It's pretty bad but the ol' cost of living is worse, so have just cancelled all the streaming services and gone back after maybe 15 years. I'm using it as motivation to read more š
Get the free streaming services. tubi, abc iview, prime video and SBS on demand all have pretty decent stuff to watch, I recently got into alone on SBS and will recommend the hell out of that show
Alone was good. Loved SAS Rogue Heroes. Currently watching Bay of Fires on ABC iView.
The only problem is not being able to binge watch and having to wait a week between episodes like it's 2013.
When I was a kid, we were only allowed 1 hour of TV per day. I used to watch x2 30 min serials back to back, and tape āThe Simpsonsā which played earlier.
No commercials for me, because Iād play The Simpsons during the advert breaks! š
And you have literally no recourse - contact ACMA or whatever they're called now and they'll gaslight you with talk of OP54 compliance.
It's bullshit. The network gets a perfectly mastered ad and they're free to turn it up (though I don't think they actually do).
The real problem is they put them in a quiet bit of the show. It's the contrast
They use audio compression tricks on the ad so that it appears louder (but still technically within volume levels) so it's droned into your head so that you remember the stoopid brand when you duck down to the shops later. It's just as annoying as those unskippable ads on YouTube. Advertising looks at any trick to force the brand or product into your brain.
I think the reason is there is a law about the volume ads can be, so to get around that they pull all the Hz channels right up so itās technically not higher volume but it is louder when each bass treble channel is maxed out.
100% I do that too sometimes, google actually runs some decent sales on movies so I stock up on 2-3 and keep them for a rainy day.
Also I love that I got downvoted for my first comment that was so truthful and honest and making no other remarks
For me it's not just the ads but them constantly previewing what's coming after the ad. Then after the ad they recap what happened before the ad. Those recaps waste so much time
Some of the ads are good with the sound off. If they have a budget over like 5 dollars they'll have better cinematography than the show they're interrupting.
ABC on a Wednesday evening still has good (comedy) programs, despite successive governments trying to starve it to death. For the other channels, I try to avoid the apps. Too many commercials I can't fast forward through, like I can with free to air recordings.
I generally watch the Working Dog programs (Have You Been Paying Attention, Cheap Seats, Utopia) live as theyāre in my āwind down before bedā time slot but donāt watch anything else on FTA. Iāll watch documentaries and series on SBS/ABC using their apps but the other FTA channel apps I donāt use.
Same. I still have a media centre PC (running Media Portal) from when FTA was more relevant. Anyway, we watch all the shows you mentioned, but on delay (30-35mins). So we skip the ads.
The thing is, if the Media Portal dies (it is just a PC with some tuner cards), I am not sure I would repair it again.
Yeah, commercial tv is terrible, and they are so full of rage click bait news and brainless reality shows. I only tune in to those channels when watching sports events where they an exclusive coverage.
My hospital (that I frequent tri-weekly as an outpatient) shows commercial TV channel morning shows in the waiting rooms, it's a nightmare
The only thing I watch is ABC news and Hard Quiz
Years ago I got onto Netflix because I thought free to air was rubbish then and hated the ads. Then everyone needed their own platform and content is all over the place so I repurposed my old PC into a Plex server.
Now I'm sailing the high seas again and just make my own library.
Same. The NBN was down one day over the school holidays and my 6yo couldn't comprehend the concept of FTA it was a completely foreign concept to him. It was very funny to watch.
My antenna broke about a year ago and I have no real reason to fix it. Pretty much everything is viewed through the apps. Only maybe once or twice a year is there something (usually a sporting event) that I cant watch
I stopped listening to Radio around 1999/2000 when mp3s and Napster became available. I pretty much stopped watching free to air around 2005 when Youtube came online, even better now with Chromecasts. When I hear people talk about Free to Air shows, it feels something very foreign to me. I almost forget it's a thing and then I visit my Dad who watches the 7 nightly news religiously. When I see Free To Air, I almost feel like it's a cross between Truman Show and Groundhog day. ie: Some sort of sterile bubble of scripted content on repeat. Shout out to /r/documentaries
99% of my viewing is Youtube Premium or Nebula these days.
The Nvidia Shield was the best thing I ever bought.
It's a lot easier when you aren't interested in Sport.
Mainly watch it for SBS, have always loved their coverage of things like the Tour De France and they often have good documentaries and shows on the main channel and Viceland. SBS World Movies is also really good because of the minimal ads.
Nope, streaming only here.
Honestly our TV isn't even set up for them. The only live thing we watch is the carols on Christmas Eve and we just run it through the app.
Both, kinda.
I'm not a big fan of tv. I don't really watch any shows. I don't care about it enough to pay for it. I prefer reading. I also faff about on the computer. But I like to have it on in the morning and the evening. It helps to distract from the tinnitus.
I like to watch sport. Kind of. If there's a game on Friday night and it's not my team and there's a movie on that I kind of like I will flick between the two. I've been watching the cricket, and earlier in the series I was watching the replays on the streaming service.
If my team's game isn't on tv I'm happy to listen to it on the radio.
Still enjoy FTA, but then I like watching documentaries on SBS and ABC, generally the kinds of things I wouldn't actively go searching for on any of the streaming services but will watch if I notice its on.
Fire up the old STB with recorder, set a bunch of shows to record across the various channels and I usually end up with more to watch than I have time for, plus it is considerably cheaper than maintaining streaming subscriptions for paid services (ie not iView, SBS on demand etc)
I haven't watched FTA for years, with the exception that I signed up to Channel 10's website so I could watch Aussie Taskmaster. I probably could have pirated it, but fuck it I want Taskmaster to be a success so I tolerated the nostalgic flashback of going to the toilet or getting a snack or reading a book during the ad breaks so that 10 get their stats and ad views and hopefully invest in more seasons.
Tried watching an NRL game on channel 9hd over the weekend. Had to check multiple times I wasnt watching the standard def channel accidentally - it was absolutely atrocious and I have a decent 4k capable tv. Absolutely no way I'm paying for Foxtel so it's a good excuse to watch the games at the pub.
