whatever and anybody that had travelogues and we borrowed them, their 16mm stuff. So we were showing film after film after film, where-ever we could lay our hands to it, then all of a sudden Jim Cruthers, has; (we had to close down a week before, we had to do final adjustments at the transmitter) Jim Cruthers suddenly said, ‘I’m going to send a camera around and take pictures of people sitting in front of Boans and all these shops that were showing television programmes, take pictures of everyone sitting there with their arm-chairs and their Thermos-flasks and their rugs, and if there’s any house that looks like it’s got, or they could find out that people had televisions already installed, knock on the door, poke the camera inside, take pictures and race it back to the studio, because this was all on 16mm, process it and put it to air and bring up a ‘live’ camera for the very first time in Western Australia. So because I’d had radio experience and the other thing was, going down our staff, Jim came from newspapers, Treasure from newspapers, Frank Moss was an accountant, um, David Watson and Graham were the only ones who’d had any television experience. Film manager Bob Pennell came from Queensland. Darcy Farrell was news, so I was about the only bloke that had any radio experience so Cruthers said, ‘We’re going to put you up on camera, just for a few minutes,’ he could see I was panic-stricken, he said, ‘just for a few minutes,’ he said, ‘to say “Right! We’ve come to the end of trade transmissions, we’re going to open up in a week’s time, just to show you what’s going on in Perth, here’s a film which we shot a few hours ago and we’ll see you in a week’s time and goodnight!’ Well, I got to the bit where we were going to show the film and for the first time in Western Australia somebody got the ‘stretch’ sign and this bloody ‘stretch’ sign went on for twenty minutes. Well, I was in flap! What are we going to talk about? So we talked about the studio, we shot, the camera looked up and showed the ‘grid’ and all the rest of it. We opened the studio door and showed them the corridors down there and all the rest of it. Coralie, about half way through happened to stick her head in the studio door and I dragged her in and we talked about what was going to happen on opening night and after about twenty minutes came the ‘wind-up’ so with great relief we wound up, or I wound up and we showed the film and so we closed down. So I became the first bloke with his face on television.”

Coralie Condon therefore became the first woman seen live on television in WA.

Andrew Bayley of TelevisionAU is an excellent reference for all matters pertaining to Australian television history. Here he provides an anecdote about the official opening of television in Australia in 1956.

http://blog.televisionau.com/2008_09_01_archive.html

“Good evening, and welcome to television…”

TCN9 Sydney essentially re-wrote history when it realised that the only footage kept of its opening night had disappeared. The introduction that we see these days, featuring Gyngell standing in front of a world map (as pictured), was recorded a year after the actual event.

TCN-9 Sydney and GTV-9 Melbourne Station Openings

WA TV History

TCN Channel 9 Sydney opened – September 16th, 1956

Bruce Gyngell is often credited as being the first person to ever appear on Australian television on 16 September 1956 when he spoke the words, “Good evening, and welcome to television”.

However, prior to the official opening announcement, there were various test transmissions showing a variety of content in which a number of people appeared before Gyngell.

GTV Channel 9 Melbourne opened – January 19th, 1957

The opening two-hour variety show featured Bob and Dolly Dyer, Toni Lamond, Frank Sheldon, Ron Blaskett, Terry Dear and Lou Toppano’s orchestra.

The Seven Network started as separate companies, with origins dating back to 4th November 1956, when HSV Channel 7 Melbourne began broadcasting. It was licensed to The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd and was joined on 2nd December by the Fairfax subsidiary ATN Channel 7 Sydney, established on the VHF7 frequency band.

TVW-7 Perth began broadcasting on 16 October 1959, as the city’s first commercial station. It was licensed to TVW Limited, a subsidiary of West Australian Newspapers. This was followed by ADS-7 in Adelaide, which was launched on 24 Oct 1959, but was later to swap frequencies with the TVW owned SAS-10, to become SAS-7 in December 1987. BTQ-7 Brisbane followed on 1 November, 1959, to be that cities second commercial television station.

Though the first television station on-air in Australia was TCN-9 in Sydney (Television Corporation), on the 16th September 1956, it originally formed an affiliation with HSV-7 in Melbourne. ATN-7 in Sydney was then paired with GTV-9 in Melbourne (General Television Corporation), till 1960, when TCN-9’s owner, Frank Packer, bought a controlling share of Melbourne’s GTV-9, to create the country’s first television network, the National Television Network (now the Nine Network) to later share programs with QTQ-9 Brisbane and NWS-9 Adelaide. ATN-7 Sydney then joined with HSV-7 Melbourne to form the Australian Television Network in 1963, to later share programs with BTQ-7 Brisbane and ADS-7 Adelaide. TVW-7, being the sole commercial TV station in Perth (until STW-9 opened in 1965) remained independent of network affiliation, taking the best programs from both commercial networks.

ABC television commenced on 5th November, 1956, with ABN-2 in Sydney, followed two weeks later by ABV-2 in Melbourne. Six stations, three in Melbourne (HSV-7, ABV-2 and GTV-9) and three in Sydney (TCN-9, ABN-2 and ATN-7), were in operation in time to cover the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne from 22nd November to 8th December. Though GTV-9 in Melbourne was officially opened on 19th January 1957, it began test transmissions on 27 September 1956.

The below Foxtel commercial enactment of 1956 depicts Bruce Gyngell in the following shop window scene…

52 years of TV in Australia 1956 to 2008

WA TV History
This Foxtel commercial provides a brief reenactment of the start of Australian television in 1956, showing the transition in technology from black and white valve receivers to flat screen, digital high definition, integrated circuit equipment, and from primitive home VHS and Beta video to hard drive digital recorders. It also depicts the changes in fashions from the 1950’s to 2008.