Simply put: the networks' customers (the advertisers) are set to directly benefit, and their consumers (the viewers who think they're customers) are just being herded into barns. That's it.

In making up the number of channels forthcoming and omitting vital facts, e.g. Freeview-branded recorders will restrict ad-skipping, they're fooling the ignorant masses into buying their official Freeview crippleware. By the time the punters realise they've been had, they've already spent their money and it's too late to do anything about it. (The ad, then, is extremely well-targeted because chucking together a load of 60-year-old IMT clips and 'reality' winners appeals to the sentimentality of exactly the kind of person who's easily fooled by this sort of thing.)

Meanwhile, the advertisers are happily sedated, safe in the knowledge that increasing numbers of victims I mean people are basically forced to sit through their shrill shouty nonsense about end-of-model run-outs and dirt cheap books and yoghurt. The networks are happy, the public is disillusioned but continues to watch, life proceeds as normal until IPTV appears and confuses everybody all over again.

Oh, and as if everything else about Freeview isn't bad enough, 'for free' is just about the most egregious abuse of English I have ever seen in a slogan.

Simply put: the networks' customers (the advertisers) are set to directly benefit, and their consumers (the viewers who think they're customers) are just being herded into barns. That's it.

In making up the number of channels forthcoming and omitting vital facts, e.g. Freeview-branded recorders will restrict ad-skipping, they're fooling the ignorant masses into buying their official Freeview crippleware. By the time the punters realise they've been had, they've already spent their money and it's too late to do anything about it. (The ad, then, is extremely well-targeted because chucking together a load of 60-year-old IMT clips and 'reality' winners appeals to the sentimentality of exactly the kind of person who's easily fooled by this sort of thing.)

Meanwhile, the advertisers are happily sedated, safe in the knowledge that increasing numbers of victims I mean people are basically forced to sit through their shrill shouty nonsense about end-of-model run-outs and dirt cheap books and yoghurt. The networks are happy, the public is disillusioned but continues to watch, life proceeds as normal until IPTV appears and confuses everybody all over again.

Oh, and as if everything else about Freeview isn't bad enough, 'for free' is just about the most egregious abuse of English I have ever seen in a slogan.

Many devices carrying the Freeview logo will not be compatible with upcoming Freeview services [...] Such features may be launched by the end of the year, but manufacturers will not be required to indicate whether their Freeview-branded equipment is compatible with these [...] at least four will sell devices that do not support the new features. Several others remain unsure that their devices will be compatible.

What's next, an autographed Kyle Sandilands fan card?