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ABW2 50 Years Reunion

Posted by ken On March - 31 - 2010

ABC TV PERTH CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF TELEVISION


On Friday 7 May, 2010 ABC Television in Perth will celebrate its 50 year anniversary. To mark this monumental occasion, ABC Perth is bringing together past and present staff for an ‘afternoon tea’ reunion at the ABC studios, 30 Fielder Street, East Perth on Sunday 16th May from 2.00 – 5.00pm.



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More information at…

ABC TV Perth Celebrates 50 Years of Television

and

ABW Channel 2 – 50th Anniversary



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AMMPT Media Release – TV’s eleventh hour

Posted by ken On March - 31 - 2010

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What: The pioneers of Australian television are in danger of being swept into obscurity. A national effort has begun to ensure these people and their technology won’t suffer the same fate as many of those individuals and companies who began our cinema industry over a hundred years ago.


Where: Meetings of concerned people from the cinema and television industries will be held in Sydney and Melbourne as part of a national unified effort to make certain our industry pioneers are not forgotten.


When: Industry personnel, private collectors and historians, and anyone interested in preserving the heritage of Australia’s moving image industries are invited to attend meetings early in May.


Storyline: With over 50 years of Australian public television broadcasting behind us, we seem to forget it was almost the same time span before the 1950’s when our own cinema industry was born. It was a time when the Salvation Army’s Limelight Department and other enterprising producers and exhibitors blazed a trail which in many cases, was emulated by others around the world. Five decades later, at a time when the new electronic media was emerging, there was little interest in preserving for the enjoyment and education of future generations, the stories, the equipment or memorabilia from those pioneering cinema days. Indifference to our industry’s heritage resulted in many significant items being lost forever.


Today after another 50 years, we are now approaching the eleventh hour in respect to saving what is left of the very early days of our television industry. What may appear to be commonplace today often leads to complacency. Fortunately the recently reconstituted National Film & Sound Archive has been pro-active in recent years in addressing this matter. Also private collectors and concerned individuals have saved many irreplaceable items from going to the tip. Budgets and other constraints limit what they can achieve. Support and collaboration of a unified community based national entity is needed to harness the passion of concerned individuals to ensure we don’t repeat the mistakes we made fifty years ago.


Sydney contact: Keith Kanaar 02 9524 9691. Melbourne contact: Malcolm Richards 03 9699 3922
Media release written by AMMPT President Daryl Binning 08 9310 3377, email ammpt@iinet.net.au


Originally established in 2004 by a group in the Perth branch of the Society of Australian Cinema Pioneers, membership of the Australian Museum of Motion Picture Technology (Inc.) – (AMMPT) has grown to the point where it is now represented in all States. An autonomous regional branch in Sydney has recently been incorporated with another planned for Melbourne in a few months time. AMMPT is registered nationally with ASIC and has been granted Charitable body status by the ATO. The word “Television” is now being considered for inclusion in the name. Details of its operations are listed on the web site www.ammpt.asn.au in which current activities are described in the December newsletter.

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Other features on the site, such as Cinemaweb, is an example of projects it is proposed to initiate in each region for both the cinema and television industries once local membership numbers and industry support has been consolidated. Also included is a report on last year’s public exhibition of local television heritage which attracted over 6500 people. This followed a similar successful display held in the Perth Town Hall in 2006. Other major projects are in preparation. These are aimed at creating a wider community appreciation of the achievements of Australia’s cinema and television industries. Also obvious on the web site is the moral and financial backing being received from many established and respected entities.

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AMMPT 2006 Perth Town Hall Exhibit


Under the ACS presidency of Brisbane based Ron Johanson, AMMPT now has the national support of the Australian Cinematographers Society with recently appointed ACS historian Ron Windon also becoming a member. Ron brings with him a wealth of knowledge of the early days of the cinema production industry. Others including John Bowring – proprietor of Lemac, Butch Calderwood – editor of Australian Cinematographer, Malcolm Richards – proprietor of Cameraquip, and Lindsay Cox – the Salvation Army custodian of artefacts of the Limelight department and the Biorama company, Australia’s pioneering film producers and travelling picture showmen, are also convinced of the urgency of unified action. These are examples of industry leaders who recognise the need to preserve and exhibit our film and television heritage and make it accessible to all Australian communities.

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Support has also been forthcoming from many sectors of the industry such as metropolitan and regional television stations, ScreenWest, local and national cinema chains, Lotterywest, local government, commercial entities and private individuals. The importance of, and the contribution made to our objectives by government entities, such as our Canberra based corporate member, the NFSA, with whom we enjoy increasing collaboration as well as with their State based counterparts, has also been appreciated.

