From: tomw@ccadfa.cc.adfa.oz.au (Tom Worthington)
Subject: MULTIMEDIA AND HYPERMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES & BROADCAST MEDIA
Summary: Submission by the ACS to Senate on Pay TV
Organization: Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, Australia
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 03:01:14 GMT

Submission by the Australian Computer Society to the Senate Select
Committee on Subscription Television Services

AVOIDING 60'S REGULATIONS FOR 90'S TECHNOLOGY: MULTIMEDIA AND HYPERMEDIA
TECHNOLOGIES AND THEIR EFFECT ON BROADCAST MEDIA

The Federal Government and Opposition policies on Pay TV are not keeping
up with current information technology developments.

The ACS has as members the information technology professionals who are
developing the new products, which will make new broadcasting regulations
necessary. It is therefore appropriate for the ACS to make the
implications of these technologies clear to the Parliament.

Hypermedia

One of the new technologies can be broadly called "multimedia" or
"hypermedia".  The distinctions between newspapers, radio and television
are rapidly disappearing from the technologist's point of view. 
Hypermedia is merging the technologies used for delivering these media.

The same computer and telecommunications equipment can already be used to
carry textual material with still images (similar to an electronic
newspaper), sound (radio) and moving images (television). Developments are
currently underway to combine these into one form of media: hypermedia.

A hypermedia document can look like a newspaper with text and still
images. When the user points at specially marked parts of the hypermedia
document a sound or video recording is played. Initial implementations of
this technology are available from a number of suppliers and increasingly
new computer equipment is being advertised as having this capability built
in.

Potential Hypermedia Applications

There are possibilities for new forms of products building on 'hypermedia'
developments.  New broadcasting options such as 'narrow-casting' could be
used to deliver 'electronic newspapers' or in effect 'radio with
pictures'.  These could be used to increase the diversity of Australian
media.  These also represent potential new products for Australia to
export to the world.
While the technology used for hypermedia is well developed the programme
material (the equivalent of "TV Programmes") is not. This is an area where
Australian industry has an opportunity to develop an new domestic and
export industry.

Hypermedia regulation problems

The development of hypermedia has the potential to render most of the
regulations proposed for subscription television and existing for
broadcasting irrelevant and unworkable. With the convergence of print
media, radio, television and telephones it will be very difficult to
legislate in a particular area.

Some examples:

* Would a broadcast service which does not include moving images or sound
(but with still images and text) be considered "Television" or "Radio"?
Would it be included under the description of a "newspaper"?

* Would a service which does not include moving images (but has sound,
still images and text) be considered "Television" or "Radio"? Would it
also be considered a "newspaper"?

* Would the above service, but with moving images added from a video disk
(sent through the mail) be considered "television" or "subscription
television"? In this service, programmes would be displayed on the
viewer's screen in response to commands from the "broadcast" service, but
the programmes themselves would never be "broadcast".

* Would a service which adds a subscription data service to an existing
"free to air" TV broadcast be "Television" or "Subscription Television"? A
description of such a service using existing technology is attached.

* How many subscribers are required on a narrow-cast service before it is
"broadcast"? When does a "video-conference" become a "broadcast"?

* Broadcasting regulations were partly based on the rationale of efficient
use of the limited radio spectrum.  Cable TV doesn't use radio spectrum
and has effectively unlimited capacity. Is regulation by the Australian
Broadcasting Authority relevant?  I don't need a licence to start a
newspaper, why do I need one for Cable TV?  AOTC's Integrated Services
Digital Network technology could be used for a type of cable television
tomorrow, who could stop its use in this form?

Offer of a demonstration

Multimedia is a new media and needs to be experienced to be understood.
The ACS urges the Senate Committee to see a demonstration of multimedia
and can arrange this.

About the ACS

The Australian Computer Society is the professional association in
Australia for those in the computing and information technology fields. It
was established in 1966. The Society has over 14,000 members and on a per
capita basis is one of the largest computer societies in the world. 

The mission of the Society is advancing professional excellence in
information technology. The objects of the Society are:  To further the
study, science, application and practice of computing; To promote, develop
and monitor competence in the practice of information technology by 
persons and organisations; To maintain a Code of Ethics for the members of
the Society; To define standards of knowledge for members; To promote the
formulation of effective policies in computing, information technology and
related matters ; To extend the knowledge and  understanding of
information technology in the community; To serve and support the members
of the Society; To promote the benefits of being and/or employing a member
of the Society. 


Tom Worthington MACS PCP
Chairman of the Canberra Branch and
Convener of the ACS Pay TV Working Party
25 August 1992

THE CANBERRA BRANCH OF THE AUSTRALIAN COMPUTER SOCIETY INCORPORATED
G.P.O. Box 446
Canberra A.C.T. 2601
Australia

Ph: +61 6 247 4830
Fax: +61 6 249 6419 
E-Mail: tomw@adfa.oz.au


Attachment A:

Draft article for ACS Canberra Newsletter: PROPOSAL FOR THE MULTI-MEDIA
WIRE SERVICE (MMWS), Tom Worthington, 4 June 1992 (Provided to committee
and available on request)