While starting with a formal Letter of Complaint is the norm, I believe the point being made was you could lodge a complaint with Fair Trading, get a case number, and leverage the case number in your complaint to your TV retailer/manufacturer.
Fair Trading will most often ask if you already sent a Letter of Complaint but did not get resolution, so the Letter should be first.
On the matter of guides, I find the one on my Samsung TV (12 yrs old, at least) to be particularly unfriendly and lacking in detail. It tries to cram too much onto the screen. The FetchTV guide on my iPad is OK, and will give detail of a particular show when its clicked on.
I just use the nine.com.au TV Guide set for Cairns which I have open open all the time.
Good news story
To recap: in my apartment building, the geniuses who sat on the strata committee two decades ago agreed to Foxtel cabling the building at a discounted price and piping FTA via its HFC.
This saved the strata future costs in repairs and maintenance of the outside TV antenna.
That worked well for me until 2 months ago when I quit Foxtel after suing them for providing me with a set top box whose recording function was unreliable. Sometimes it did not record at all and at other times it stopped recording mid program. I sued for subscription costs paid by me while the STB was a lemon, $300 and only at NCAT did they see the light and agree to open their wallet. That said, they still took over two months to pay, when they were given just one month to do so. But in the end they paid.
Now that I yielded up Foxtel, I was left without FTA access.
Many, many fine folk in here offered great advice as to how I can now access FTA, given my reality that (a) the strata will not install an outside TV antenna and (b) indoor antennas do not have a good reputation, especially as I donât face a transmission tower.
PLAN "A"
This was my preferred option until last night.
Days ago I decided to wait until later this month when Foxtel will launch, Foxtel Flash, a $10/month streaming service of news channels such as Fox, CNBC, Bloomberg, BBC and Sky. Rumours abound that they may even include transmitting FTA through that service. If so, that will be my solution. In fact, I contacted the big wig with whom I had the NCAT hearing indicating that bundling FTA with Flash will be a money spinner for Foxtel and I for one will happily sign up.
PLAN "B"
Should PLAN âAâ (that is, bundling FTA with Flash) not come to fruition, this was my preference.
Failing FTA being bundled up with Flash, I would go with Apple TV (box) as some have suggested, given I have an Apple household and FTA can be accessed via Apple TV some wrote. Whether I go with the Apple TV at $249 or investigate if the $8/month Apple TV+ (app) can access FTA is something to consider after I hear which way Flash will go.
PLAN âCâ - my way forward
Yesterday everything changed for me.
I spent a long time trying to think outside the square. Is there another option other than PLANS âAâ and âBâ.
I toyed with my Hisense TV for a couple of hours and yet again saw that
(a) it has an array of apps included in its online menu (but nothing that comes close to allowing me to access the range of FTA channels available in Sydney). That said, it does have SBS OD, which I have used and works well; and
(b) while there is a search facility enabling me to type what app I am looking for and hopefully download it successfully, it does not work.
I then considered what the Hisense is: a smart TV. Unable to search for and download say, Freeview (that includes all FTA channels); same again for iView and 10play, I wondered: âhow smart is itâ?
I then had an idea: in due course, when I connect Apple TV to the Hisense via a cable surely the Hisense will recognise the new peripheral device just as a MacBook recognises an external HD connected. Whatever apps are subsequently downloaded after the Apple TV is connected in order to make it work will surely be automatic (i.e. no input or very little needed by me) and this would indicate that the Hisense is smart, but in a way I did not consider.
Taking that logic a step further, connecting my DVD player to the Hisense, elicits the same response: the peripheral device is recognised and the online menu moves through all the steps - with no input or interference by me - until I am provided with the onscreen menu prompting me to hit 'play".
I wondered, what would happen if I connected an indoor antenna to the Hisense? Would the Hisense recognise the peripheral device and if so, given things have moved on from the days of plugging in a simple indoor TV antenna and hoping for the best.
So I went out and bought an indoor TV antenna.
As to the result: well, I was A M A Z E D.
After I connected the indoor TV antenna to the Hisense it automatically started to tune in the channels. So far, so great. This took several minutes. I did nothing more than plug the TV antenna into the âANTâ socket on the Hisense.
Say 6 mins later, tuning was all done and VOILA, Channel 10 appears (a live program, not a catch up. I checked this with the TV guide in the newspaper). Also available for viewing are Channel 10âs related stations 10Peach, 10Bold etc. Also available for viewing are the Channel 9 family of stations, SBSâ family of stations and ABC TV.
I was in awe how my problem of no FTA access was so quickly resolved.
With no assistance from me, the TV seems to have downloaded the Freeview app (as I can see the Freeview logo on the TV screen).
So what fancy indoor TV antenna did I use? A $5 one, you read right FIVE DOLLARS, specifically
https://www.kmart.com.au/product/indoor-antenna---black/929815
Thanks to all your help. Very much appreciated. I trust my solution will help others.
The only downside, IMHO, is that notwithstanding the many FTA stations I now have access to, if last night was any guide, there isnât much to see on those channels 
Ah⊠the disappointment at the end of the tunnel. But excellent news and well done. For what itâs worth, none of us who work in broadcast engineering have a different expectation about content.
You didnât mention Ch 7 - does that mean the Seven multiplex wasnât decoded? Thatâs altogether possible. I have at times iffy reception of Nine, quite close to the Artarmon tower. As far as I can tell, the problem was too much signal, and unfortunate reflections - the enemy of digital TV reception.
The KMart antenna was excellent value at $5 (and clearly a good investment!). If youâre ready to run out and beat the queue, Aldi is selling a powered antenna for $30 on Sat 23 October and that might yield better results. Or⊠it might not - thereâs no silver bullet. However it will be a bit more directional than the KMart antenna, and you might be able to position it to get full reception. For the money worth trying IMHO, provided you accept that it might not work and thatâs not Aldiâs fault.