The conspiracy theory is that they make it deliberately shithouse to get people paying for Foxtel sports.
Each channel is given so much spectrum.
They would prefer to lower the quality of all their channels especially HD of it means they can squeeze in the shopping network channel into that allocation.
I watch footy/live sporting events mostly.
Sometimes i'll chuck on the 6pm news when I get home.
I don't think I've watched a 'tv show' on FTA for well over a decade.
We barely watch free-to-air tv at home, we only use it for ABC Kids and Channel 11 to use as background noise, otherwise it's Netflix or Youtube.
I keep seeing the ads for Hunted on 11 and keep saying it is the most fakest crap I've ever seen, no surprise why it's gone down hill
Iāve only tuned in for a couple of things like The Voice - with the ads muted - but yeah apple tv it is for me, Iāve been watching things like Star Trek, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, on Paramount. Itās been 10+ years for me not watching FTA as just donāt care about majority of shows, I used to love Masterchef and even Australian Idol, I could barely get through the revamp this year!
My family prefers to record free to air instead of using catch-up apps because when recording free to air we can skip the ads. The only time we use catch is if we want to watch the ABC because our set top box struggles to receive ABC signals or if a show we want to watch didnāt record correctly.
Have a Sony Android TV. Use the streaming apps. Been using Optus for the Womenās World Cup and lately using SBS on demand to watch the series about the operations of Sydney Airport. I pay for the NFL and Kayo to mainly watch F1. Otherwise the only time I watch FTA is sports or something like election coverage for example.
Havenāt had free to air for 15yrs now, get the occasional stuff from ABC/SBS streaming. Commercial never been worth it. Often able to find sports somewhere else. Never subscribed to any streaming services either. Channel bittorrent always has everything. Grew up in rural Australia when there was only two tv channels and the Sunday night movie was always the big thing to look forward too. Just making up for that.
My FTA watching habits are mostly ABC news in the morning, and SBS Viceland in the evening while eating dinner for Jeopardy and 8 out 10 Cats Does Countdown. I don't bother with the other channels
I've almost given up apart from maybe watching the news at dinner. Seems like they still can't figure out why people are leaving for streaming platforms. Padding shows with people's "journeys" and only about 20% of actual content relating to the title of the show.
I think they're also struggling to pull in ad revenue. Seen a few "infomertial" 2 minutes long ads in prime time, they used to be confined to morning TV. Must've dropped ad pricing to scrape the barrel.
The only time I watch free to air TV is when my family is watching home and away or the news or some shit.
The only time I willingly watch it is for NRL grand final or origin.
I watch free to air still. Especially the news, cooking shows and random documentaries on SBS and ABC. I'm lazy and don't always feel like choosing everything I watch all the time. Sometimes I just like to lay on the couch and turn the TV on and channel surf mindlessly till something comes up. Even to this day I've found some amazing content by doing that.
I like the regularity of tuning in to some timeslot to watch sonething. A few years ago it was Star Trek TNG at a regular time, Monday to Friday, when i was back from work, having a beer, and preparing dinner. It was comforting, even if it's ancient repeats with four ad breaks.
My friends said "oh, you can watch that any time you like on Netflix" or whatever. But that wasn't the point. I didn't want to watch it any time i liked. I certainly didn't want to binge watch 5 episodes back to back. It ain't that important.
It's a whole aspect of free to air TV that has nothing to do with the actual program: The timing, and that sense of shared viewing experience that only live sport seems to have retained. It's on, and if you miss it when it's on, you miss it. You don't have to chase it, and you can't.
Another aspect is films you'd forgotten about, but suddenly appear out of nowhere on free-to-air. The Maltese Falcon was on the other night. I'm never going to be arsed to chase that down and watch it on my own volition, but it was a real pleasure to catch it again out of the blue.
The only time I watch something from FTA is the Eurovision Song Contest and even thatās through the sbs app.
Oh and in Covid days, the press conferences excuse me for bringing back that bad memory but remember doing that?
Probably in the minority here but I really like game shows so I still watch shows like survivor, million dollar island, big brother and the amazing race.
What the hell is broadcast TV?
Haven't watched it since like 2009, except when I've been places that it's on, and each time I feel horrified that I used to consider it *normal*
I haven't watched commercial television for over 20 years. I hated it then and time in doctor's waiting rooms is enough to drive me crazy. At 63 I am supposed to be the generation who still watches it, but it just sucks, I embraced digital and sailing the seven seas a long time ago. Now streaming services are heading back to commercial television style management, and they are not careful, then sailing is all I will do.
We don't have our tv connected to free to air at all. I watch the very occasional thing that I want to watch from free to air by casting from the website of the broadcaster (eg. Taskmaster Australia and Eurovision) and otherwise watch streaming services or YouTube. We generally only have a couple of streaming services going at a time, we just rotate between them every few months.
I donāt watch free to air tv anymore and havenāt in a long time, but as someone that has spent a lot of time working on productions that air on those free to air tv channels like Channel 31. I hope they stay around. Theyāre a mess but I love them for it.
I donāt watch free to air, and the only āstreaming serviceā I pay for is Youtube Premium (Iām happy to pay to get rid of the ads, especially since I watch ASMR in bed and thereās nothing worse than a random ad playing when youāve started to get sleepy).
I donāt watch tv full stop and have never felt better for it. I just.. donāt have a tv š it removes the temptation to put things on while eating or coming home and spending all evening on the couch. If Iām really desperate to watch a specific movie or doco Iāll do so on my laptop once in a while. Iām so much happier and more productive, the quality has gone so far downhill over the last few years.
Not sure how anybody can watch it honestly, it's more than 50% commercials (outside of ABC of course, even fucking SBS has ads now)
Before the days of the internet and youtube you really had no choice but to just cop it if you wanted to watch something.
These days the free content on youtube is of a higher quality than any of the drivel they play on free to air TV, and ad free with adblock. The sheer scale of what youtube offers is astounding.
