THE embattled Nine Network has enjoyed a ratings victory, of sorts.

After
losing 10 consecutive ratings nights to the Seven Network, it finally
beat its rival on Wednesday night with a 24.8 per cent share against
Seven’s 23.9per cent.

As if to rub salt into its wounds though, Nine didn’t win Wednesday; the Ten Network did with a 25.2 per cent share.

The Nine Network has seemingly emerged from its public relations
abyss with the recent reappointment of David Gyngell as chief executive
and its nabbing of the Olympic broadcast rights for 2010 and 2012 from
under the nose of an unimpressed Seven Media Group chief executive
David Leckie.

But throughout its tumultuous run of management changes, revolving
doors and acrimonious affidavits, the network hasn’t had a ratings run
as dire as its current one.

Last week, for the first time, Nine did not have one program in the
top 20. Its best was Sunday’s National Nine News, which ranked 24th
with 1.251 million viewers. That dubious achievement is likely to be
replicated this week.

Opposition communications
spokesman Stephen Conroy is still also considering whether to allow a
fourth free-to-air TV licence as part of its election platform.

As for analog TV, Senator Conroy told Media: "We believe there
should be a cut-off date and we will be making an announcement on
this."

The Government has set a broad target of between 2010 and 2012 for analog shut-down.

"Optimists suggest the dates may be feasible, pessimists believe that the target won’t be achieved," Senator Conroy said.

But Communications Minister Helen Coonan, who is expected soon to
announce a timetable for the auction of channels A and B – Channel A to
be used for niche programming aimed at home viewing, and Channel B for
mobile TV broadcast to hand-held devices – criticises Labor’s plans to
close Digital Australia.

The
Macquarie Media Group’s $1.35 billion takeover bid for Southern Cross
Broadcasting and nine regional stations owned by Fairfax has been given
the go-ahead by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission,
subject to a number of undertakings.

Any further movement will have to wait until the vote on the
takeover offer by Southern Cross shareholders tomorrow. The bid is
supported by the Southern Cross board and key shareholders.

The approval by the ACCC was expected.

Nevertheless, Fairfax Media in particular has been hamstrung by its
inability to move with any certainty on major changes required at
Southern Cross’s metropolitan radio stations.

THE
head of Australia’s largest radio network has delivered the first media
policy challenge for the 2007 election, arguing radio stations should
be allowed to broadcast video to digital radios.

Peter
Harvie, executive chairman of Austereo – owner of the Triple M and
Today FM networks in each mainland capital – said radio should be able
to compete with other platforms to deliver video images, especially in
news broadcasts.

Rules framed for the launch of digital radio in January 2009 allow still pictures to be broadcast but not video.

Communications Minister Helen Coonan was sympathetic to the idea.
"Moving images are not permitted (under the current legislation) and I
would like to see digital radio introduced first, but in principle,
it’s something we could look at," she told Media.

But Opposition Communications spokesman Stephen Conroy does not like
the idea, arguing TV stations pay more in licence fees than radio
stations.

"We would not support video, the equivalent of TV, moving pictures," he said.

The video push is part of radio’s bid for a larger slice of the
national advertising pie as the medium undergoes a digital revolution.
Incumbent broadcasters have been granted 128kb of spectrum, which
allows for two CD-quality digital broadcast streams using the latest
DAB+ (digital audio broadcasting plus) technology which is four times
as spectrum efficient as the original DAB standard.

SHANE Warne might be permanently in the doghouse these days but he’s welcome into the homes of 2.5 million television viewers.

The
former cricketer’s popularity with TV viewers was reinforced when an
additional 300,000 people tuned in for his appearance on the Seven
network’s Kath and Kim on Sunday night.

Since debuting with an audience of 2.51 million viewers in August,
the series has averaged 2.02 million viewers each week and been the No1
program for all but two weeks.

The heavily promoted season finale of Jane Turner and Gina Riley’s
sitcom averaged 2.304 million viewers in the five metropolitan capital
cities.

On Sunday night, Warne played a Shane Warne impersonator.

He married Magda Szubanski’s Sharon Strzelecki at Melbourne’s Luna Park.

Warne’s appeal beyond the cricket pitch was emphasised in January
when his interview with Michael Parkinson on the UKTV channel became
the most watched non-sport program on subscription television to that
point.

Industry
group Commercial Radio Australia is planning a commercial trial of the
service next year after teaming with technology and broadcast software
companies to develop the system.

Digital radio is to launch in Australia in 2009 and instead of
broadcasting music only, radio stations will be able to broadcast data
such as images, artist and track data, news headlines, weather and
competitions.

"Australian radio broadcasters are committed to getting digital
radio and its exciting multimedia features into mobile phones," CRA
chief Joan Warner said.

"When digital radio is launched we will be able to demonstrate some
of the exciting possibilities that digital radio is capable of bringing
to handsets."

One company that helped develop the visual digital audio broadcasting application was All in Media.

Its managing director, Chris Gould, said digital radio was a natural
feature to offer in handsets because more people were now listening to
radio through their mobile phones.

"The interactive visual DAB application demonstrates that radio is
not an audio-only platform but can offer exciting new multimedia
features to listeners," he said.

Research conducted in Australia two years ago showed about a third
of consumers had listened to radio on their mobiles, Ms Warner said.

"Digital radio could become a compelling reason to choose a handset
because it can deliver exciting new content to consumers free to air,"
she said.

Meantime, British digital radio manufacturer Pure has announced it
will establish an Australian division as it plans to release the first
DAB+-ready digital radios early next year.

MEDIA
buyers and the pay-television industry have attacked the $2.8 million
metropolitan TV sector over a bullish beginning to the annual
advertising rate negotiations, claiming the cost of free-to-air TV
advertising will rise by an average of 10 per cent next year.

The
increase relates to the average cost of reaching 1000 viewers in the
five capital cities in prime time, according to Anthony Fitzgerald,
chief executive of pay-TV sales company MCN.

It is pegged on the Seven Network’s opening gambit to increase its
rates for the key buying groups by 9 per cent to 11 per cent, but takes
into account a low expected claim of 3 per cent to 4 per cent from the
Nine Network. Ten is expected to slot in between the two.

Also included in the calculation, Mr Fitzgerald said, was a 5per
cent decline in the number of people watching prime-time free-to-air TV
on the three commercial networks during the present ratings year.

"In my view, advertisers should be outraged by this level of
increase in a marketplace where free-to-air audiences again in 2008
will decline," Mr Fitzgerald said. "The picture is significantly worse
in the Sydney market, where audience declines are even greater."