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AMMPT 2009 Fremantle Exhibition


Many in AMMPT are also members of the Australian Cinematographers’ Society and the Society of Australian Cinema Pioneers who have contributed a wealth of information of the very early days of our industry but a growing number of new members are now coming from the television industry. Fortunately the value of the knowledge of those involved in the birth of the Australian TV industry is belatedly being realised. Because Australia’s moving image industries originated on the east coast, concentrated effort must be made to ensure its history is properly recorded and artefacts retained and preserved for future display. This can only be achieved with local effort.

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AMMPT 2009 Fremantle Exhibition

Interstate government entities have already expressed interest in proposed activities in their region. We anticipate their tangible support once local committees are operational. In conjunction with the proposed May meetings in both Sydney and Melbourne, we will be visiting members with their private museums and some country local government entities who have indicated they would like to establish a moving image museum relating to past activities in their area. AMMPT intends to eventually be able to attract funding to assist with their projects. Our philosophy is to take the heritage of our industry out to the people – rather than have them try to track it down in some far away gallery or warehouse.

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AMMPT 2009 Fremantle Exhibition

Over the past few years we have contacted several industry leaders seeking their interest and support. With the urgency of unified national action now very apparent, it is hoped the proposed meetings will garner wide spread support to preserve our industries’ heritage. What has been achieved in Perth with limited population, facilities and industry heritage could be replicated tenfold in the east coast regions, if only there was a combined will to do so. This is possibly our last chance to make it happen.


For more information please contact the writer, Daryl Binning on 08 9310 3377 or by email ammpt@iinet.net.au

Daryl will be in Melbourne around the weekend of May 1st-2nd and in Sydney the following weekend.

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ABC TV Perth Celebrates 50 Years of Television

Posted by ken On March - 29 - 2010

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ABC TV PERTH CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF TELEVISION


On Friday 7 May, 2010 ABC Television in Perth will celebrate its 50 year anniversary. To mark this monumental occasion, ABC Perth is bringing together past and present staff for an ‘afternoon tea’ reunion at the ABC studios, 30 Fielder Street, East Perth on Sunday 16th May from 2.00 – 5.00pm.


The concept of an afternoon tea reunion pays homage to the ABC tea ladies and their role in the daily dynamic of a broadcasting operation. Traditionally, tea ladies at the ABC had the reputation of knowing everyone in the building, the names of their children and often their secrets. The last ABC ‘tea lady’ finished duties in the early eighties.


On ABW Channel 2 opening night, back on Saturday 7 May, 1960, fifteen minutes of speeches from dignitaries were broadcast prior to the official opening. The WA Director of Posts and Telegraphs H.B. Halvorsen introduced the ABC Chairman Sir Richard Boyer, who then handed over to the Postmaster‐General C. W. Davidson to officially open the station at 7pm.


The first ABC TV news bulletin was then broadcast, read by James Fisher. This was followed by Tales of Wells Fargo, and The Phil Silvers Show. At 8.30pm the BBC series Portraits of Power was screened, then the British courtroom drama Boyd QC. Next at 9.30pm was a twenty minute studio show followed by a sporting session. The first night concluded with a prize winning documentary titled Up with Guba which was the story of New Guinea’s development, and the station closed at 10.35pm.


In the early days many programs were produced daily from the Adelaide Terrace studios; news, sport, variety and quiz shows, all supported by an industry of television professionals. There were also metal working and carpentry shops for set building and a cafeteria which all formed part of the large infrastructure which underpinned state based production.


Up to 700 people worked at the ABC during the sixties and seventies, including staff at the West Australian Symphony Orchestra ‐ part of the ABC until 1996.


Over the last 50 years there has been enormous technological change in television as telecasts moved from black and white to colour and from analogue to digital.


The ABC in Perth has adapted well to change. In March 2005 staff began to move to the new shared facilities in East Perth bringing radio and television closer together. The new building in Fielder Street is modern, compact and flexible with an open plan, one of the highlights being the new 600 square metre production studio that rivals any studio facility in the country.


Geoff Duncan, ABC WA State Director said “It’s a tribute to the commitment of former and current ABC staff that the quality of ABC content has remained so high throughout the decades of technological and programming challenges and it’s wonderful that such an achievement will be celebrated at the anniversary reunion.”


Any former or current staff wishing to purchase tickets at a cost of $25.00 including commemorative DVD and afternoon tea should email: 50yearreunionwa@abc.net.au or telephone Bobbie on (08) 9220 2617 or Annie on (08) 9220 2669.



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Former ABW Channel 2 Studio Site



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The use of mobile broadband is growing quickly, driven by consumers powered with smartphones and connected laptops.

According to market researcher Telsyte, Australia’s consumer mobile broadband spending will double from $160 million in 2008 to $320 million in 2012.

It’s very competative with the telecommunications companies busy selling internet-enabled USB keys to connect subscribers to the web via their mobile phone networks.


The Seven Network is now rolling out a wireless broadband network across Australia, using WiMax technology, to also position itself as a key internet player.


Vivid Wireless is the company set up by Seven to handle the network, which is built and operated by sibling company Unwired, acquired by Seven in November 2007 for $135.6 million.