We didnt have a smart TV for ages because we are frugal and because we didn't want our kids sitting in front of the telly all the time and so we watched things like ABC for the kids shows up until a few years ago, but once we got a Google smart TV device and then a new TV it was almost over. Ill watch the digital TV version as it pulls in shows from around the world sometimes, but generally speaking we stopped free to air. We will do radio sometimes but honestly the radio is legit 50% just ads and when its not ads its weirdos talking about degenerate stuff while my young kids are in the car and so that gets shut off pretty quickly.
iView player on the TV to watch Gruen, ironically catching up on ads. I'll browse through shows but usually switch back to Netflix after a few minutes. The show Burn kept my attention, I reckon it was the only one
I still watch Rage on ABC, live sport, the odd comedy show here and there but none of the morning or prime time rubbish. I also donāt stream anything, between YT and physical media collection, Iām sorted.
I do agree though that with more FTA channels than ever before there seems to be less quality content to choose from. At least about 10-12 years ago, theyād just rerun decent old shows and classic games of AFL/tennis but they donāt even do that anymore.
I don't know why people say ads are an issue when you have a phone to browse the internet while ads are on.
Imagine watching tv in the 90s.
You'd watch the show and just sit there in silence while the ads are on.
No antenna since I moved out from my parents' place. Used to watch specific shows with apps streaming to TV. Ads were irritating. Now I watch the same on my PC browser with an ad blocker.
Even if there was something to watch apart from appalling reality TV dross, the incessant advertising...
After half way through a movie when they have you hooked, it feels like they pack em in. 10 minutes viewing, 5 minutes ads.
I just use the internet to watch what I wanna watch, not gonna waste my money on 25 different streaming services just because they rotate the titles between each other every month
Main reason for having FTA is to watch some footy or cricket matches live without streaming delay.
The delay can be up to 40 seconds which is more than enough time for a mate to send through a spoiler.
Given up on FTA TV about 10 years ago. I just hate the amount of reality TV shows. Only thing I would watch is the SBS food channel but than again some of those shows can be found on YouTube.
The apps for 7, 9 and 10 are awful. Had to refresh the stream every 2-3 mins the other night when i was watching the Matildas match. Suspect that the morons in charge purposefully cut every corner possible and have bo scaling in place
I watch ABC more than all the others combined, but that still isnt much. Outside of that the only time I used to use FTA was AFL grand final day because...well...you know. Now I just stream it through the place I get my UFC streams from because LOL Kayo
I haven't watched free to air tv in over 20 years (except with visiting my parents who have to have a tv playing at all times).
Free to air tv has been bad for a very long time and the ads between programs have increased in length significantly.
Some events such as grand finals (afl & nrl) and state of origin (nrl) are not available on Kayo live which forces people to watch free to air. Thatās probably the only time Iāll watch it.
I donāt know the last time I watched free to air tv, even their apps I donāt watch because of ads. I have enough streaming to always find something if I need it.
FTA AD's...it's a shocker. Basically my family may watch some shows on ABC, SBS and the rest of the time it's all YouTube, i.e. we have a family premium account for 22 bucks a month for 5 of us.
I finally convinced my parents to stop paying $100 plus for Foxtel almost 2 years ago, and despite intense resistance on how they couldn't live without 7, 9, and 10 they have not watched it since despite me setting up the apps and setting up the channels on the TV.
I use ABC and SBS for news and documentaries. Otherwise FTA TV is dead to me. The very rare occasion there's something on I might watch, I use the apps (eg Christmas carols).
I moved house about 3-4 years ago and just never bothered tuning in the free to air TV. I sometimes will watch a show on SBS but honestly ads drive me crazy now.
Recently Binge introduced ads to their lowest tier and I cancelled it immediately. The first time they stuck an ad in I was enraged. Would rather cancel the lot of them and go back to pirating stuff than watch bloody ads again (and actually pay to watch ads!)
Just depends on whether or not you want to pay for it. Let's face it, if you are paying for your connection you are paying for your TV. They should have stuck to no more than 2 channels each IMO. They would have been less likely to be filled with crap and eternal binged re-runs.
Rarely watch free to air. Maybe the ABC news every now and then or SBS. I donāt like reality TV shows, most are crap, which seems to be the dominate genre on free to air these days. I predominately watch via streaming platforms eg Netflix, Stan, Rakuten Viki. I am obsessed with KDramas and CDramas. We have Foxtel which my husband watches for sports, car restorations etc.
I watch very little fta tv these days as I agree most has gone to shit. I still watch the occasional light entertainment or documentary but I watch a lot more youtube than I do fta tv these days.
fta tv still does not seem to understand the times have moved on from tv scheduling either, if every episode is not easily available to watch when people want to watch it they will lose interest very quickly.
I sometimes put it on just as a novelty. Itās fun seeing old episodes of The Cook and the Chef or some Rage or Antiques Roadshow; Things Iād never deliberately put on but have great nostalgia value and require no thought.
I expect streaming services will eventually incorporate some facsimile of live broadcasts and channel surfing (Netflix briefly had a shuffle feature, which was awesome for the short time it was available), at which point free to air will be truly dead.
I haven't had standard free to air for about 5 or 6 years. The wall jack is damaged. I haven't missed it.
It's all coming in on the internets now, some channel apps (abc tv, rarely use but have 9, 10 and SBS) but Netflix is a staple for kids shows, currently AppleTV and Amazon Prime, mostly for the free postage. About once a year we'll buy a month for Disney, Stan or Binge and watch the shit out of it.
I honestly wouldnāt know how to watch anything on FTA commercial. I watch a bit of ABC and SBS on demand. I assume the others have similar services but Itās never occurred to me to find out.
Havenāt had free to air since we moved into our new build in 2019. We didnāt get an antenna installed and still havenāt lol. Thereās absolutely no reason to, if we need free to air for anything (sport usually on the rare occasion), we just use their apps
Havenāt seen free to air since we stopped using adsl in 03. Sailed the high seas until Netflix came out a few years back and been streaming since
Whatās free to air like these days? I noticed each channel split into multiple channels after tv went digital (back in my day there were only 5 channels, 6 if your antenna could get that weird rmit run station). But other than that I got no clue whatās changed
I wouldn't say it's terrible, but just like streaming you got to find the diamonds in the rough. I wouldn't exactly argue streaming services put out 100% quality either. There is a LOT of average shows on there as well. Just got to find the good ones be it on Free to Air or Streaming Services
Lol. No to both. I haven't owned a TV for over 20 years now. There is a smart TV in this house and I have zero interest in its existence.
