CHOICE guide to electronic program guides

At the simplest level a free-to-air EPG delivers information about the time and date of a program, its name, classification rating and whether it's a repeat or new. Usually there's a brief synopsis of the plot and a list of the major actors or presenters.

This information is sent to your PVR along with program data as part of the digital data stream that makes up the digital channel. When you press the 'Guide' or 'EPG' button on your remote, the PVR updates and displays the information on your screen for the channel you're currently watching. Most PVRs leave a window that displays the program currently playing so you don't miss anything.

More sophisticated PVRs can display more than one channel's data at a time, but we have yet to see one other than TiVo (see Did you know?) that will update the data in the EPG without changing channels. EPGs that you subscribe to, such as Foxtel IQ or IceTV, enable features like this as well as adding other functions and information.

Whether the EPG is free or paid for, setting up a recording is usually a matter of pressing the record button with the program you want highlighted. The better PVRs will even prompt you to set it to record just once, weekly or at a given interval. At the very sophisticated level, products like TiVo will record every instance of a particular program regardless of when it's broadcast, or every program with a particular actor, director or of a genre.

Each television network puts together a schedule of programs for its own use. It also creates its own EPG, which is broadcast via its digital channel.

A separate company called HWW, owned by Ninemsn, aggregates the data from all the channels and sells the information on to companies that want to publish a complete TV guide and charge you for it. The networks retain their rights over the data they compile, but agree to this onselling.

In addition, companies such as IceTV compile their own information on TV programming based on what's broadcast and advertised to be broadcast. This isn't always accurate, and they have to be very careful not to infringe copyright (see Legal battle). Again, IceTV will charge you for its guide, but says the additional information and features provided make it worthwhile.

Are EPGs always accurate?

Accuracy is always a problem because networks make changes to schedules at the last moment. EPGs can't predict this, so many PVRs have the means to make allowance for some of the changes, by adding some padding to the times you set for recordings.

Legal battle over copyright

There’s money in schedules. Channel Nine took IceTV to court and won an injunction to stop them selling an EPG that Nine claimed infringed its copyright, even though IceTV wrote all the program descriptions itself.

According to the court, IceTV checking the accuracy of its timings against already published information led to an infringement of Nine’s copyright. IceTV eventually won its case, but it’s clear the networks see EPGs as a potential revenue stream.

In print, advertising is the major form of funding and you can bet there’ll be advertising close on the heels of any electronic form of TV guide. Channel 7 let slip in its launch of the TiVo PVR that there’ll be the potential for banner advertising alongside program listings.

EPGs should be freely available

An independent group called MyEPG recently began lobbying the government to make sure an EPG is available to everyone. It argues the current offering is incomplete or inaccurate and that Australia should follow other countries’ example in making the provision of an EPG part of the licensing provisions for free-to-air broadcasters.

CHOICE agrees that consumers should be provided with accurate information to enable them to determine what they watch and when. It’s also in the interests of the government, which is keen to see digital TV gain wide acceptance. A freely available and accurate EPG will increase competition in the market for fully functional PVRs and associated services that have the potential to improve consumers’ TV watching experience.