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Vivid will use Unwired’s spectrum licence in the 2.3GHz band, with the company saying average speeds will hit 4Mbps and peak above 20Mbps.


Vivid Wireless will be managed by Martin Mercer, former Telstra consumer business executive marketing director while Seven director Ryan Stokes is the company’s chairman. He is also the son of Seven executive chairman Kerry Stokes. The wireless broadband service will be rolled out to consumers in Perth in March 2010, before moving beyond Perth under the Vivid brand name. Approximately $50 million has been invested in the rollout.

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There will be two competing wireless technologies laying claim to the term 4G. A label which is a bit premature, because what constitutes “4G” has not yet been standardised.


In September 2009, two 4G proposals were submitted to the International Telecommunications Union, Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) as candidates.

  • LTE Advanced standardised by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)
  • WiMAX 802.16m standardised by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)


4G is often thought of as the fourth generation of cellular wireless standards. Mobile telephones spring to mind when using the term “cellular wireless”, though WiMAX, the big brother to the WiFi office and home wireless network, is also staking a claim.

Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) will conduct a trial of Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology in Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore in collaboration with Optus, Globe Telecom and Telkomsel, which is expected to commence in the first half of 2010. Their aim is to facilitate growth in the mobile broadband business for the SingTel Group. LTE does have a lot of momentum with the two biggest carriers in the U.S. rolling with it. Verizon has a commercial rollout of LTE in 2010, while AT&T has commercial trials scheduled for 2011.

It’s expected that all mobile phone carriers will go for the LTE technology, with the option of a personal computer being tethered to the mobile phone to gain wireless broadband access. Whereas the current Vivid Wireless WiMAX option is presently restricted to computer users, though the HTC MAX 4G Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone is the first phone to incorporate GSM & WiMAX technology.

The two variants of 4G may grow closer in performance with time, especially as newer iterations on the standards emerge.


The true battle may not be between the competing 4G networks, but between wireless and wired broadband. Much the same way there has been a movement from landline telephone to mobile.





Passing of David Gladwell

Posted by ken On March - 15 - 2010

Unfortunately another of our STW mates, former journalist – DAVID GLADWELL – has taken his Final journey.”

The funeral was on Tuesday, 16 March 2010 at 11.30am – Karrakatta’s Norfolk Chappel

Please pass on this news to your other STW mates.

Regards June Holmes

15.3.2010


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David Miles Gladwell
1938-2010

Former News Editor Terry Spence reports that David was a terrific sub-editor producing the evening news bulletins for STW Channel 9.

David started as an ‘on-the-road’ journalist, later became Producer of Channel 9’s nightly news bulletins and finally Deputy News Director before moving to the Government Media Office.

On learning of the sad news, Dr Peter Harries said that, “He thought David was a most innovative journalist and a really good bloke.”

Peter documented in his PhD thesis that David Gladwell produced two documentaries on location, China – The Open Door and The New Invasion. During his interview with Peter, David said that, “He recalled the ‘…shoe-string type operation…’ that was an attempt to produce relevant current affairs shows and gave credit to Laurie Kiernan for his personal interest in production of those programs and said, ‘Laurie really encouraged documentaries as well… The biggest one I did was ‘Prospects for Peace in the Middle East’… I came back and went to China in ‘73.”


An eulogy to David Gladwell by Terry Spence


David Gladwell arrived in Perth from England as a young journalist in 1967. In the same year he gained a position in the Channel 9 newsroom.

Before David arrived in 1967 he’d actually headed off to Australia a couple of years earlier. Not on his own, though. His brother Alan was with him . . . both of them travelling astride a powerful 650cc Triumph Thunderbird motorbike. With a sidecar attached.

Across Europe . . . Eastern Europe . . . the Middle East . . . the Far East. Some of the places they traversed you wouldn’t go near today. For that matter, they were somewhat risky back in the 1960s , . . but for other reasons.

They arrived in India . . . minus the sidecar. Alan seems to remember it fell off somewhere in Iran.

David loved India. So he stayed there. Hopped off the motorbike while Alan continued onwards to Australia. David stayed . . . probably because of India’s oriental allure . . . possibly because after travelling endless miles over desert roads seated on a motorbike he’d just got saddle sore.

So there he was in India. He got a job. A job with the British embassy in New Delhi and stayed for a year, returned to England and a year or so after was in Perth.

At Channel Nine David rapidly established himself as a journalist of quality. At first on the road each day as a reporter . . . later as a senior staff member overseeing the nightly news bulletins. What always stood out was his attention to detail. He was painstaking in his efforts to get a story right. Not just his story but those of others.

There’s a role in a television newsroom . . . the role of producer . . . that is very much akin to that of the sub editor in a newspaper’s newsroom. Journalists write their stories and submit them to the producer or sub-editor for checking. Checking for accuracy . . . grammar . . . style . . . always keeping a wary eye out for that which might be unbalanced, or worse, might libel somebody.

