Thread: Time to write to Foxtel again

Did my bit for the WW fraternity. Hope the HTC will come to the party. Patronised them a little and then begged for the shows we want to see.
Les

Originally Posted by legin

I really hope Woodworks stays on air or I'll be really upset.

Tis my favorite show!!!

well folks, welcome to my world of around 1.5 years ago. This Old House was the reason I bought Austar (country version of Foxtel)....... got the same response when it disappeared, with an assurance though only on the phone that they'd be right onto me as soon as they secured the rights to the new series - it was a lie...... an exec from the channel explained to me that "lifestyle channel" has next to NO power over content tnad that it is all determined by those in the managerial ether....... they keep bloodywell calling me every few months and again and again I explain to them why I left........ I am sorry to hear Normie is now gone as well - pathetic. Looks like Pirate Pete from the States is gonna make a killing selling his copies of the show to Aussies, which also makes me sad ..... and "no" I don't know his email address

A bit late, but I've sent off my passionate plea for more decent woodworking shows, new series and if so maybe I'll reconsider canning my subscription. Heck I might even upgrade to digital.

Cheers
RufflyRustic

Done my bit too. I subscribe to Optus. I don't know whether the How To Channel is available on Optus, even aqs an extra. They took ESPN away after I subscribed and they made it an extra. Now I don't care too much about ESPN, except for the European & Champions League soccer, but I only became a subscriber in the first place because of sport. Now that Lifestyle's taken off Norm (even though it was repeated over & over), I don't see why I shouldn't cancel my subscription altogether. There quite frankly is little else on Optus that is of interest to me.

makes me want to create my own show again

G'day.

this is the answer I received from How To Channel:
Hi Les,

All we can say is that we are talking to Lifestyle Channel about it at the moment only because people like you have emailed us.
They will get back to us about the future of the show.
We like the show too - and as you know good wood working shows are rare.
If we did get it in the future we would only be interested in the new
series.

Cheers,
HOW TO Team


Les

Well you blokes seem to have had more response from either Lifestyle and HTC than I have. I subscribe to Optus and wrote a feedback comment in the Lifestyle forum - they said they would reply - I wrote the comment and made a contribution to their bulletin board/forum on Saturday arvo and have not yet heard from them.
All I can hope is that we can put enough pressure on as a group and get some new shows on Lifestyle - I really don't see much value in going digital or even keeping cable with so few Practical shows on the channels.

regards,

Yep - I just checked email and got the same reply. I also emailed the New Yankee Web site today. Message went along the lines of " Help - Australia is Normless" What can you do to help us get Norm back on Aussie TV screens - Can you put a whole series on DVD - etc etc. Doubt there will be a response but you never know. Everybody loves an audience in that game and I may have exaggerated a bit about how many of us there were....!

I just think we should keep the pressure on Lifestyle (who have not responded yet).

Maybe we should look at how many woodworking related types of sponsors there are on Lifestyle and start an email campaign about boycotting tool and service purchases if they sponsor a channel that doesnt support woodworking programmes.

Originally Posted by graemecarson

I just think we should keep the pressure on Lifestyle

Sorry mate, but I don't agree. I think Lifestyle have made it clear that They will not be running NYW any more.

With the pressure applied by the readers of this thread, we stand a real good chance of seeing Norm on How To. It appears that How To are interested in picking up the show now & they appear to be currently in negotiations with Lifestyle:
Hi Les,

All we can say is that we are talking to Lifestyle Channel about it at the moment only because people like you have emailed us.
They will get back to us about the future of the show.
We like the show too - and as you know good wood working shows are rare.
If we did get it in the future we would only be interested in the new
series.

Cheers,
HOW TO Team


Ticky

NYW and THis Old House always reply to my emails, but it does take a while. As mentioned previously, Optus, Foxtel Austar etc. are all retailers of the product and for better of worse, have little power when it comes to program content. In fact The Lifestyle Channel has little power too - I know..... it's lunacy. I had lengthy discussions with them all when TOH was dropped. A consortium buys program content from wherever and then assembles it into groups THEN tells Lifestyle or whoever what they can get - it must be extremely hard to predict what people will like but then you'd think they would bloodywell listen to their audience who is trying to tell them!

Also as mentioned, I was preparing a strategic plan for a series that was akin to Normie's where viewers would be guided through making heirloom pieces. Had suppliers, materials, netwrok interest and makers/presenters. It wasnt expensive to make in the world of TV at around $300,000 and considering there is a world market of woodies, seemed like the groundfloor investor would be a very happy chappy in a relatively short period of time. But, as you would all appreciate, "it's gonna be great" and "I just know it will sell" are not excellent aids to getting funding. it isn't dead but the creators need to pay bills and feed families so it is on hold.

Speaking of eating - it's brekky time

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

have fun

Ticky, I wasn't suggesting we stop showing How To how many of us there are but that we apply pressure to all available points - one of which is Lifestyle. I have been in advertising and marketing all my working life and most of the time as a writer and producer of TV commercials and planner of advertising and marketing campaigns. If there is one thing irresistable to any advertising medium it is a quantifiable audience - especially one which gets up and makes itself known about issues important to it. The more we pressure Lifestyle, the more Norm and NYW become a money making commodity for sale to advertisers with a woody bent. The same goes for How To - the more we push - the more valuable the commodity we want. The media can go to their market with a bunch of statistics that say "when we tried to discontinue it this happened - or we are going to run this because we got such a reaction when another channel went to drop it." And pay tv in this countery needs quantifiable audience to become a viable contender for the ad dollar. Thats why I also went to the NYW website. It's another pressure point where we can show we are a keen and loyal audience. Every little bit countsno matter how small we think our individual contributions may be or how futile we think the journey may be.

Cheers,

Graeme C

Since Norm is PBS in the US I thought I'd see if the ABC could be convinced to solve our problem. I sent this:

Hello,

I write more in hope than anything else. Please forward this note to the relevant people.

There is a special interest woodworking programme called "The New Yankee Workshop" (http://www.newyankee.com/index.shtml), made by WGBH in the USA and much loved by hobby woodworkers all over the English-speaking world. In Australia this programme has only been available through Lifestyle Channel, and even then only in very old repeats. Lifestyle have recently decided to stop repeating the one series they have and to drop it from their schedule.

There are a lot of interested people out here who would like to see this programme regularly. I understand that it is a PBS product in the US and, so, I wondered if perhaps the ABC might be interested in looking into gaining broadcasting rights in Australia, perhaps for ABC2.

Of course, I realise the ABC is far from awash with cash and that us woodworkers are a fairly small interest group, but nothing ventured, nothing gained as far as we are concerned. There is currently a discussion thread on the Woodworking Australia forum (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ad.php?t=21973) that might give you an idea of the interest in this programme amongst our small group. Maybe the silent majority are just waiting to have Norm Abrams unleash their inner woodworker!

If you got here, thanks for reading this far.

Best wishes,

bloody nice letter