Five Years On: A preview of Kuttsywood's Couch in 2013

Everything has new beginnings. Five years ago on January 1 2008, this site began. Today, 80 posts, 16,000 views later, on the 29th of December 2012, this site will enjoy a new beginning to kick off our 5th birthday celebrations which will stretch throughout 2013. This "new beginning" is evidenced by the major redo of how this site looks, and feels. This new beginning is looking forward to a era where television in Brisbane is digital-only: an era which is only 150 days away.

The 2012 Vision-Part 3: Simply The Best-A Broncos dynasty

The official Twitter hashtag for this post is #2012visionBBD (Brisbane Broncos Dynasty).

This post is dedicated to John Miller, ex. 4BC, State Affair, 4BK, who passed away on   September 7, after a fall at his home two weeks earlier. He was 59. He will be missed by the Brisbane community both in television and radio circles.

Welcome, to the grand finale, of the 2012 Vision, on NRL Grand Final day 2012. As we look forward to the Melbourne Storm and Canterbury (two teams who have made history as the two clubs who took the quickest time to win a inaugural premiership after being admitted into the top flight of rugby league in Australia: Melbourne won their first premiership after two seasons in the NRL in 1999, and Canterbury won their first premiership after three seasons in the (then) NSWRFL in 1938) going out on the grand stage at Stadium Australia, and trying to etch their names in rugby league history, there are probably many Brisbane Broncos fans, who are remembering this year, due to one match, that sparked a dynasty. It was 20 years ago this weekend: that the Brisbane Broncos won their first premiership, in the Sydney competition (as it was then).

Kuttsywood's Couch's 5th annual guide to Daylight Saving delays on FTA in Queensland

Welcome to a post that in it's five years of existence, has evolved to become a tradition and is well loved by all readers. This post also kicks off our 5th birthday celebrations, albiet two months early as part of our Super Weekend: tomorrow being the final part of the 2012 Vision: Simply The Best, a Broncos Dynasty. To help out with keeping the spirit of the first 2012 Vision post, on daylight saving this year alive, we will adopt a hashtag that is designed to be a wakeup call. #embraceDST is the unifying force, to get Queensland to join it's southern state counterparts: in not switching public holidays, but in switching our clocks ahead 1 hour. Earlier this year, I went to Miami, in the US, a city around the same distance from the equator as Bundaberg, yet they are on the same timezone all year round, as New York and Washington DC. DST means that the "Cruise Capital Of The World" isn't hampered by timezones during peak tourist season, like our tourism industry is. We begin this years guide: with a quick wrap of each channel's fixed offerings, although the floating offerings will be on the DST Updates starting next week.

Kuttsy's Pitch 4: Beyond "20 Years of Hell"

The Twitter hashtag for this post is #kpitch4
You have seen the teasers on Twitter since June... and it is now here: the tradition is back for it's 4th instalment. Welcome to Kuttsy's Pitch 4: Beyond "20 Years of Hell". It was on the previous instalment of Kuttsy's Pitch, in 2011, I coined the phrase "20 years of hell", in direct reference to 7's long term issues at half past five in south east Queensland outside weekends. It in-turn inspired, the post "20 years of hell at half past five", a definitive history of Extra, intertwined with 7's various moves in the preceding two decades. But this instalment, is designed to help give "20 Years of Hell" a definitive end.
These ideas are only theoretical.

The race begins: GC 2018 Comm Games broadcast rights.

UPDATE 19/8/14: Seven has just been announced the winner of the GC 2018 host rights fight. If you have been directed here by Google after hearing about it tonight: visit this post's sequel, it gives a great look at transport requirements for 2018.

Normally, I'd save a countdown, for the "DST Update" over at the "Couchcushion", but this seems apt. We are now 2077 days away from the event that will elevate the Gold Coast's stature to becoming Australia's "sixth city", the 2018 Commonwealth Games. I'm posting this, as a sort of "form guide" for the upcoming dogfight for the broadcast rights (along with the needs for the technical backbone), as it will likely be a major bidding war, for what will be, the first Commonwealth Games on Australian soil, since digital switchover in 2013. The first runner up to the mark: subscription television.

The 2012 Vision: Part 2- South Bank Parklands

The official Twitter hashtag for this post is #2012visionSBP
Welcome, to part two of the 2012 Vision, the first part being Daylight Saving, this second part is talking about the official opening and evolution, of South Bank Parklands, on this day, June 20, back in 1992.

The Price Is Right returns: the Brisbane impact.

If you are reading this now, Seven is definitely looking to change the 5-6 lineup nationwide.


Seven is seriously looking at the Price Is Right to air in the 5pm slot to aid Deal or No Deal. Due to this move, Seven QLD will likely have Today Tonight at 4:30, in lieu of 4:30 news, and most critically, a big thumb in the nose to hopes for a fresh breath of air at 5:30 in the south-east corner of QLD. But we can stand up Queensland and make our intentions known. Viewers in Queensland are sick of Deal, and viewers in Brisbane are sick of Seven lying to us like they have done for over a decade, on local content outside weekends. Hell, even your promos are lying to us. Seven, you may like to claim that "Brisbane is our city", but the viewers of this city, of this state, want to see that statement backed up with action on increasing the amount of local content produced in this state. It has been nearly three long years since the Extra axing, and twelve long years since Local Edition's demise. I hope we all can stand up and tell Seven what we really think.

The 2012 Vision: Part 1, Daylight Saving

(Rewritten on 5/4/12)
The official hashtag is #2012visionDST
Welcome to the first installment, of a series entitled the "2012 Vision", celebrating the 20th anniversary of QLD's sole referendum on daylight saving, a subject that this site holds dear to the heart.

20 years of hell at half past five...

Rick Burnett, first host of Brisbane Extra.

"Hello, and welcome to Brisbane Extra. Each weekday at this time, we will be giving you a closer look at life in Brisbane, the things that annoy us, or make us smile."
Rick Burnett intro, on the very first edition of Brisbane Extra in February 1992.

From this small beginning in 1992, this is a tale of Seven's...

I wonder, how people will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Extra premiere this year. I'm choosing to mark it, with a post, looking at it from a angle one never thought of. The angle, I'm talking about, is from the problems rival channels have had in that slot since 1992: those people who sat stunned, as Extra outrated their news lead-ins (or in the case of one, their news, that had only just moved to 5pm), to the chagrin of interstate news bosses and programmers alike. It's also, a story of how Extra's success, led to the introduction of Gold Coast local news at 5:30 on Nine, and how it survived. It's a flashback, Seven won't bother running on a Sunday night, as it's full of too many bad memories... for this is a tale, of twenty years of Extra, from the other side of Mt Coot-tha, through the eyes of the network, who suffered the most.