David as a Producer was excellent. He was something to watch when he came across a story that was particularly “messy”. Scratching away with his pencil at a script . . . “rearranging the furniture” it was called. It was to see someone who worked meticulously to make sure that in the end it would be right. He had a fine mind. He was very well read, highly intelligent with unfailing good manners . . . and these qualities were balanced with a good sense of humour. He particularly liked the idea of newsroom pranks . . . and there were plenty of them. He was always a contributor with ideas for: “What would the annual April Fool’s Day Joke be?” Remember them. A ‘trick” television news story . . . put to air on April the first each year . . . designed to fool the audience into believing it was actually true.

But when it was time for to get really serious, David was a man we could send for. Documentary making, for instance. We sent him to the Middle East to produce a documentary on that place which is forever troubled and in the news.

And we sent him to China in what for Channel Nine was something of a coup. Mao Tse Tung’s Cultural Revolution was in its dying stages . . . there was a slight crack opening in the bamboo curtain. David, with the help of a China expert at W.A. University, and through extensive negotiations, managed to squeeze through that crack and gain approval to enter China.

With cameraman Fred Miles he set off to have a look . . . the first commercial television station in Australia to be granted entry to that closed, secretive community. They brought back for their documentary . . . THE OPEN DOOR . . . pictures not seen before . . . great scenes of the millions clad in blue boiler suits, carrying Mao’s Little Red Book and all riding bicycles. Intriguing stuff.

And the Chinese found them intriguing. Fred Miles at first couldn’t figure out why they would gather around, smiling and pointing at them. Was it their camera and sound gear? Perhaps it was their extreme height. They were both very tall men. And then it dawned on Fred. What intrigued them most was David’s very red hair. Obviously a rare thing in Mao’s China where millions at that time rarely got a really good look at Europeans.

After television there was government service. David joined the Government Media Office . . . at one time serving as press secretary to a cabinet minister and deputy premier and later as head of Public Affairs at SECWA – then the state’s electricity utility.

Retirement followed but it wasn’t the end of work altogether. During this time his editing skills were also usefully employed, part-time, in various publications and in books others were writing.

David Gladwell passed away on March 9 2010.


A Chat With Max

Posted by ken On March - 11 - 2010

Bel Canto Promotions presents…
Sunday Serenades Concert No. 2



A Chat With Max


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Enjoy an afternoon with Perth celebrity

Max Kay as he chats about his life and career.

From his life on the stage, the highlights of the Civic Theatre days or to what he fills

his days with now, this is one fun filled afternoon

Not To Be Missed!


Sun 28th March at 2:30pm

Old Mill Theatre

(Cnr Mends St & Mill Point rd, South Perth)


Tickets $15 includes afternoon tea.


BOOK NOW!!


on 0408-855-458 or belcanto@westnet.com.au Door Sales, if available



Max Kay started his career as lead vocalist in a rock and roll band. He then went on to become Andy Stewart’s personal manager and collaborated with him to write music and lyrics and produce shows, which toured all over the world.

Max arrived in Perth from Scotland in 1967, and soon became one of Western Australia’s most sought after performers, supporting and performing with many top names in the entertainment industry, including Rolf Harris, Warren Mitchell, The Platters, Kamahl and many more too numerous to mention. Max was also a regular television performer and popular talent quest judge.

In 1976, Max opened the Civic Theatre Restaurant where he wrote, produced and performed in his own shows. The “Five past Nine” shows as they were called, incorporated a unique blend of singing, dancing and sketch comedy (which gave birth to some favourite characters, including the World War II Japanese Officer “Colonel Itchy Knackers” “Rhamet Upya” the Pakistani Immigrant, “Luigi Savadamoni”, and many others).

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Civic Theatre Restaurant


The Civic Theatre was a successful Perth icon, for 25 years, playing to over 1.5 million people, and employing up to 100 people during the busy seasons including stage performers, stage technicians, administration and sales staff and food and beverage staff.

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In January 2001 Max closed the Civic in order to pursue other goals including touring his successful “Five Past Nine” shows around Australia and running for council.

In 2001, Max’s contribution to the entertainment industry in Western Australia was recognised when he received the Citizen of the Year Award in the Arts, Culture and Entertainment category.

In 2003 earned his highest accolade when he received the Order of Australia. In this same year he was also one of the 1,300 West Australian’s to receive the Prime Minister’s Centenary Medal.

As an accomplished character comedian, scriptwriter, singer, songwriter and musician and entrepreneur Max Kay is truly one of Australia’s most professional and versatile performers.






How and why there is piracy of popular content.

