The Nine Network is cashing in on its TV datacasting licence with the launch of the home shopping channel Extra, which began broadcasting at 6am this morning. It seems that anything Seven can do, Nine can do similarly. In terms of locally produced content, the two networks have very similar line-ups: a single word, not …

Foxtel has announced that its London Olympics coverage will be available at no extra charge to anyone with a Foxtel sports subscription. From 27 July, when the Olympics begin, and running for just over two weeks, Foxtel will broadcast the Games across eight dedicated channels. According to Foxtel, this will enable it to broadcast live and in full every gold …

Last week, we reported that Channel Nine is planning to simulcast its London Olympics coverage on its HDTV service, GEM. As mentioned in that news piece, unlike previous Olympics, where Seven and SBS shared the rights, there’s only one free-to-air broadcaster this time around. So, unless Nine seeks and gains an exemption from anti-siphoning laws, it can’t broadcast an alternative …

We had a fantastic response to a poll we ran asking you, our readers, why you torrent TV shows. We’ll address some of the issues raised in the comments section there in an upcoming blog post. For now, though, we’re curious as to how much you’re willing to pay for a digital download of an episode of a TV show. …

The BBC has announced a plan to offer its programs for permanent download minutes after they finish airing on British airwaves. Mark Thompson, director general of the BBC, confirmed rumours of an iTunes-style online shop during an address to the Royal Television Society overnight. Unlike the present iPlayer service, which allows viewers to stream the BBC’s programs online after airing …

Do a spot of spring cleaning and you’re likely to find a whole stack of videotapes lying around forlorn, sad and forgotten at the back of a shelf or cabinet somewhere. What should you do with these tapes? If they’re just recordings of The Midday Show or General Hospital, it’s probably a good time to clear up some space and …

According to a report in the Australian Financial Review, Google is in negotiations for the rights to the Australian V8 Supercars racing series. Before we get too excited about Google TV and its potential availability here, the rights the company is reportedly interested in are to screen the V8 Supercars series internationally and online. So, why is the search giant …

Now playing: Watch this: Tech Time Machine: 11 March 1:07 Antibiotics, the World Trade Center in New York City, Rupert Murdoch, Bobby McFerrin and an earthquake all walk into a bar, and the bar is called “11 March”. Other notable events on this big day in history are the terrorist attacks on the Madrid train system in 2004, the ascension …

It’s hard enough for most of us to think of the world prior to the internet, but try to imagine a world prior to the landline phone. That was the world that existed before today in 1876 before Alexander Graham Bell began chipping away at the tyranny of distance. Today also marks the height of the dotcom boom, and on …

It used to be so simple, to watch TV you flicked on a, well, TV. Maybe if you knew you weren’t going to be home, or two must-watch shows were on at once, you’d use a VCR. Simple. Oh so simple. But here in the year that will, supposedly, be our last as custodians of planet Earth, there are so …