Tag Archives: free wifi

Network Ten partners GoConnect to offer free WiFi TV

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GoConnect and Network Ten have announced they will be launching an advertising-funded WiFi television platform called Go Ten Free WiFi TV that will initially be available at  several Melbourne locations, including Flinders Street Railway Station and The Jam Factory shopping centre and Stockland Shopping Centres.

The platform will give consumers free WiFi access to content from Ten’s news department, including breaking news throughout the day and content from the Ten News and Five bulletin. It is planned that the new service be available across the entire Melbourne CBD by October this year.

“In just a few years, smartphones have become ubiquitous in Australia. Increasingly, people want to access content – particularly news content – wherever they are, whenever they want it, and on whatever device they want to use,” says executive general manager, Network Ten Melbourne, Russel Howcroft.

GoConnect executive chairman, Richard Li, agrees that free WiFi is fast becoming the norm in capital cities all over the world. Australia is no exception.

“Go Ten Free WiFi TV is the perfect product for the time. It is also the perfect way for advertisers to reach consumers when they are on the move and fully engaged with their smartphones,” he says.

“GoConnect is a first mover in developing free WiFi as a new media distribution platform and we are delighted that, once made aware of the opportunity and the many revenue possibilities, Ten has the foresight to quickly seize this opportunity for us to work together to create this TV media paradigm shift.

 

Melbourne train station to trial ad-funded WiFi

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Melbourne commuters will be able to access free wireless internet at Flinders Street Station from next month in return for their eyeballs and a little personal information.

Users who log on to the wireless connection, which will be available from the main concourse and platforms of the station, will be required to provide their age and gender and watch a short ad in order to use 15 minutes of the service provided by GoConnect, a provider of ‘video infotainment and interactive advertising’. A GoConnect spokesperson tells Marketing that users can watch additional ads in order to extend their connection.

The service will be introduced as a three month trial in March and extended to all city loop stations if successful.

GoConnect says the free WiFi network will reach over 15 million commuters monthly upon full penetration, a significant online platform for communication with both residents and visitors of Melbourne.

GoConnect will fund the service (supplied by broadband service provider Netbay) in order to deliver advertising on a mobile advertising model it has developed.

GoConnect is currently signing clients, and their offering is separate from the existing outdoor inventory in Melbourne’s rail network, operated by JCDecaux. That means brands wishing for a full takeover of a single train station, for example, will have to coordinate with an additional media organisation.

The company’s executive chairman, Richard Li, tells the The Herald Sun he expects the service to be quickly extended beyond the CBD to stations such as South Yarra: “Ultimately it will be all the inner city train stations, but you have to start with the most important one first.”

The City of Melbourne has committed to providing wireless internet on 33 new trains due to arrive by 2018, as part of the Future Melbourne Plan, but has no plans to upgrade the existing transport fleet due to cost barriers.

Free wireless internet is already available on most Sydney Ferries and has begun to roll out on Queensland’s suburban trains.

According to Netbay, the service will provide speeds up to 20 times faster than a 3G mobile network, but speeds will vary depending on the number of users connected at any time.