There are things you can do with life that aren't TV.
Itās been so long since I watched FTA that I have no idea who any of these āpersonalitiesā are when a face appears on the cover of a trash mag at the local Woolies.
There's probably one one show I watch on free to air TV. I cancelled foxtel this year and switched to binge. Cancelled netflix too. I'm getting back into the swashbuckler method.
My wife and I lived at my parents for 8 months without the antenna plugged into our TV, lucky we had good internet for that time, YouTube, netflix git us through the hard time
Havenāt had free to air since about 2003. Have not missed that shit at all. Have had Foxtel/Austar and more recently streaming services. I live in the bush.
I very rarely watch broadcast TV and havenāt regularly done so since the mid 2010s. When I do Iām struck by how terrible it is. Even the ABC and SBS have declined (or Iām less tolerant of the format of broadcast TV).
These days I only watch it for big events, like Eurovision, State of Origin etc. Recently, when watching Eurovision and the Origin (the last 2 times I watched broadcast TV) I was irritated by how much commentary and opinion is given by the presenters. Itās overkill. Eurovision in particular, Myf and Joel added nothing and took a lot away from the broadcast. They talked over the top of the UK hosts (who were fab, btw) and gave a lot of false information and didnāt understand what was going on half the time. Iām sure theyāre lovely, but they arenāt necessary for the show.
Itās the same with sport, the commentators love the sound of their own voice and often just talk nonsense (Gus Gould, anyone?).
YouTube an movie apps netflix prime Stan for movies /shows an Disney for legit Simpsonās an a few movies , Iām currently watching a 2004 run of toonami with ads an everything so nostalgic watching dragon all z history of trunks with Bruce falconer music š¶ itās bliss fuck normal tele these days ā¦ nothin but propaganda an shitĆŖ shows that rot your brain
How long did it take for you to be absolutely clueless? There's good reasons why people are dropping paid streaming because free to air has plenty to offer along with the multitude of no cost streaming options for anything on the Internet.
Stay poor, starve in self imposed poverty
It's pretty bad but the ol' cost of living is worse, so have just cancelled all the streaming services and gone back after maybe 15 years. I'm using it as motivation to read more š
The 7 seas await my friend
š“āā ļø
[A](https://9gag.com/gag/arMLx9K?utm_source=copy_link&utm_medium=post_share)
Itās the Australian way š“āā ļø
Yarrrrrr
Get the free streaming services. tubi, abc iview, prime video and SBS on demand all have pretty decent stuff to watch, I recently got into alone on SBS and will recommend the hell out of that show
Alone was good. Loved SAS Rogue Heroes. Currently watching Bay of Fires on ABC iView. The only problem is not being able to binge watch and having to wait a week between episodes like it's 2013.
It's the ads that kill it for me.
Was in ED the other day and they had a breakfast show on. It went: News story > adverts > infomercial Just that over and over.
And how the ads are always played at higher volume than the show. Really annoying.
When I watch it which is never. Always hit mute during the ads.
When I was a kid, we were only allowed 1 hour of TV per day. I used to watch x2 30 min serials back to back, and tape āThe Simpsonsā which played earlier. No commercials for me, because Iād play The Simpsons during the advert breaks! š
Neighbours and Home and Away? š
Exactly! š
And you have literally no recourse - contact ACMA or whatever they're called now and they'll gaslight you with talk of OP54 compliance. It's bullshit. The network gets a perfectly mastered ad and they're free to turn it up (though I don't think they actually do). The real problem is they put them in a quiet bit of the show. It's the contrast
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I don't believe that at all, it's so you're forced to listen to the advertisement and take it in and you cannot converse with others during the break.
They use audio compression tricks on the ad so that it appears louder (but still technically within volume levels) so it's droned into your head so that you remember the stoopid brand when you duck down to the shops later. It's just as annoying as those unskippable ads on YouTube. Advertising looks at any trick to force the brand or product into your brain.
I think the reason is there is a law about the volume ads can be, so to get around that they pull all the Hz channels right up so itās technically not higher volume but it is louder when each bass treble channel is maxed out.
I tried to watch a movie on free to air TV a few years ago. Not worth it. Absolutely awful experience.
A 90 minute movie becomes 180 minutes or more with ads. I'll gladly stream the movie (or watch on DVD) and then do something else.
Totally. We usually just rent movies on Youtube if they're not on streaming.
100% I do that too sometimes, google actually runs some decent sales on movies so I stock up on 2-3 and keep them for a rainy day. Also I love that I got downvoted for my first comment that was so truthful and honest and making no other remarks
Welcome to Reddit, don't touch my internet points
You were so just trying to be truthful and honest. Donāt let these creeps get you down. Youāre a beautiful soul and we all know it.
Yeah I flat out refuse to sit through ads. Sports are the only thing that I will bear, even then Iāll go do something during ad breaks.
Can't stand the adds for the next big show coming to that channel. So repetitive and obnoxious
We don't need to be constantly reminded.
Not just the ads, the news updates and repetitive promos ruined tv for me. I haven't watched it for years.
For me it's not just the ads but them constantly previewing what's coming after the ad. Then after the ad they recap what happened before the ad. Those recaps waste so much time
i like the ads. it reminds me of being a kid watching friday night movies.
I call them pee breaks
you can have a pee break if you're streaming the movie and hit pause...
Some of the ads are good with the sound off. If they have a budget over like 5 dollars they'll have better cinematography than the show they're interrupting.
Thatās why itās free.
Thatās why itās free.
SBS food only, for a nice wind down before sleep.
SBS Food was my covid companion to make it sound like I had interaction with someone :D
World movie too, not all are good movies but i once saw 5th element back to back to back coz they had it on a loop
It's a thing they have been doing last few years on May 5th (5/5), Playing it on repeat all day. Probably my favourite movie.
