Thread: Sat TV Guide for VAST and Aurora viewers

The Guides provided have been excellent but unfortunately cant be used by those without a computer so I have hoping this would appear in print form in papers like The Land etc.
The EPG does a good job too except for the News Channels but there is I think a large number of Viewers who like the 'Hard Copy' of a TV guide to sit and sift thru for programs they want to see.
In many cases the Newspapers Terrestial Guide is better than nothing but maybe one day those in Regional/Rural areas may get the option of a Print Copy if one isnt already available.

Problem is that in regions like ours, Gordon, VAST is not the norm, so there is no incentive for the papers to list VAST channelling alongside local terrestrial (infact its likely to just confuse the average reader). Some people keep a tablet PC on a coffee/lamp table, and a link on the home screen to an online tv guide. I do that even in a terrestrial area, because we dont buy/read the paper and it saves having to turn the TV on just to see whats on the EPG.

Cheers fellas!

Would love to somehow export the guides in Word or PDF format. Maybe just a more printer-friendly version? A mobile version of the site is in the works, but it's pretty hard. Getting the data correct in the first place takes up most of my time, lol.

Originally Posted by nbound

Problem is that in regions like ours, Gordon, VAST is not the norm, so there is no incentive for the papers to list VAST channelling alongside local terrestrial (infact its likely to just confuse the average reader). Some people keep a tablet PC on a coffee/lamp table, and a link on the home screen to an online tv guide. I do that even in a terrestrial area, because we dont buy/read the paper and it saves having to turn the TV on just to see whats on the EPG.

I can't see it being that difficult or confusing. It's no different to the typical Sunday paper liftout, which usually lists the 7, 9 and 10 from the city, with Prime/SC, WIN/NBN and SC Ten in a smaller format alongside. One issue might be AFL and NRL on 7mate and GEM respectively.

"Please ,sir, I want some more."

Smacca is already dong a great job.

I'm still keen to get printable guides going, though. Something based on the admin style which fits nicely on an A4 sheet of paper...

Originally Posted by nbound

The number of people who would buy the metro newspapers just for VAST tv guide is small (a small proportion of the already relatively small (vs. terrestrial) number of VAST viewers in each state). Do they waste an extra page on VAST, or run a lucrative full page advert, or perhaps go without the extra page printed (and assoc. costs)?

The areas where VAST is likely to appear in newspapers, are those I imagine it does already - local newspapers in remote area towns with a reasonable population and poor or no fortuitous reception from nearby terrestrial sites.

In WA the situation is a bit different as the regional and remote license area is everywhere but Perth and surrounds, and therefore is delivered as the same feed by the same broadcasters whether via satellite or by terrestrial. That coupled with the approx. 500,000 non-Perth residents in WA, makes such a move more viable in metro newspapers there. Of course local newspapers would carry the listings there in most digitally transitioned areas already.

I was just saying that should a regional newspaper list VAST channels, it wouldn't be difficult or confusing for the majority non-VAST audience to decipher. Sunday papers can list multiple regions with ease.

I agree that it wouldn't be worthwhile in the long run. VAST imposing Freeview 2 standards promotes the use of the EPG to viewers anyway.

Thanks Smacca and Gavin great effort and will come in handy for many

I'm trialling a new 'description popup window' on both the channel and grid views. The old one had a problem with extra long descriptions, particularly on the ABC channels. Thanks to Rodnic for reporting that one.

Any feedback on the new popup is welcome!

Great to hear! Thanks for using it!

Couple of updates;

* The section has had a bit of a makeover.

* Grid View data has been stripped down so it should load a bit faster.

* XML files for download are now .

Rural Health Channel now added to all VAST guides, not that there will be much to watch on it, lol.

Also changed the Aurora guides and the TV Guide Home page.

This guide is an incrediblely great job done by smacca and co and very much appreciated.
Nbound said earlier re a printed guide that there wasnt enough interest or it would be confusing, well I totaly disagree.
Buy a copy of TV WEEK and or a newspaper, metro or local and read the listings where the main or base metropolitan channel has a program on and if an affiliate has something different, they show that in Italics ie NINE has Watermelon spitting on at 12 noon, NBN has Duck poo mounting and WIN has Dog Flea Circus training.
The LAND has shown Imparja for years in their guide and I would be very suprised if other publications dont do the same across OZ.
I spoke today to a TEN reporter on scene at a fire ravaged local Road House (Mt Lambie) and he was surprised when I told him that many close to there wouldnt see his report because of VAST showing Melbournes news on VAST at 5pm instead of NSW.
Tonight I was told I had my 5 seconds of fame when I walked (unbeknown to me) across the Camera's field of Vision but when FAME comes calling , I wont forget 'all the little people out there in Video land'.

Providing state-based commercial news has definitely been overlooked by the networks. I reckon there should be another 3 channels added to the news bouquet. Something like;

421. 7 News Sydney/Adelaide
422. Nine News Melbourne/Adelaide
423. Ten News Sydney/Adelaide

But then there's still the problem of limited news for the terrestrial relay sites.

smacca, run one after after the other as they do now for the regionals.
I am curious to see what the NSW 'NORTH' area will get its Metro News from when that area starts the changeover in July.
I am not sure I follow what you mean by the limited news for terrestial sites?
Here Terrestialy you get the Sydney news on each of the commercial channels (7,9 & 10) with either the 'local' news before or after it.
To do so they used to 'Bump' what they showed in Sydney at that time to later in the night.