Posted by ken On February - 7 - 2010

Historical Aspect

Our cinemas and television stations are experiencing challenges never encountered fifty years ago. There was a considerable lag between a movie being seen in the US and in a Perth cinema during the 1950s. The movies shown in the suburban cinemas could be years behind the US first release date. The same was often the case with our television viewing, with Perth being a late starter in the TV field, compared to the US and the UK. Quadraplex 2 inch videotape was not invented by AMPEX until 1956 and film projectors were not common in homes, except for 8mm home movies or the rent of 16mm films. Nor was there any practical way for the widespread copying of programs until the popular VHS and Beta formats of half inch helicon scan home video recorders became available in the mid 1970s.

It would take almost 30 years before technology and the internet challenged the sovereignty of movie and television studios.


File Sharing

No longer do the analogue film and videotape mediums rein supreme as a way to distributing movies and TV programs. This content can now he stored digitally, edited with computers and sent to various destinations over the internet.

Once a show is treated as a simple computer file and duplicated with ease, with no loss of quality, the control of distribution became more difficult. BitTorrent is the most popular software package in general use for copying files over the internet.

The first usable version of BitTorrent appeared in October 2002, being created by a young programmer named Bram Cohen, who had worked for a number of doomed dot-com startups.

Earlier forms of file-sharing, such as the first generation Napster and second generation Kazaa, were waning in popularity under legal pressure from the music industry.

Cohen was not interested in fostering the widespread practice of copyright infringement, but rather finding a system to overcome the internet bandwidth limits. He came up with a system that made it easy to distribute very large files to large numbers of people, while placing minimal bandwidth requirements on the original source.

BitTorrent cuts up files into many little pieces, and as soon as a user has a piece, they immediately start uploading that piece to other users. So almost all of the people who are sharing a given file are simultaneously uploading and downloading pieces of the same file until their downloading is complete. Therefore everyone is sharing with one another, rather than downloading from a central source.

The BitTorrent protocol offloads some of the file tracking work to a central server (called a tracker). Users firstly download a .torrent file which corresponds to the file they seek. They find this by a Google search or by going to a site dedicated to shareable software, music, videos or ebooks. The .torrent file points to the actual file people want.

BitTorrent really started to take off in early 2003 when it was used to distribute a new version of the open source Linux operating system, then soon after was adopted for all manner of file sharing, including that of copyright material.

BitTorrent’s surging popularity prompted the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to start sending infringement notices to BitTorrent site operators in November 2004. Its also hard for the file sharing participants to hide as they were not anonymous, their numeric Internet addresses are easily viewable by anyone who cares. The MPAA also started up a ‘You Can Click But You Can’t Hide’ publicity campaign to scare and intimidate.

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As BitTorrent increased its popularity through 2004 and 2005, site operators started receiving mail penned by MPAA-retained lawyers. The administrator of one such site, LokiTorrent, closed the site and turned over its logs, amidst controversy, as part of a settlement ending a 2005 copyright infringement lawsuit filed by MPAA studios against them. Many BitTorrent trackers were hosted in the United States, but most have been pressured to leave, largely due to MPAA pressure. When EliteTorrents leaked a workprint copy of Star Wars: Episode 3 – it attracted the interest of the FBI, who shut down the site and arrested the admins and up-loaders. Key people received jail time, home confinement and fines. The leak did little to hurt the movie as it went on to gross nearly $US110 million in its first weekend and has nearly reached a worldwide total of $US1 billion.

The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) representing the interests of Village Roadshow, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Disney Enterprises, Inc, the Seven Network and others is disappointed that their latest attempt to shut down piracy in this country was shot down in the Federal Court. They wanted Australia’s third largest ISP iiNet held responsible for its customers downloading content illegally. However Federal Court judge Justice Dennis Cowdroy found iiNet was not responsible for the infringements of its users.The organisation has 21 days to appeal the judgement. However, they may lobby the government instead to have laws changed to get the outcome they desire.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) could come to their aid as it is planning to filter illegal and highly offensive material from the internet and many torrent sites may end up being blocked.

Meanwhile the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, expressed hopes that both the ISPs and the film industry can work together to find a solution to the problem of wide spread internet piracy.


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Senator Stephen Conroy

Senator Conroy was interviewed on ABC-TV’s Hungry Beast – http://hungrybeast.abc.net.au/stories/isp-1-movie-industry-0

Hungry Beast is broadcast Wednesday nights on ABC1 at 9pm and Thursday nights on ABC2 at 8.30pm.



Defining the problem and finding a solution

It seems that BitTorrent is popular among Australians, with torrentfreak.com reporting that it is more popular here than in every other country in the world. This method of file copying can be used for the legitimate transfer of open source software, which exists in vast quantities. The fact that BitTorrent is used for illegal purposes is an issue with the perpetrators, rather than the software that makes it happen. One may have a gun licence but how that gun is used is a different matter. Most people own a car, yet many lives are lost each year on the roads. Most of us can do without a gun, should they be banned, but can we do without cars?

There has to be a need, that is otherwise not satisfied, to motivate ordinary people en masse to download movies and television programs over the internet. Much of this is taking place legally, but there is also an underground element to it.