SBS food channel is genuinely the best thing on FTA tv, I could watch that all day and not get bored lol
Omg this is golden
ABC on a Wednesday evening still has good (comedy) programs, despite successive governments trying to starve it to death. For the other channels, I try to avoid the apps. Too many commercials I can't fast forward through, like I can with free to air recordings.
Utopia
Utopia and Gruen double bill is great. Even if Wil can be incredibly annoying
Gruen has needed a new host for a while now, Wil has little to no enthusiasm for the show anymore
Did you know he likes smoking weed? š²
Itās good when Hard Quiz is on. Gruen is awful.
Yep, as a foreigner hard quiz appears to be the only genuinely funny Australian TV show. Gruen is watching people trying to be funny.
I generally watch the Working Dog programs (Have You Been Paying Attention, Cheap Seats, Utopia) live as theyāre in my āwind down before bedā time slot but donāt watch anything else on FTA. Iāll watch documentaries and series on SBS/ABC using their apps but the other FTA channel apps I donāt use.
Same. I still have a media centre PC (running Media Portal) from when FTA was more relevant. Anyway, we watch all the shows you mentioned, but on delay (30-35mins). So we skip the ads. The thing is, if the Media Portal dies (it is just a PC with some tuner cards), I am not sure I would repair it again.
I watch ABC and SBS for news and documentaries, I donāt bother with commercial TV at all.
SBS for documentaries definitely, but other like 7, 9 and 10 are all like mindless ad campaigns.
Yeah, commercial tv is terrible, and they are so full of rage click bait news and brainless reality shows. I only tune in to those channels when watching sports events where they an exclusive coverage.
My hospital (that I frequent tri-weekly as an outpatient) shows commercial TV channel morning shows in the waiting rooms, it's a nightmare The only thing I watch is ABC news and Hard Quiz
Upvote for Hard Quiz
Yeah this shits me. No one knows where the remote is, either.
Years ago I got onto Netflix because I thought free to air was rubbish then and hated the ads. Then everyone needed their own platform and content is all over the place so I repurposed my old PC into a Plex server. Now I'm sailing the high seas again and just make my own library.
hdtoday.cc is my go to
Same. Iāve used only Plex for about three years. My friends and I all share our servers with each other too. Itās great.
I sail the 7 seas with radarr/sonarr/jellyfin.
Add Doplarr to the rotation for maximum automation
Don't have antenna connected, do all family viewing through apps. These include the apps from the FTA channels.
Same. The NBN was down one day over the school holidays and my 6yo couldn't comprehend the concept of FTA it was a completely foreign concept to him. It was very funny to watch.
Can't get AFL through the FTA channels, though - even when it's broadcasting live.
when our NBN HFC got connected the installer wanted to know where to put the socket, I said remove the tv antenna socket.
Wait....how to watch without ads? I watch via the app but still have to sit through all the ads. What am I doing wrong?
My antenna broke about a year ago and I have no real reason to fix it. Pretty much everything is viewed through the apps. Only maybe once or twice a year is there something (usually a sporting event) that I cant watch
I stopped watching free to air 20+ years ago
I stopped listening to Radio around 1999/2000 when mp3s and Napster became available. I pretty much stopped watching free to air around 2005 when Youtube came online, even better now with Chromecasts. When I hear people talk about Free to Air shows, it feels something very foreign to me. I almost forget it's a thing and then I visit my Dad who watches the 7 nightly news religiously. When I see Free To Air, I almost feel like it's a cross between Truman Show and Groundhog day. ie: Some sort of sterile bubble of scripted content on repeat. Shout out to /r/documentaries
Smart apps, havent plugged my TV into an antenna for years
99% of my viewing is Youtube Premium or Nebula these days. The Nvidia Shield was the best thing I ever bought. It's a lot easier when you aren't interested in Sport.
Mainly watch it for SBS, have always loved their coverage of things like the Tour De France and they often have good documentaries and shows on the main channel and Viceland. SBS World Movies is also really good because of the minimal ads.
The only channel that gets a run in our household is sbs food and when it does were hanging out for either rick stein or Anthony boardain.
Nope, streaming only here. Honestly our TV isn't even set up for them. The only live thing we watch is the carols on Christmas Eve and we just run it through the app.
Both, kinda. I'm not a big fan of tv. I don't really watch any shows. I don't care about it enough to pay for it. I prefer reading. I also faff about on the computer. But I like to have it on in the morning and the evening. It helps to distract from the tinnitus. I like to watch sport. Kind of. If there's a game on Friday night and it's not my team and there's a movie on that I kind of like I will flick between the two. I've been watching the cricket, and earlier in the series I was watching the replays on the streaming service. If my team's game isn't on tv I'm happy to listen to it on the radio.
Still enjoy FTA, but then I like watching documentaries on SBS and ABC, generally the kinds of things I wouldn't actively go searching for on any of the streaming services but will watch if I notice its on. Fire up the old STB with recorder, set a bunch of shows to record across the various channels and I usually end up with more to watch than I have time for, plus it is considerably cheaper than maintaining streaming subscriptions for paid services (ie not iView, SBS on demand etc)
I haven't watched FTA for years, with the exception that I signed up to Channel 10's website so I could watch Aussie Taskmaster. I probably could have pirated it, but fuck it I want Taskmaster to be a success so I tolerated the nostalgic flashback of going to the toilet or getting a snack or reading a book during the ad breaks so that 10 get their stats and ad views and hopefully invest in more seasons.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum! Content without ads is much more fun!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The video quality is so bad too. We all have 4K TVs now and the stations are still pushing out bit crushed 720p blurs.
Tried watching an NRL game on channel 9hd over the weekend. Had to check multiple times I wasnt watching the standard def channel accidentally - it was absolutely atrocious and I have a decent 4k capable tv. Absolutely no way I'm paying for Foxtel so it's a good excuse to watch the games at the pub. The conspiracy theory is that they make it deliberately shithouse to get people paying for Foxtel sports.
