The ever-changing technology requires governments to embrace advances that are critical to providing suitable public services. In this regard, television has become one of the media sources to have observed critical transitions in people's services. Without a question, people cannot function without television, as the platform has developed as a source of political and cultural understanding. Since the 1980s, governments all over the world have been in the forefront of pushing for the shift to a digital era, with television serving as the catalyst. In particular, the Australian broadcasting authority has stepped forward to necessitate the success of that strategy by directing much of the attention towards the road to the digital era. It has taken Australia an extended period to realize the fruits of digital television while considering the rigid nature of citizens who do not believe in change. Conducting in-depth analysis on the origin of digital television in Australia, the replacement of analog television and digital communications as well as understanding the current and future uses will be helpful in shedding light on the subject.
Globally, the move to champion for digital television began in the early 1980 with Australia giving into the idea in the 1990s. Such a hint was given a second consideration after a long time dealing with analog televisions that produced low-quality images (Forrester, 2013 p.18). In fact, the analog communications produced black and white images that were not up to the satisfaction of Australian broadcasting authority. In addition, the analog television failed to make use of transmissions efficiently since it applied dumb terminals that were proved to be inappropriate. The broadcasting authority of Australia noted with a lot of concern that analog television aired limited channels and a way forward had to be sought to avail as many channels as possible to the viewers (Forrester, 2013 p.21). Another problem with the analog images was that the quality of the pictures displayed was very different from original provisions by the available channels. Despite the fact that Australia was aiming for better services to its citizens, the journey to digital era was also a fulfillment and appreciation of technology that had been warmly received in other parts of the world.
Moorhead (2016 p.41) postulate that the commencement of digital television transmission in Australia can be traced back in January 2001 when the need to force for digitalization came to take care of the analog stations whose yields were below the expectation of the Australian community. However, the idea for transition attracted differing opinions from Australians since the whole thing was expensive. That is, the consumers had to factor in the cost of purchasing new receivers while broadcasters had to pay for the transmission installations. It is true that change is not always accepted individually if that change comes with costs. According to Losifidis (2014 p.14), much of the objection was also seen to emanate from the free-to-air broadcasters who showed a lot of discontent on the proposal to have analog televisions wiped out of the system. Instead, they argued that a reasonable time has to be set before crossing to the digital era so that they could continue using the free spectrum to contain the simulcasting costs. To add more pain to the wound, the Federation of Australian commercial network also condemned the move towards adoption of digital televisions supporting their claim that Australia had jumped a long step further without giving incorporating second thoughts in their idea.
Research conducted by Forrester (2013 p.16) showed that many supporters for analog video questioned the government for accepting the digital proposal and blamed the whole thing that introduced them towards another way of paying taxes. Precisely, the move from analog to digital era was not that comfortable although the proposal was later forced and implemented for better service delivery to the people. Right after issuing a warning concerning the introduction of digital television, the Australian broadcasting authority on June 2010 forced the switchover and by the end of the year 2013, the transition to digital television was completed.
Australia enjoys both high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) types of video transmission to kick analog televisions out the site. These new transmissions have immensely influenced the lives of people concerning love for entertainment specifically due to the better quality of pictures as well as highly defined resolution (Losifidis 2014, p.15). The sharpness of the image portrayed by digital televisions is also something to boast for; an element that makes watching an interesting scenario. Besides, while considering the aspect ratio, the digital video surpasses the analog one; hence, proving the digital era helpful and critical.
The absorption of digital television comes with many benefits among them being multi-channeling where consumers can enjoy many television channels more than it was during the analog time. It is helpful to heed to the fact that many things are expected to improve with the digitization of televisions. Firstly, digital communications are deemed to promote the business sector in Australia. As can be expected, advertising is among the aspects by which companies adapt to fulfill the requirements of marketing activity. Since digital televisions take into account the actual color of the goods being advertised, the consumers cannot go on assuming the importance of the particular products just like before when everything appeared white and black (Moorhead, 2016 p.44). The implication is that many viewers will develop interests for advertised products at the point of making purchases; hence, improving the entrepreneurial sector in the country. Furthermore, the aspect of displaying many channels enables the Australian community to keep abreast with happenings all over the world. As a result, there is a high chance that people will not regret migrating to the digital era.
The digital television is a pay-for-services platform, a process that might not sound well in the minds of Australians. However, the efficiency brought in by the digital televisions implies that there is no hard feeling for making subscriptions. Moorhead hint out that it is important to consider that for the broadcasting authority to facilitate continued service delivery in an upright manner, subscription is applied (2016 p.47). Therefore, digital televisions are used to maintain and surface services provided without creating the barrier on the same. Additionally, due to the notion that digital television provides a broad range of channels, it is a clear indication that human creativity is improved. For instance, there is a lot of comedy and other forms of entertainment experienced by the viewer, thus, dictating a high level of creativity for the participants in an attempt to keep the fire burning as well as keeping up with the expectations of people. Digital television ought to be given much credit for its continued transformation in line with education perspective that is improving as the days go. Evidently, the suitability of analog television raised many doubts because of its inability to support some important programs that meant everything to the lives of young generations.
Broadly, the digital video factors in the education programs that are an integral part of children growth. In that case, the children are equipped with basics of life and the expectations of academics that make them sharp in school because they are conversant with some important subjects taught in television; hence, treating the television programs as an added advantage. Similarly, there are other programs aired for the benefit of Australian adults more so program to do with quality farming and parenting. Although Australia seems to have invested a lot in the betterment of real estate, there is still an opportunity to convert the available land into viable agricultural grounds (Forrester, 2013 p.19). As a result, the continued support for agricultural related programs on digital televisions predicts a forthcoming farming era whereby Australia will enjoy foods sustainability shortly.
The future of the digital television is bright. The government of Australia appreciates the fact that digitization is the pathway by which other transitions such as improvement of infrastructure and enhancement of quality education will take place. Losifidis (2014 p.11) argues that the transition to digital era is not the final step towards the appreciation of technology but rather the starting point of new things. There is still a lot to come since the digital television stands a chance to be scrutinized for rectification and improvements that foresee the success of every effort put into the system for the service of the common Australian. It is expected that challenges that might face the digital television be settled with immediate effect to ensure that the platform attracts as many entrepreneurs as possible who will play a central role in resolving the costs of digitization.
In conclusion, Australia is among the multicultural nations to have recorded high technological growth resulting from quality governance and active citizens. The movement from analog to digital televisions has been a long journey due to resistance and emergence of different opinions concerning digitization. However, the uses of digital video are incomparable; hence, enabling the Australians to embrace the change for the benefit of their present and future generations. Briefly, the Australian government in collaboration with broadcasting authority should work hard to create an enabling environment for digital televisions so that people can realize its full benefits and work towards supporting every bit of change that deems necessary.
References
Forrester, C., (2013). Business of digital television. Taylor & Francis.15-23
Iosifidis, P., (2014). 1 Digital Television and Switchover Policies in Europe. Policy and Marketing Strategies for Digital Media, 19, 10-17
Moorhead, S., (2016). Colour Television in Australia. Australian Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy, 4(3), 31-49