There also needs to be the easy availability of movies and shows for illicit activity to be so popular. The need is often the early viewing of a movie not yet released in Australia, in the theatres or on DVD, or the early viewing of a TV show that has not been broadcast here yet.

There will also be cases where people will do it because they can, regardless of its current availability in this country or concerns for copyright and the law.

Added to that, the viewing quality of downloaded movies in the home can exceed the experience at a cinema. Particularly when compared with poor quality 35mm film prints, especially when cinemas employ young poorly trained staff who project soft focus images or the projector lamp is not at optimum brightness.

Many movies are legitimately bought or hired online, whilst others may be pirated. Not all pirated movies come from quality sources, as movie studios and cinemas clamp down on illicit staff activities. Other material recorded under adverse conditions is a great deterrent for downloaders because of the very poor quality.


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So what factors encourage people to download pirated movies?

Firstly, one does not have to leave their home. Secondly, it is essentially free, though they have to pay for their internet connection. Thirdly, drinks and food consumption is much cheaper at home. Then people want to see the latest movie release at the earliest opportunity.

With television shows, its more a case of people wanting to see it now rather than when the television station makes it available. There is also a vastly greater number of shows being made than the TV stations can possibly transmit in a given week. The tastes of station programmers can not always coincide with what each viewer likes… its always a compromise, often going for the lowest common denominator. Its impossible for any station to cater for the eclectic tastes of an entire population. People even get annoyed by the repeats of the Pay TV stations and lack of consistent fresh material, even though they have come up with innovative technology and many channels to cater for all tastes. Its hard to please all the people all the time. But pleasing most of the people most of the time no longer satisfies all… and the number seems to be growing as the younger generations reject the norms of yesteryear.

Piracy can be inhibited if there is no advantage sharing the material in the first place. But is this practical?

People want to see content when it suits them and they want to be entertained by programs that meet their present mood and need.

It would be an unpalatable option for cinemas and television stations if the release of all content took place at the same time world wide. Much the same as a live sporting event, such as the Olympics. That applies to news breaking events and matters very pertinent to the moment. But comedy, drama, soap operas and the like are not considered matters of great urgency.

Yet the moment a TV show is broadcast in the US or UK someone records it and makes it available for download through BitTorrent.

Firstly, the various world wide time zones presents a problem from a TV station perspective. Perth is eight hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). A program first shown in London at 8pm will coincide with midday Perth time. A program first shown during a New York evening will coincide with daytime of the previous day (according to time zone date) in Perth. Delaying the broadcast for a peak-time first release of a top rating show, to appear here on the same day and the same time as overseas, would not preempt the downloaders, as it can be available on BitTorrent hours before, depending on the motivation of the illegal uploaders.

On the other hand, a broadcast time may not be convenient for many reasons. People may be in bed, on holidays, visiting or entertaining friends, playing sports or engaged in hobbies or working. So immediacy may be less important to one person than another and convenience be the overriding factor.

Downloading of content can resolve all these issues… its just a case of people doing so without contravening copyright and according to the user pays principle. If the user is not willing to pay, then the advertiser supported model is an option, once again being content on demand. People who are disinterested, inept, incapacitated or too lazy still have the option of viewing a program stream that has been selected for them. Whether that be free-to-air or PayTV.

Presented here are a number of likelihoods. Current trends indicate there is a high possibility everything will change as new events evolve. Changes are constantly taking place between the attitudes and viewing aspirations of different generations, governed largely by the technology available, an understanding of that technology and the opportunities they present.

So as time progresses, more of the population may prefer to buy or hire their content on the grounds of convenience. A common world wide release date and time could work in this case, being more convenient than obtaining the material illegally, and a disincentive for people doing so. But this would only suit material of an international appeal and have to be sold within a world wide free market framework. Australian produced drama, comedy, variety etc. should not be impacted to the same degree, as long as the shows don’t fall into the hands of unscrupulous people who pirate them before broadcast. Meanwhile other local content such as national and state news and sport would remain ideal for free-to-air broadcasters.



Further references…

Ashwin Navin discussing the history of BitTorrent


Bram Cohen Cultural Industries in the Age of Digital Reproduction


ISP-level content filtering won’t work





Is there an unrealistic trend today where people expect things free through the internet? Or is there something fundamentally flawed with our information and entertainment business model, in this rapidly changing world?

The newspapers wish to introduce a fee for reading their publications on line at a time when internet users have an expectation that content should be free.

To some degree the same goes for movie and TV show downloads.

News Corporation chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch has announced the company will charge readers to access online content within a year, emphasising that, “Quality journalism is not cheap, and an industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalising its ability to produce good reporting.”

Others argue that the quality of journalism leaves much to be desired.