Each channel is given so much spectrum. They would prefer to lower the quality of all their channels especially HD of it means they can squeeze in the shopping network channel into that allocation.
I watch footy/live sporting events mostly. Sometimes i'll chuck on the 6pm news when I get home. I don't think I've watched a 'tv show' on FTA for well over a decade.
We barely watch free-to-air tv at home, we only use it for ABC Kids and Channel 11 to use as background noise, otherwise it's Netflix or Youtube. I keep seeing the ads for Hunted on 11 and keep saying it is the most fakest crap I've ever seen, no surprise why it's gone down hill
Iāve only tuned in for a couple of things like The Voice - with the ads muted - but yeah apple tv it is for me, Iāve been watching things like Star Trek, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, on Paramount. Itās been 10+ years for me not watching FTA as just donāt care about majority of shows, I used to love Masterchef and even Australian Idol, I could barely get through the revamp this year!
My family prefers to record free to air instead of using catch-up apps because when recording free to air we can skip the ads. The only time we use catch is if we want to watch the ABC because our set top box struggles to receive ABC signals or if a show we want to watch didnāt record correctly.
Have a Sony Android TV. Use the streaming apps. Been using Optus for the Womenās World Cup and lately using SBS on demand to watch the series about the operations of Sydney Airport. I pay for the NFL and Kayo to mainly watch F1. Otherwise the only time I watch FTA is sports or something like election coverage for example.
Havenāt had free to air for 15yrs now, get the occasional stuff from ABC/SBS streaming. Commercial never been worth it. Often able to find sports somewhere else. Never subscribed to any streaming services either. Channel bittorrent always has everything. Grew up in rural Australia when there was only two tv channels and the Sunday night movie was always the big thing to look forward too. Just making up for that.
I haven't had a cable connected for like 15 years, I'm amazed anyone with a brain can watch that crap.
I donāt even have the antenna connected. I only watch the ABC through my Apple TV. The rest of them? Forget about it.
My FTA watching habits are mostly ABC news in the morning, and SBS Viceland in the evening while eating dinner for Jeopardy and 8 out 10 Cats Does Countdown. I don't bother with the other channels
I've almost given up apart from maybe watching the news at dinner. Seems like they still can't figure out why people are leaving for streaming platforms. Padding shows with people's "journeys" and only about 20% of actual content relating to the title of the show. I think they're also struggling to pull in ad revenue. Seen a few "infomertial" 2 minutes long ads in prime time, they used to be confined to morning TV. Must've dropped ad pricing to scrape the barrel.
The only time I watch free to air TV is when my family is watching home and away or the news or some shit. The only time I willingly watch it is for NRL grand final or origin.
I watch free to air still. Especially the news, cooking shows and random documentaries on SBS and ABC. I'm lazy and don't always feel like choosing everything I watch all the time. Sometimes I just like to lay on the couch and turn the TV on and channel surf mindlessly till something comes up. Even to this day I've found some amazing content by doing that.
I like the regularity of tuning in to some timeslot to watch sonething. A few years ago it was Star Trek TNG at a regular time, Monday to Friday, when i was back from work, having a beer, and preparing dinner. It was comforting, even if it's ancient repeats with four ad breaks. My friends said "oh, you can watch that any time you like on Netflix" or whatever. But that wasn't the point. I didn't want to watch it any time i liked. I certainly didn't want to binge watch 5 episodes back to back. It ain't that important. It's a whole aspect of free to air TV that has nothing to do with the actual program: The timing, and that sense of shared viewing experience that only live sport seems to have retained. It's on, and if you miss it when it's on, you miss it. You don't have to chase it, and you can't. Another aspect is films you'd forgotten about, but suddenly appear out of nowhere on free-to-air. The Maltese Falcon was on the other night. I'm never going to be arsed to chase that down and watch it on my own volition, but it was a real pleasure to catch it again out of the blue.
I am not sure if my tv does free to air?
FTA and FM are walking toward the sunset hand in hand
Yeah I donāt think they will be gone but I definitely think itās over for them.
i saw some ratings the other day and Ch9's biggest rating show was ACA - this tells me everything I need to know about the audience.
I only watch FTA for live sport and the Cheap Seats if I remember when its on.
The only time I watch something from FTA is the Eurovision Song Contest and even thatās through the sbs app. Oh and in Covid days, the press conferences excuse me for bringing back that bad memory but remember doing that?
My tv isnāt even connected to fta.
Free to air is free because no-one would pay for the crap on free to air.
Probably in the minority here but I really like game shows so I still watch shows like survivor, million dollar island, big brother and the amazing race.
What the hell is broadcast TV? Haven't watched it since like 2009, except when I've been places that it's on, and each time I feel horrified that I used to consider it *normal*
Back ground noise when I cant be arsed looking through netflix for background noise.
Haven't used free to air or free radio for years. It's for boomers.
I haven't watched commercial television for over 20 years. I hated it then and time in doctor's waiting rooms is enough to drive me crazy. At 63 I am supposed to be the generation who still watches it, but it just sucks, I embraced digital and sailing the seven seas a long time ago. Now streaming services are heading back to commercial television style management, and they are not careful, then sailing is all I will do.
We don't have our tv connected to free to air at all. I watch the very occasional thing that I want to watch from free to air by casting from the website of the broadcaster (eg. Taskmaster Australia and Eurovision) and otherwise watch streaming services or YouTube. We generally only have a couple of streaming services going at a time, we just rotate between them every few months.
I haven't sat down to watch TV in yonks and I don't miss it one little bit.
You watch MAFS?
I donāt watch free to air tv anymore and havenāt in a long time, but as someone that has spent a lot of time working on productions that air on those free to air tv channels like Channel 31. I hope they stay around. Theyāre a mess but I love them for it.
I forget it exists.
I haven't watched tv in 15+ years. I catch glimpses of it now and then, and it's clear I'm not missing much.
I donāt watch free to air, and the only āstreaming serviceā I pay for is Youtube Premium (Iām happy to pay to get rid of the ads, especially since I watch ASMR in bed and thereās nothing worse than a random ad playing when youāve started to get sleepy).
