Freeview - Efforts to promote awareness (or lack of)

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steve98

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#13045 19-Apr-2007 15:09

Is it just me, or does anyone else find Freeview's utter lack of promoting awareness of the forthcoming launch of the service very strange? So far, we have had to rely on snippets in the press and rumours to find any information about Freeview. Despite the launch being just around the corner (2nd May - according to a report in the press), their website is still not operational, I have seen no TV or press advertising, we are yet to see what their set-top boxes will look like, authorised retailers do not have any demo stands going... and so on.

Basically, if I wasn't interested in Freeview and hadn't gone searching for information about it off my own back, I would not know anything about it. I think that the general public are completely unaware of it and it seems to me that at this late stage they shouldn't be. Why aren't the Freeview group trying to get people excited about this product? Why isn't their website making me salivate all over pictures of the boxes and screenshots of the EPG?! Don't they want it to sell?

Their website, www.freeviewnz.tv has said 'Coming Soon' for weeks now. Surely there should at least be some FAQ's along the lines of 'What is Freeview?' at the very least.... I think this completely lacklustre build up is suspicious somehow, it just doesn't seem right.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

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#67733 19-Apr-2007 15:25

perhaps they want to get all their ducks in a row before the official launch.... retailers, installers, website, helpdesk phone numbers, tv stations online, ... then go for a big push.. there has been enough information out there for enthusiasts to play round with and for interested parties to know who to contact... i dont know if it would be a good idea to talk it up any more than they have until its ready.

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xcubed

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#67734 19-Apr-2007 15:26

Yeah, I agree. The only available information seems to be from the (almost underground) rumor mill. I'm suprised that we haven't even seen a 2 minute snippet on the TV news showing the test channels in action.

Anybody would think that they want this project to fail...

steve98

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#67744 19-Apr-2007 15:46

Regs: perhaps they want to get all their ducks in a row before the official launch.... retailers, installers, website, helpdesk phone numbers, tv stations online, ... then go for a big push.. there has been enough information out there for enthusiasts to play round with and for interested parties to know who to contact... i dont know if it would be a good idea to talk it up any more than they have until its ready.

I would say the ducks would almost certainly already be in a row, and would have been for some time if the launch is just around the corner. The TV Stations are also already online, and have been online in a 'testing' phase for some time -- certainly 'online' enough to have had a demo box going in Noel Leemings stores, for example. But there has been none of that - they should have a queue of people waiting to go come May 2nd, but they've relied purely on word of mouth and the occasional mention in the newspapers so far.

grant_k

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#67755 19-Apr-2007 16:34

steve98: ...but they've relied purely on word of mouth and the occasional mention in the newspapers so far.

Just a ploy to save money on advertising???

A casualty of the TVNZ Budget Cuts maybe

rscole86

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#67765 19-Apr-2007 17:14

Alot of DSE stores seem to have a flyer in their stores, and also some basic information on their website.

steve98

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#67768 19-Apr-2007 17:33

rscole86: Alot of DSE stores seem to have a flyer in their stores, and also some basic information on their website.

Yes, the EPG screenshots on that website look very nice - and the 'now/next' screen is a great idea. But this is the DSE website, why isn't it on the freeview website?! Why should consumers have to go to the DSE website to learn about Freeview?!

richms

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#67769 19-Apr-2007 17:38

Freeview are launching their website closer to launch from the hooktech email I got about it.

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#67772 19-Apr-2007 17:51

Just how much closer to the launch can you get!!?? Much closer and it will be a post launch launch

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richms

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#67775 19-Apr-2007 18:23

C&P from the email...

Freeview expect this will result in significant retail and installation activity driven by the following marketing approach:

Freeview on-air brand promotions (30 sec and 15 sec commercials) – commencing 23^rd April on all TV channels.
Freeview website live – late next week – www.freeviewnz.tv
Radio advertising from 2^nd May
Continued coverage by all major media leading up to launch – press, radio, TV, online

Richard rich.ms

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Snowflake

#67780 19-Apr-2007 20:07

http://www.av1.co.nz/updates/ shows the same dates for advertising and launch

regarding steve98's comment: "The TV Stations are also already online"

Am i missing something? I dont seem to have a signal for TV3 or C4 yet. Perhaps you can point out how I might receive them

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cyril7

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#67821 20-Apr-2007 08:41

Rumor is that TV3/4 will be starting tests on D1 this coming tuesday.

Cyril

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#67829 20-Apr-2007 09:27

Doh.. I had been wondering why TV 3 was still not as sharp as TV1.. of course it is still not using D1.

RobDickinson

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#67857 20-Apr-2007 13:06

I think its madness they've not been advertising it since xmas realy - how much would it cost TV companies to put in a few adverts now and again?

Sky have been pushing hard recently and tying people into lengthy contracts with juct get in offers, all those people are now lost customers for quite some time.

alloyplatypus

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#67989 21-Apr-2007 11:59

My guess is that they knew that there would be issues. After all, most of us enthusiasts have been told it was coming "in a few months" since about this time last year. They havent had any bad press about the continual delays because they havent announced an official release date and pumped it up, until now. The only people that have been getting frustrated by delays are enthusiasts and Motorhomers, who seem to know through their NZMCA networking, as much about this as anyone. The official Zinwell receivers are around at the moment, but the Hills ones still havent been finished yet either, but they are really pushing to have them ready by May 2nd.

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#67990 21-Apr-2007 12:52

RobDickinson: I think its madness they've not been advertising it since xmas realy - how much would it cost TV companies to put in a few adverts now and again?

Sky have been pushing hard recently and tying people into lengthy contracts with juct get in offers, all those people are now lost customers for quite some time.

Freeview and Sky aren't competing products so that's a moot point.

After reading a few other posts in this thread I gthink people forget that Freeview isn't some fancy PPV service, it's the first step towards replacing NZ's analogue broadcast channels with DVB-S and DVB-T replacements.

IMHO there's no point in wasting money advertising that Freeview is coming soon because 99% of people simply wouldn't care. Once the service is up and running there will be an advertising campaign to advertise the fact. IMHO Freeview isn't really going to take off until DVB-T is available next February.

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