Talk:Digital Forty Four

Merge Proposal

The Channel 4 (Australia) page was created soon after Digital Forty Four and appears to be redundant, as it merely describes the nature of the program guide included in and run by Digital Forty Four. I would suggest it be merged into this article. -- Rob.au 04:11, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

• Oppose: I created Channel 4 (Australia) for two reasons -
  • To have the channel listed on the Channel 4 (disambiguation) disambig page
  • To describe a television channel, even if it is a minor channel. There are articles about the Seven Guide and the Nine Guide, which operate in a similar fashion to Channel 4.

I understand your proposal and see you have put a lot of thought into it (which is great - you don't see that too often), but I still have to oppose. --Whats new? ^{(talk to me)} 17:24, 7 January 2007 (AEDST)

I am dubious that Seven Guide and Nine Guide meet notability and WP:TRIV criteria. Those program guides at least contain a greater number of elements than that found on Digital Forty Four, but even then I don't think they justify individual pages. Even SBS Essential, by far the most developed of the bunch, does not appear to justify notability of its own either (though it certainly is worth talking about on the SBS page). It is possible a combined AfD would be the way to go, but in the case of this one, I felt the case for a simple merge was too strong.

Something which further bothers me about Channel 4 (Australia) in particular however is its very title. The channel is not and has never been identified in that manner. Technically, yes, it has been allocated a channel identifier of 4 within the Digital Forty Four multiplex. On-screen, the only logo shown is the Digital 44 logo, where it reads "Ch. 44: Digital Forty Four Datacast". Notice, however, that there is no channel identifer 44 in this (or any other) multiplex. Only 4, 45, 46, 47, 49, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406 and 407 exist. What was once 44 is long since defunct. The heading on the screen shows "digital tv 4: free to view", however this is clearly not a logo, although it is not clear exactly what it is.

Digital Broadcasting Australia has gone for the digital tv 4 moniker on their page listing extra channels. [1]. The media release originally announcing it doesn't seem to be sure quite what to call it [2], but merely says it will be on channel 4, to the point of even leaving that as lower case. -- Rob.au 12:19, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

• Oppose: Although the naming of the article may be incorrect, the article should not be merged. The article is currently a stub, however it can be expanded, as has been done with various other channel articles. The channel is noteworthy. I propose changing the article name to Digital TV 4 or seeking official information on the exact naming of the channel. In the meantime the article will be expanded. Stickeylabel 14:08, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Merge. The channel is better discussed as part of the Digital Fourty Four article - the name is wrong for starters (see above), and like the other articles for electronic program guides, it's really only a stopgap measure until a proper EPG is provided. I think it's important to note that the electronic program guides aren't proper channels - how many people are going to sit down for a night of 7 Guide? - they're only information/datacast services, and I'm doubtful over whether they really need their own articles. timgraham 23:17, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Stating that the channel is a "stopgap measure until a proper EPG is provided" is purely speculative. Also, the amount of viewers that a channel receives does not effect its encylopedic importance. As stated previously the article should be renamed to Digital TV 4, and the article should be expanded. Stickeylabel 13:53, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Comment I don't see how much more you can add to it - the description already provided in the Channel 4 (Australia) article describes it in minute detail as it is - and I still don't see how the content is not better covered by the encyclopedia as a component of the Digital Forty Four article. Within the context of Digital Forty Four, the EPG is worth covering in the encyclopedia, but on its own it really struggles to assert notability - and this EPG will never exist outside of Digital Forty Four. -- Rob.au 15:51, 11 March 2007 (UTC)