I hate 24 hour news channels

So the ABC is launching "ABC News 24". Full marks for the totally unique name.  I want to have a kvetch about 24 news channels.  My pattern of use of these channels, I suspect, isn't that different from anyone else.

When I want the news, I want the update now.  If your channel isn't providing it now, what's the point of a 24 news channel?  If you're going to run documentaries and other filler, don't call it "News 24", call it "Documentaries and News" or something.

Now i understand producers want to get all creative, and look at issues in more detail.  Great.  Have another channel, and on the 24 hour news channel, have a loop of the last news update until the next one.  When something big happens, switch to the live feed in studio that's on the "Documentaries and News".

Better yet, how about getting really funky with IPTV and just having a playlisted news service that always has the latest versions of whatever stories are current.  Then I can register my preferences and, for example, never see a story on AFL or NRL but always see stories on football.

Of course, I guarantee that ABC News 24 will be just like BBC News 24, and have all the documentaries and crap, so whenever I tune in there won't be the one thing I want: news.  Which will make me unhappy.

One thing about the NBN that annoys me

One of the things that's annoying me about all the NBN talk is the insistence on metro-equivalent services in regional and remote areas, as though this is a reasonable thing to require.

I live in the inner city of Sydney and I get “metro” services: I can walk to my nearest major hospital, there’s an international airport a short walk away, a shiny modern new swimming pool under construction give minutes' walk away, excellent cafes and restaurants wherever you turn and broadband via two HFC cables or a copper pair running past my house.

I also have horrendous, pause-the-telly-and-wait aircraft noise, air pollution, traffic congestion, neighbours who are, quite literally, as close as 40cm from me and a house price that would make any country real estate buyer wince. It’s the price I pay for enjoying a vibrant, well-serviced metropolis.

Surely if regional and remote Australians want metro-equivalence, they’d put other services higher on their list than fast broadband. Things like schools, hospitals and public transport.