KEY POINTS:
Stepping off the ladder, over the parapet on to the weathered corrugated iron opens a vista that's both grungy and high-tech. The roof swarms with satellite dishes big and small, held in assorted brackets, tilting their parabolic reflectors at selected pinholes of sky.
Orcus Media's Tony Dunnett and Farooq Kassibawi explain which is which. One of the big black mesh ones is pointing at Asia Sat 4, this one at NSS5, that at Pas 2, this little dish at Optus D1 ... So many satellites, so many channels. Dunnett says Orcus, a multi-cultural pay-TV company, can get 1800. The sky really is the limit. Welcome to the fragmentation of television. Like it or not, more and more TV is coming at you everyday. This is television's equivalent of the internet - an unstoppable spew of programming we're condemned to sift through for rare gems in the morass.
The quiet revolution in New Zealand skies is not confined to Orcus's Newton Rd rooftop. Free-to-air satellite television is also taking off, now received by dishes in 62,000 homes where, as well as watching 10 New Zealand Freeview channels, some are also enjoying the surprise bonus of a few Australian channels as well.
The growth in satellite-TV signals the start of a fight back against monopoly pay-TV satellite provider Sky, which ironically is paving the way for the revolution thanks to a large number of unused Sky dishes. But while satellite users look to the skies for more free channels coming their way soon, the launch of high-definition digital terrestrial television in April next year is threatening to spoil the party.
Until Freeview launched in May, free-to-air satellite-TV had largely been the domain of enthusiast and niche audiences prepared to go to the trouble of setting up ungainly satellite dishes in their back yards. Freeview changed the picture when it brought together a consortium of three broadcasters to begin the switch over from analogue to digital TV. From the newly orbiting Optus D1 satellite it began beaming five channels - TV One, TV 2, TV 3, C4 and Maori Television - to satellite receivers nationwide.
In six short months Freeview has expanded to 10 channels and is now watched by an estimated 150,000 viewers.
That's double what Freeview was expecting, says general manger Steve Browning. Ten channels - Cue TV is the latest - sounds impressive. But a line-up that includes ancient reruns of Suzy Cato and Selwyn Toogood (TV6), the boring spectacle of Parliament TV, and the less-than-riveting Russia Today and Hare Krishna World (Stratos) is hardly a turn-on.
So what's the attraction? For many, the reason is reception - the ability to get mainstream channels like One and TV3 that previously had been unwatchable.
Poor reception driving uptake is borne out by the research. Most buying Freeview receivers are outside the five main metro areas. Purchasing is generally driven by the male in households, which are mostly middle-income families with parents in the 30-60 age bracket.
The surprise finding is that two-thirds of satellite receiver purchasers already had a dish at their home. That's thanks to a million Sky dishes out there and about 350,000 unused ones which Sky leaves behind to make it easier to reconnect later. Technically, the dish is Sky property. But the network, which has 651,580 subscribers receiving its satellite service, says it's not bothered as long as Freeview installations don't interfere with existing Sky boxes.
Of the third of Freeview receiver buyers who didn't have a dish, just under half installed one themselves.
And two-thirds of all buyers set up their own set-top box, showing they're not intimidated by the technology. The DIY trend has caused a rethink for Freeview which will now include self-installation information on its website. But what Freeview won't tell you is how to tune in other free-to-air satellite channels - especially the Australian ones like SCTV, Imparja and NITV. Or, that if you want to get more through your satellite dish, you shouldn't buy the accredited Zinwell or the rebadged Dick Smith set-top box because they're locked down to receive only Freeview.
But judging by satellite forums on the web, many satellite TV users in New Zealand are one step ahead.
"Quite a lot of slightly more technically savvy Freeview users have worked out how to tune these channels in," says a satellite enthusiast who didn't want to be named.
Many are happily watching SCTV which carries Australian Channel 7 programmes. Until it was affected by the American writers' strike, that included the latest series of Heroes, several episodes ahead of New Zealand, and Bionic Woman which isn't showing here yet. Or, on Imparja, the latest series of Men In Trees and CSI: New York. Plus - thanks to the Australian practice of showing movies on TV closer to their United States release date - a range of box office hits yet to be shown on TV here.
Quite why the Australian channels are available over New Zealand remains something of a mystery. Freeview, TVNZ and TV3 all seemed unaware of the channels.
"To my knowledge they're not on [Optus] D1," says Browning, referring to the satellite Freeview channels are broadcast from.
"No, I haven't heard that. I didn't know there were any Australian broadcasters that had a footprint over New Zealand.," says TVNZ chief executive Rick Ellis. "I've only heard it is happening. I'd have to look into it," says Rick Friesen, TV3's chief operating officer.
How long the channels remain available over New Zealand is anyone's guess. Satellite experts suspect the reason for the beams' availability here is because of problems with the Optus D1 satellite which was supposed to have its transponders set to different "polarities" to distinguish between Australia and New Zealand. It was not until the satellite was in orbit, that it was discovered the polarities were all set the same.
The range of free-to-air channels available to New Zealanders doesn't stop there. Satlink, an Auckland company which sells satellite receivers, offers a dual LNB (low-noise block converter) device which fits a standard dish and enables users to get signals off the Optus B3 satellite. That gives another 18 channels to add to the Freeview 10. But the viewing - which includes seven Christian channels and Dutch, Thai, Turkish and Arabic channels - won't be to everyone's taste.
