Your say: O Week, council, Freeview

Readers' views for Friday, February 27:

O Week organiser out of touch
Why is our local (SIT) Orientation Week organised by a 50-something-year-old woman, who doesn't even live in Southland?

Christine Hainstock obviously has very little idea what young students want.

It also seems funny that the main entertainers (Jason Schmidt and Adrian Kirk) are managed by this woman so she is filling her pockets (not to mention adding the cost of flying back and forth from Christchurch regularly) with an event that should be aimed at introducing young students to a fun and exciting place Southland.

I, and many of my musical colleagues, have worked with (and still have contact with) some of New Zealand's biggest bands and DJs including Fat Freddy's Drop, the Black Seeds, Tiki Taane, Salmonella Dub, the Upbeats and Shapeshifter to name a few. But unfortunately our students have to listen to crap crooner covers from Jason Schmidt. Painful.

Don't get me wrong. I know Jason is a top-quality entertainer and I enjoy all types of music from all eras but this is a student festival for a younger target market, and should reflect that.

I think the menage-a-trois between SIT, ICC and the ILT needs to stop. Good luck to those trying to form a student council this year you will need it!
Richard Hogan, Invercargill

(Southern Institute of Technology chief executive Penny Simmonds declined to respond to the letter.)

Time for change
Is it not time that Invercargill got a change of city councillors? The ones we have have been there too long and are getting the city further and further into debt. With the present economic climate they should not consider enlarging the museum or building an arts centre.

The mayor and councillors could do without a raise the mayor could do with less, as he is often away.

Last year our rates increased by 7.8 per cent on the understanding that this year they would rise by no more than 3 per cent. Can they explain an increase of 10 per cent?

Why pay for a consultant? I agree with Steve Parry, that it would be a luxury and unaffordable.

Could any one of our city councillors live on the amount we, over the age of 65, get as superannuation? Or can we expect a rise of 10 per cent in April on April Fool's Day.
M Smith, Invercargill

Freeview TV
About four months ago I phoned Freeview TV asking when terrestrial Freeview TV would be available in Invercargill and was told next year. When I asked would that be the beginning of the year, middle of the year or later in the year, I was told they could not say.

Today, to check again the progress of this service coming to Invercargill, I phoned again only to be told that at the moment there are no plans to bring this service to Invercargill, and I presume Southland also.

This means anyone wanting Freeview down here will have the extra cost of a dish and cabling to the TV to receive Freeview satellite TV, whereas terrestrial Freeview is received by the existing UHF Prime aerial.

I would respectfully ask Freeview TV:

1. Freeview Terrestrial is available in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Napier, Hastings Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin. How did Southland miss out?

2. Rumour has it that Freeview had a charter from TVNZ to cover 70 per cent of the country with terrestrial TV. The remainder of the country would be covered by Freeview satellite. Is this correct?

3. TV retailers are selling "Freeview-ready" plasma and LCD TVs (meaning the set has a terrestrial tuner built in and does not need a set-top box).

People are paying quite a bit extra for this feature, which will be useless down here as we don't look like getting Freeview terrestrial signal. Has Freeview notified TV retailers of this, as three stores I've inquired from believed it was coming here and are readily selling Freeview-ready TVs.
R A Fredric, Invercargill

Freeview general manager Steve Browning replies:  Freeview, New Zealand's free-to-air digital television and radio platform, has grown rapidly and successfully since launching in May 2007.

Firstly, it would appear there was incorrect information provided by our contact centre last year to R A Fredric, which was regrettable as we work hard to ensure that all information provided is as accurate as possible.

We go to great lengths to ensure that Kiwis have access to all relevant information concerning Freeview and its availability. Our website, for example, has a fantastic tool which utilises Google Maps technology and allows you to check the availability of the Freeview satellite and Freeview-HD services at your address. We have communicated this innovative map function to all Freeview retailers. Printed maps have also been provided to retailers.

The Freeview-HD (via a UHF aerial) service reaches 75 per cent of New Zealand homes, while nearly 100 per cent can access the Freeview satellite service with a satellite receiver and dish.

The current cut-off at 75 per cent (and therefore excluding Southland) is simply down to cost. The Freeview-HD service has been rolled out (so far) to the nine largest New Zealand urban centres. We hope in the future (with new funding) that this can be extended but at this stage there are no plans to do so.

The conversion from primarily an analogue TV system to a digital one is a five to eight-year journey, then analogue will be switched off. Freeview works closely with all TV manufacturers and retailers to ensure that products on the market that are Freeview approved, work well for today's service and are compatible with services (and additional coverage) that may come online at a later date.

As such we believe it is reasonable for retailers outside the existing 75 per cent Freeview-HD coverage to sell TV with Freeview-HD built in. What is important is that people are not misled into believing this will work now. Therefore, Freeview provides this information through its website, contact centre, point of sale marketing material, and all communications with retailers and installers.

It is also worth noting that the TVs with digital tuners have many other features, are the latest models, and as a result are currently a higher retail price than older models. In future digital tuners will be standard in all TVs sold in New Zealand (this is a change that is happening in most countries in the world).

The initial success of Freeview, more than 200,000 New Zealand homes now have it, shows that Kiwis throughout the country have embraced it, and this is one of the highest takeups of anywhere in the world where a similar service has been introduced.

We hope that R A Fredric is a Freeview viewer.

- © Fairfax NZ News