Aldi also has very generous return policies.
Much to their credit. I mentioned ânot their faultâ only because Iâm sure people buy products that might never have been suitable, and then conflate âdoesnât work for meâ with âitâs brokenâ. Unfortunately.
Yes they do. From memory they ape Kmartâs down to the day: 60 days change of mind.
Youâre probably on the edge of good reception. In every area of Australia that has FTA, there are five TV carriers being transmitted (just like the old days pre-digital, when we had exactly one analogue channel per carrier). In digital, each carrier contains as many channels as the operator wants to carve up. More channels = more revenue, but lower quality because thereâs only a finite number of bits available on each carrier. Over the years weâve moved from MPEG2 standard definition to what you might think of as MP4 with high definition on some channels and some number of MPEG2 standard definition channels.
How important is the antenna? Good reception is a mix of raw signal strength, lack of reflections and absence of interfering signals. If you canât receive the carrier adequately then none of the services on the carrier will appear - very much all or nothing. Worst case is if the carrier isnât found when you do the tuning search, because then youâll never find the services. Best case is that the TV tunes successfully, and you find the services when the carrier is being received OK. Itâs very much âyour mileage may varyâ.
This may be a misapprehension on your part. However clearly you have made major strides towards your original goal of getting FTA channels without significant cost and without selling your soul.
Agreed - did not sell my soul. I am pleased to confirm.
One further development.
A couple of folk mentioned that positioning the antenna close(r) to a window may improve picture quality. Sounds reasonable.
Given I cannot move the TV closer to the window without upsetting the layout of the room and the antennaâs cord is not long enough I bought what is popularly called a âTV/VCR/antennaâ cable (really an extension cable), $5.50, connected it to the TV, re-positioned the antenna close to the window and now have very, very good picture quality. While hitherto I was considering a fancier indoor antenna, I doubt another antenna could improve on the latest picture quality.
As for my interest in Foxtelâs new offering âFlashâ, being a streaming service of news only channels, I understand itâs available from today. While I am so not a fan of Foxtel, I will sign up to this service as it seems to me they FINALLY are meeting the market with a competitive price of $8/month.
Sorry, but I really have to chuckle.
Now âfree to air TVâ means getting free broadcast from the radio waves all around. So you moved an antenna with the help of a bit of cable, and now you get a good picture.
Problem solved.
Will be interested to know how the Flash service works for you, and whether it has the channels that you want/need/appreciate.
The quality of the picture will be perfect or nothing, but the signal strength may vary a lot. Somewhere in your TV you will be able to get an indication of signal strength and signal quality (they are different). Might be in the tuning settings section, or somewhere else. That will tell you how well the KMart antenna is doing!
I took a look at the list and find that its overpriced for whats on offer. Murdoch owned channels, mostly. BBC is good, AlJazeera is good⊠but the others⊠meh. Colour me disinterested.
https://www.techguide.com.au/news/televisions-news/foxtel-launches-flash-a-streaming-service-for-25-news-channels/
There are occasional gotchas in using the internet catch up services in place of an actual FTA RF signal.
The 2021 AFL grand final was NOT available via the streaming apps until after the final siren apparently because of broadcast rights.One person I know of who has no antenna in their building used a VPN to identify as an overseas location and then paid the one time fee to watch the final live.
Indeed. However most FTA channels are also broadcasting their regular shows not as catchup, but live. Yes, they have catchup, but, for example, I watch ABC channels live from time to time, via my AppleTV. I did this when I did not have an adequate antenna, and signed up for unlimited data at the same time.
The quality of the catchup and streaming services can also be less than broadcast. IE the services accessed over the internet (sometimes disrespectfully referred to as broadband, 
) can drop from the higher quality broadcast HD and SD definition to something less.
It may be caused by a slow internet connection, congestion locally on the network, or the broadcasterâs server limiting the quality.
Aside
Unlikely to be a concern for Aussie households connected to the NBN, unless one has a long FTTN connection, Fixed Wireless or Satellite. Customers on the last of these loose out on bandwidth and data allowances. Hence what could be a problem, is not. You donât know what you are missing if you canât get it.
Actually, there are two factors involved with quality of transmission via the net: (1) the moment-by-moment performance of the interweb and the connection between you and the providing server. Provided your link is reasonably faster than the service that you want to watch then you will get whatever the channel is sending, and (2) whatever the provider has done with the content before storing it.
Turns out that (2) is important. I needed to grab a few pictures from an ABC show, which I had recorded over the air from ABC-HD via a Fetch box. That process stores and replays the incoming transport as received without re-encoding, so I paused the playback and took a picture of the TV with my mobile phone. A month later I went to iView and played the stream on a PC with fast connection and did a frame grab from the PC.
To my surprise, the electronically grabbed iView picture was substantially softer than a picture taken of a TV screen, and I really mean substantially. No question. They are both HD, so 1920x1080 presentation space, but that says nothing about how the picture is coded or treated.
Now that I think about it, I should not have been surprised - the stored version of the program could be substantially reprocessed to save bandwidth (and therefore storage space). The provider is heavily motivated to do that, because they will be charged for the bits they use sending back out to you.
And thatâs true too! I did not notice the slight reduction in picture sharpness until I went to do a high-resolution grab. However (and I donât think this is for bandwidth reasons) Iâve noticed that audio sent to iView is reprocessed in a way that doesnât help.
Appreciate both points. We are not all blessed with great internet.
Fortunately for the FTA service we sit between two service areas. We can choose between 2 and sometimes 3 different channels for the same service, weather dependent. That is until FTA is turned off and the spectrum auctioned off to something more enterprising?