"A lot of people have turned to receivers like ours, which are cheaper and simpler," says Satlink's Peter Esher. His top-selling receiver costs $165 compared with the accredited Freeview boxes, which start at $200.
But wait there's more. The newly orbiting Optus D2 which replaces B3 is already sending bizarre, new age Supreme Master TV including such gems as Between Master And Disciples and A Journey Through Aesthetic Realms. In the new year we can expect more religious and ethnic offerings from broadcasters such as Globecast. And subscription channels are also on the way from UBI World TV.
Closer to home, Orcus has satellite plans too. The company, which has taken over from Mirchee TV, broadcasts 17 Indian, Arabic and other ethnic channels including Zee TV, Star 1 and Kuwait TV from Auckland's Sky Tower to 1200 subscribers.
Next year it plans a nationwide satellite service with increased ethnic offerings including Chinese, Philippine, Korean and South African channels.
A package of ethnic channels costing $35 a month will be received via Orcus' set-top box and aerial which can also pick up Freeview channels. Alongside the ethnic offerings, Orcus plans a more mainstream English package including Al Jazeera English, Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, Nasa TV and something called Metro TV. The latter, the brainchild of Dunnett, will be mixed satellite programming sourced from a number of countries, which he believes will offer much more for viewers than what's being shown on TV6.
"There are thousands of channels out there in the world," says Orcus sales and marketing general manager Kassabawi. "We believe there is a general lack of programming that fits the taste of family people. There is way too much sex and violence on TV right now."
While there is clamouring in the ether for more and more channels, on the ground there are rumblings of discontent.
The dispute centres on whether TVNZ's new Freeview channels - TV6, Sports Extra and the upcoming TV7 - should be available via Sky's set-top box. And whether Prime, Sky's so called free-to-air channel should be available on Freeview. At the moment TVNZ isn't budging, saying its advertising-free channels and their $79 million government funding are to promote the Freeview platform and encourage the move from analogue to digital TV.
Sky isn't bothered either, saying if TVNZ doesn't see the value of Sky's 650,000 viewership that's fine. It's also in no hurry to put Prime on Freeview. "When we feel there is a business case to actually be on that network we'd look it," says Sky director of communications Tony O'Brien.
The impasse is a disappointment to Freeview's Browning. "We'd love to have them [Prime]. Unfortunately Sky doesn't want to be there." As Browning sees it, Sky is using Prime to promote subscriptions to its pay-TV service. "From where we sit, that's wrong because it should be a free-to-air channel. Sadly there is nothing more Freeview can do about that - we emphasise that with all the people who write to us and ring us and say, 'Where's Prime?"'
While the argument rages, viewers are left in the lurch. Sky subscribers wanting TVNZ's new digital channels - something that may become more of an issue next year when TVNZ puts surplus coverage of the Beijing Olympics on Sports Extra - have little choice but to buy a Freeview set-top box. And free-to-air viewers wanting Prime, but unable to get UHF reception, have little choice but to buy a Sky Digital dish and decoder.
Sky reckons it has a solution for its subscribers - simply tuning in new Freeview channels into its set-top box - as is the case with Maori TV, Stratos and Cue. But it's a solution both major broadcasters take a dim view of.
"Technically it's possible for Sky's boxes to receive to those channels. The issue is: does Sky have right to do it without the approval of the broadcaster?", says TV 3's Friesen. "It is our signal and we are putting it out there with the intent that it reaches viewers, not that it reaches an intermediary."
Viewers could be forgiven for thinking that's splitting hairs. After all, surely if a channel is free-to-air it should be just that - free to whoever wants to receive it - without having to buy another set-top box. But Sky's stance is also self serving. Tuning in Freeview broadcasts would potentially enable Sky to discontinue its duplicate streams of channels One, TV2, TV3 and C4 and free up valuable satellite transponders. Sky's argument that it can't make Prime available on free-to-air satellite because the signal bleeds into Australia, thereby breeching its broadcasting contracts is also viewed with scepticism. Satellite experts say the signal that reaches Australia is so weak it's almost non-existent.
But while the sky is filling up with satellite signals and companies on the ground are arguing about who should see them, another technological change is about to make TV viewing even more complicated. In April New Zealand begins high definition (HD) broadcasts - not from satellites, but from the land to UHF aerials. Freeview digital terrestrial television (DTT) will deliver superior quality pictures, but with a few catches. Only those in metropolitan areas will be able to receive them. You'll also need a new set- top box that's going to cost at least $500. And a high-definition TV.
Then you need high-definition broadcasts. TVNZ will begin its with the Beijing Olympics and TV3 will broadcast some of its US based shows in high definition. But for some time the majority of broadcasts will still be in standard definition, albeit upscaled to fit the new format. In the third quarter of next year Sky will enter the HD game with a new generation My Sky box able to receive several HD satellite channels and IP (internet protocol) TV, if we ever get the broadband infrastructure to deliver it. The Sky box will also offer the ability to book recordings of your favourite shows by your mobile phone or via a website.
More choices. Satellite or terrestrial? As if there wasn't enough to deal with. But as our living rooms become inundated with TV content, and sorting through 200-plus channels becomes commonplace, it's hard to know whether to be grateful or very afraid.