ABC television’s Media Watch is arguably Australia’s main broadcast forum for media analysis and comment. The program claims an impressive record of exposing media misrepresentation, manipulation, plagiarism, abuse of power, technical lies and straight out fraud. Turning the spotlight on, “…those who literally ‘make the news': the reporters, editors, sub-editors, producers, camera operators, sound recordists and photographers who claim to deliver the world to our doorsteps, radios, computers and living rooms. We also keep an eye on those who try to manipulate the media: the PR consultants, spin-doctors, lobbyists and “news makers” who set the agenda.”

http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/more.htm

Meanwhile, the Studios have just lost a major movie piracy battle with internet service provider iiNet. They want iiNet held responsible for its customers downloading content illegally. However Federal Court judge Justice Dennis Cowdroy found iiNet was not responsible for the infringements of its users, claiming that the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) had mislead the court in regards to the number of infringing users, and, while iiNet users did infringe, this was not the responsibility of iiNet to deal with.

The finding stated that, “iiNet is not responsible if an iiNet user uses that system to bring about copyright infringement … the law recognises no positive obligation on any person to protect the copyright of another”.

iiNet was also found to have in place an anti piracy policy and while that was not up to the standards demanded of them by AFACT, it was considered acceptable to the court that iiNet did not authorise copyright infringing activities on their network.

Justice Cowdroy also found that iiNet cannot be held responsible for anything done by its users on the BitTorent network since iiNet does not have control over the network – it is merely a common carrier.

Justice Cowdroy found in favour of iiNet, dismissing the case with costs.

Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) speaking on behalf of Village Roadshow, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Disney Enterprises, Inc, the Seven Network and others is expected to appeal the ruling in the High Court. The organisation has 21 days to appeal the judgement. However, they may lobby the government instead to have laws changed to get the outcome they desire.

It is believed that this will have substantial ramifications internationally in regards to dealing with copyright infringers on an ISP level.

The sentiments of internet users in the forums indicate that, “ISPs are not copyright police and should not have to do AFACT’s work for them. You would start seeing people sue Holden because they had a high speed crash and Holden built a car which allowed it and they did nothing to stop the person from speeding. It’s all the same, removing responsibility from the consumer which is just nonsense. It would also be like holding Telstra responsible for a crime plotted over the telephone, or the electricity company held liable if one of their customers uses electricity to grow a drug crop.”

Alternate solutions offered by internet users suggest, “…the film industry, make lower resolution downloads available ‘cheap’ and this might stop ‘some’ of the illegal downloads.” They also say that, “People want to watch films/TV shows now not in six months. If these companies offered easy legal means to get this stuff a lot of the problems would go away. Another annoying thing with online purchases is how the file is locked to the system you downloaded it to. What if your computer dies?”

Others consider the studios to be greedy and think that the future of the industry will involve more “independents” using todays technology to launch their own products – and that the days of sponging record and movie executives and “artists” who get to live the lifestyles of the rich and famous are numbered. Some think that ‘Stealing’ from the big companies isn’t stealing. It is simply a reclaiming some of the wealth they’ve sucked out of us over the years.

These sentiments are not restricted to movie and TV studios as one person considers that, “Despite claims that piracy is killing the industry, companies like Microsoft are recording record profits. They can’t or won’t explain this. If licensing and purchasing costs weren’t ridiculously exorbitant people would be happy to pay for them, but while they feel they are being ripped off they will do what they can to get a bit back.”

One radical statement: “Long live the pirates and down with the mega rich backward movie bosses who refuse to offer an alternative to their restrictive overpriced poor quality products.” Then an alternate viewpoint: “Would all those people ‘sharing’ music and movies like to give their services away for free? Or have goods stolen from their possession? Didn’t think so.” And… “This arrogant attitude that most people have that everything should be free (even when it costs $200m to produce) has to end!”

Perceptions vary greatly, but much of it has to do with what is considered a fair go for consumers and a fair return on big company investments.

A lot also has to do with suppliers meeting demands and whether each party is being realistic with their expectations.

Business models are being subject to new forces and lines of control have become blurred to the point that desperate measures are being taken for each to gain satisfaction. It might take a while for an equilibrium to be reached.

Meanwhile, new revenue streams will be pursued as old ones dry up, whilst new companies and products will appear, flourish and sometimes fade. One needs a crystal ball to predict the final outcome. Often the older ones that succeed have to keep reinventing themselves. For example, IBM, Apple and Walt Disney. Many of our media companies have changed hands, as have the movie studios. More so than ever before the information and entertainment world is in a state of flux.


Further reading:

AFACT v iiNet: The judgement in full

Legal experts expect appeal in iiNet judgement

iiNet wins! Film industry’s case torn to shreds

Telstra and the Government ponder iiNet victory

Conroy slammed over ‘stunning’ iiNet trial comments

News Groups Wrestle With Online Fees

New York Times eyes 2011 for online fees

Online news fees: financial salvation or suicide?

The First 50 Years – Part 1

Posted by ken On February - 3 - 2010

The West Australian newspaper’s TVW 50th Anniversary supplement published on Friday October 16, 2009….