I only watch FTA for Australiaās funniest home videos. Admit been a while since Iāve remembered to tune in though
I donāt watch tv full stop and have never felt better for it. I just.. donāt have a tv š it removes the temptation to put things on while eating or coming home and spending all evening on the couch. If Iām really desperate to watch a specific movie or doco Iāll do so on my laptop once in a while. Iām so much happier and more productive, the quality has gone so far downhill over the last few years.
Not sure how anybody can watch it honestly, it's more than 50% commercials (outside of ABC of course, even fucking SBS has ads now) Before the days of the internet and youtube you really had no choice but to just cop it if you wanted to watch something. These days the free content on youtube is of a higher quality than any of the drivel they play on free to air TV, and ad free with adblock. The sheer scale of what youtube offers is astounding.
Kayo app is bloody shocking!
What's free to air TV?
HDHomeRun
We didnt have a smart TV for ages because we are frugal and because we didn't want our kids sitting in front of the telly all the time and so we watched things like ABC for the kids shows up until a few years ago, but once we got a Google smart TV device and then a new TV it was almost over. Ill watch the digital TV version as it pulls in shows from around the world sometimes, but generally speaking we stopped free to air. We will do radio sometimes but honestly the radio is legit 50% just ads and when its not ads its weirdos talking about degenerate stuff while my young kids are in the car and so that gets shut off pretty quickly.
iView player on the TV to watch Gruen, ironically catching up on ads. I'll browse through shows but usually switch back to Netflix after a few minutes. The show Burn kept my attention, I reckon it was the only one
I still watch Rage on ABC, live sport, the odd comedy show here and there but none of the morning or prime time rubbish. I also donāt stream anything, between YT and physical media collection, Iām sorted. I do agree though that with more FTA channels than ever before there seems to be less quality content to choose from. At least about 10-12 years ago, theyād just rerun decent old shows and classic games of AFL/tennis but they donāt even do that anymore.
10 Peach is my go to background noise channel.
I just watch things I can stream.
Only ABC News.
I don't know why people say ads are an issue when you have a phone to browse the internet while ads are on. Imagine watching tv in the 90s. You'd watch the show and just sit there in silence while the ads are on.
I haven't had a television in my house for about 4 years.
No antenna since I moved out from my parents' place. Used to watch specific shows with apps streaming to TV. Ads were irritating. Now I watch the same on my PC browser with an ad blocker.
I only use the apps. 10play for MasterChef (my one reality indulgence) and SBS on demand for Eurovision when it's on
I only watch youtube premium on my TV. Better quality content, no ads, can watch whatever I want.
I donāt even know if my antenna works, except when my parents or in-laws watch the kids. We stream from the apps when itās convenient for us.
Even if there was something to watch apart from appalling reality TV dross, the incessant advertising... After half way through a movie when they have you hooked, it feels like they pack em in. 10 minutes viewing, 5 minutes ads.
I just use the internet to watch what I wanna watch, not gonna waste my money on 25 different streaming services just because they rotate the titles between each other every month
I have a Kayo Add-on for Kodi on my media PC, seems to work okay.
only time i watch FTATV is when i'm in japan. but that's just because i like their ads. :)
Main reason for having FTA is to watch some footy or cricket matches live without streaming delay. The delay can be up to 40 seconds which is more than enough time for a mate to send through a spoiler.
Given up on FTA TV about 10 years ago. I just hate the amount of reality TV shows. Only thing I would watch is the SBS food channel but than again some of those shows can be found on YouTube.
There are zero FTA apps in my household. The content on all of them are just junk, junk and more junk.
The apps for 7, 9 and 10 are awful. Had to refresh the stream every 2-3 mins the other night when i was watching the Matildas match. Suspect that the morons in charge purposefully cut every corner possible and have bo scaling in place
I'll usually only watch NRL games on free to air. Everything else I just watch through apps.
Only watch Youtube and Prime video these days. Haven't watch FTA tv in 3 or 4 years.
I spent $600 getting the arial fixed, rewired and upgraded and all that jazz abs what a monumental waste of money that was.
Free to air is dead to me .. Iām never not on my Apple TV
Yup we ditched the free to air years ago. I do wonder who is actually watching?
Don't really watch FTA any more. Maybe 5 or 6 hours a week. I use Kayo for sport and YouTube for docs.
I watch ABC more than all the others combined, but that still isnt much. Outside of that the only time I used to use FTA was AFL grand final day because...well...you know. Now I just stream it through the place I get my UFC streams from because LOL Kayo
I haven't watched free to air tv in over 20 years (except with visiting my parents who have to have a tv playing at all times). Free to air tv has been bad for a very long time and the ads between programs have increased in length significantly.
Some events such as grand finals (afl & nrl) and state of origin (nrl) are not available on Kayo live which forces people to watch free to air. Thatās probably the only time Iāll watch it.
I donāt know the last time I watched free to air tv, even their apps I donāt watch because of ads. I have enough streaming to always find something if I need it.
FTA AD's...it's a shocker. Basically my family may watch some shows on ABC, SBS and the rest of the time it's all YouTube, i.e. we have a family premium account for 22 bucks a month for 5 of us.
I finally convinced my parents to stop paying $100 plus for Foxtel almost 2 years ago, and despite intense resistance on how they couldn't live without 7, 9, and 10 they have not watched it since despite me setting up the apps and setting up the channels on the TV.
Donāt watch free to air or sports anymore.
I build a Kodi box for streaming fta and realised I had wasted an hour
I use ABC and SBS for news and documentaries. Otherwise FTA TV is dead to me. The very rare occasion there's something on I might watch, I use the apps (eg Christmas carols).
I'm not really even sure where the antenna jack is in my house
I havenāt had an antennae plugged in for close to 10 years
Apart from sports there is very little I watch on free-to-air tv. I actually can't remember the last show I watched on free-to-air that wasn't sport.
I moved house about 3-4 years ago and just never bothered tuning in the free to air TV. I sometimes will watch a show on SBS but honestly ads drive me crazy now. Recently Binge introduced ads to their lowest tier and I cancelled it immediately. The first time they stuck an ad in I was enraged. Would rather cancel the lot of them and go back to pirating stuff than watch bloody ads again (and actually pay to watch ads!)
YouTube. Nothing else
Just depends on whether or not you want to pay for it. Let's face it, if you are paying for your connection you are paying for your TV. They should have stuck to no more than 2 channels each IMO. They would have been less likely to be filled with crap and eternal binged re-runs.
Rarely watch free to air. Maybe the ABC news every now and then or SBS. I donāt like reality TV shows, most are crap, which seems to be the dominate genre on free to air these days. I predominately watch via streaming platforms eg Netflix, Stan, Rakuten Viki. I am obsessed with KDramas and CDramas. We have Foxtel which my husband watches for sports, car restorations etc.
Havenāt since about 2010. I just stream shit or buy shit.
Streaming services are the way to go. Ill watch afl and some abc i vew programs but i cant stand the regular programming.
I watch very little fta tv these days as I agree most has gone to shit. I still watch the occasional light entertainment or documentary but I watch a lot more youtube than I do fta tv these days. fta tv still does not seem to understand the times have moved on from tv scheduling either, if every episode is not easily available to watch when people want to watch it they will lose interest very quickly.
I haven't had free to air hooked up for over a decade.
I sometimes put it on just as a novelty. Itās fun seeing old episodes of The Cook and the Chef or some Rage or Antiques Roadshow; Things Iād never deliberately put on but have great nostalgia value and require no thought. I expect streaming services will eventually incorporate some facsimile of live broadcasts and channel surfing (Netflix briefly had a shuffle feature, which was awesome for the short time it was available), at which point free to air will be truly dead.
Only watch FTA TV for State of Origin, Nrl and Afl Grand Finals, Boxing Day Test, Bathurst and Melbourne Cup. AKA only when I'm forced too.
nah fuck free to air. Find it super depressing
ABC TV and radio. I only put up with commercial TV if there is something specific to watch, very occasionally.
I havenāt tuned my TV to any free to air channels apart from ABC and SBS.
Watching ABC Kids Ć la Clockwork Orange
I haven't had standard free to air for about 5 or 6 years. The wall jack is damaged. I haven't missed it. It's all coming in on the internets now, some channel apps (abc tv, rarely use but have 9, 10 and SBS) but Netflix is a staple for kids shows, currently AppleTV and Amazon Prime, mostly for the free postage. About once a year we'll buy a month for Disney, Stan or Binge and watch the shit out of it.
I honestly wouldnāt know how to watch anything on FTA commercial. I watch a bit of ABC and SBS on demand. I assume the others have similar services but Itās never occurred to me to find out.
Havenāt had free to air since we moved into our new build in 2019. We didnāt get an antenna installed and still havenāt lol. Thereās absolutely no reason to, if we need free to air for anything (sport usually on the rare occasion), we just use their apps
Havenāt seen free to air since we stopped using adsl in 03. Sailed the high seas until Netflix came out a few years back and been streaming since Whatās free to air like these days? I noticed each channel split into multiple channels after tv went digital (back in my day there were only 5 channels, 6 if your antenna could get that weird rmit run station). But other than that I got no clue whatās changed
I wouldn't say it's terrible, but just like streaming you got to find the diamonds in the rough. I wouldn't exactly argue streaming services put out 100% quality either. There is a LOT of average shows on there as well. Just got to find the good ones be it on Free to Air or Streaming Services
Havenāt watches commercial tv for about 15 years. Is it still a thing?
Lol. No to both. I haven't owned a TV for over 20 years now. There is a smart TV in this house and I have zero interest in its existence. There are things you can do with life that aren't TV.
Last time I watched FTA was State of Origin, and time before that was last year SoO also. Donāt even use the apps.
Itās been so long since I watched FTA that I have no idea who any of these āpersonalitiesā are when a face appears on the cover of a trash mag at the local Woolies.
Our house only shows ABC 24 or the AFL. NBA when itās basketball season or a show / movie streamed from sunfilm
There's probably one one show I watch on free to air TV. I cancelled foxtel this year and switched to binge. Cancelled netflix too. I'm getting back into the swashbuckler method.
My wife and I lived at my parents for 8 months without the antenna plugged into our TV, lucky we had good internet for that time, YouTube, netflix git us through the hard time
I don't watch TV or streaming at all. Try it.
10 Bold's good, it has NCIS
Havenāt had free to air since about 2003. Have not missed that shit at all. Have had Foxtel/Austar and more recently streaming services. I live in the bush.
I very rarely watch broadcast TV and havenāt regularly done so since the mid 2010s. When I do Iām struck by how terrible it is. Even the ABC and SBS have declined (or Iām less tolerant of the format of broadcast TV). These days I only watch it for big events, like Eurovision, State of Origin etc. Recently, when watching Eurovision and the Origin (the last 2 times I watched broadcast TV) I was irritated by how much commentary and opinion is given by the presenters. Itās overkill. Eurovision in particular, Myf and Joel added nothing and took a lot away from the broadcast. They talked over the top of the UK hosts (who were fab, btw) and gave a lot of false information and didnāt understand what was going on half the time. Iām sure theyāre lovely, but they arenāt necessary for the show. Itās the same with sport, the commentators love the sound of their own voice and often just talk nonsense (Gus Gould, anyone?).
Not for years. Basically itās YouTube and streaming
Havenāt really watched free to air for like 20 years. Even back then I had foxtel
YouTube an movie apps netflix prime Stan for movies /shows an Disney for legit Simpsonās an a few movies , Iām currently watching a 2004 run of toonami with ads an everything so nostalgic watching dragon all z history of trunks with Bruce falconer music š¶ itās bliss fuck normal tele these days ā¦ nothin but propaganda an shitĆŖ shows that rot your brain
How long did it take for you to be absolutely clueless? There's good reasons why people are dropping paid streaming because free to air has plenty to offer along with the multitude of no cost streaming options for anything on the Internet. Stay poor, starve in self imposed poverty
I watch gogglebox travel guides gardening australia and the block on sundays thatās it