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It might be tempting to suggest that the brief experience of being an installer of rooftop antennas during the birth of Channel 7 set Kerry Stokes on the path to owning his own network. It would not be entirely true, however.
The potential of the medium which now occupies so much of his business attention was not revealed to him until three years later when he paid for a television commercial to help his new real estate business. The telephone, he says, went wild.
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When television started in WA, not many of those involved knew how it worked – or had ever seen it.

An unforgettable ride into history was about to begin.

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When WA Newspapers Ltd won the bid for the licence, WAN managing director James Macartney told Jim Cruthers that he wanted TVW to go on-air one year later.

There was no studio, no programs, no staff. Even the Bickley transmitter was yet to be built. They did it. Against the odds, and with far more enthusiasm and commitment than skill and experience, they did it.

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Television changed people’s homes – indeed, it transformed family life for ever.

It is hard to imagine, in these sophisticated times, how exciting the arrival of television to WA must have been.

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From humble beginnings, TVW7 was founded on vision and strong sentiment.

But it was hard work and innovation that ensured the success of ‘the people’s channel’.

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James Macartney wanted the station to have a strong community base, to be a people’s channel.

The enduring element of that sentiment is Telethon.

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When television began in WA, the tools for news-gathering were few and expensive.

Initiative was the key to getting the big stories in Perth.

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Darcy Farrell switched from WA Newspapers to TVW in July 1959, just three months before the station opened.

On the basis of “two or three weeks” training in Melbourne – where they were not all that expert anyway – he had to learn a new set of skills in a hurray, principally how to change his thinking from the written word to the spoken word, and how to put those words on film. And how to teach others to do it.

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Former general manager Bill McKenzie signed on at the start, and never looked back.

They all learnt on the job, doing anything that needed doing, and worked every day preparing for the October 16, 1959, launch. “Then it occurred to us that we’d have to do it all again the next day and the next.”

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The First 50 Years – Part 2

Posted by ken On February - 3 - 2010

Continuing the West Australian newspaper’s TVW 50th Anniversary supplement…


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The 1979 Miss Universe contest was memorable – especially for Max Bostock.

Just as the winner was announced and photographers rushed forward to capture her joy, the stage at the Perth Entertainment Centre collapsed.

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The history TVW is full of instances of employees working their way up from the ground floor.

Kevin Campbell is one of them, joining Seven as a technician and became the chairman and managing director by the time he left 35 years later.

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Early in his career, entertainer and artist Rolf Harris brought formidable talent to the fledgling TVW.

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“We had lots of different contributors, including (wildlife experts) Harry Butler and Len McKenna, Pat Thomas on pets and Colm O’Doherty, who was a storyteller.”

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Carolyn Nobleand Gary Carvolth at an Ashton Circus appearance.

The opening night variety show Spotlight with host Phillip Edgley and cast in this Coralie Condon produced live show.

David Farr during the auditions for newsreaders at Newspaper House in St Georges Terrace in 1959. Richard Ashtoncovers the story in his historic article.

Johnny Young

L to R: Seaman Colm O’Doherty, Trina Brown, Captain Jim (Atkinson) and Taffy the Lion (John Cousins)

Eric Walters at the News desk cira 1968 to early 70’s.

Brian Williams in the field filming an insert for his musical tribute to the “Songs of the Wars”. The cine cameraman is Tom Hall.

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Alison Fan with an Arriflex 16mm cine camera.

Panel discussion with Peter Waltham, John Hudson, an expert and Syd Donovan.

Luise Borsje in the Jeff Newman Bathtub on the Swan River with South Perth in the background.

Gary Carvolth and Ann Sanders on the “$50,000 Letter Box” quiz show.

Christmas Pageant in Hay Street passing the Piccadilly Theatre with the Octopus float carrying Shirley Halliday Dancers.

Trina ‘The Wink’ Brown presenting the TVW Channel Seven “Weather”

Spotlight with the ‘Guy and Dolls’ except the regular Reg Whiteman (later Fat Cat) was sick on this night. Left to Right: Stand in dancer, Judy Schonell, Dorothy and Bert Shaw (with regular Reg Whiteman sick on the night)

1980 World Professional Ballroom Dancing Championships at the Entertainment Centre – Music provided by the Will Upson Big Band with opening ceremony choreographed by Brian Smith.

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Under Chris Wharton’s watch, TVW overcame serious challenges and scaled new heights to become the top metropolitan station in Australia.

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Winning a challenge to create a new character for young viewers was just part of former general manager Greg Byrne’s illustrious career.


Judith Byrne with Fat Cat

Judith Byrne co-creator of Fat Cat

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General manager Ray Wardrop grew up watching Fat Cat, never dreaming that one day he’d be in charge of the station – and facing a dramatically different television world.

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Ray Wardrop

Current Seven Perth general manager Ray Wardrop at the Seven News vision mixing desk which uses TVW’s original Studio 2, that was used for the opening night ceremony on Friday October 16, 1959.