It’s been quite a roller coaster ride. It seems every week Australian TV presents us with yet another watermark. Yesterday I blogged about the ABC, previous to that it was Channel Nine.

Well, Channel Nine are at it again (yes, I’m a bit late on this – they changed it a week or so ago, but I got a bit busy, and then the ABC thing came up).

Here’s Channel Nine’s new HD wartermark in action.

That’s quite the improvement over the previous attempt, no? Let’s see them side by side.

So, what’s the problem? It’s smaller. Are you never satisfied Jamie?

Well, check out the location of the new Nine HD logo. See the wide gap to the right of the logo? The watermark is actually positioned for a 4:3 picture.

I can tell you right now Channel Nine, no one is watching Nine HD in 4:3. No one.

You stupid, stupid people. Stop messing with the picture! We don’t need to continually see what station we are watching – that is what the ‘info’ button on a digital set top box remote reveals when required. Do you not understand technology? Your logo doesn’t stop people copying your shows and putting them on BitTorrent. All it does is annoy everyone who watches your shows. You really don’t get the internet either. No wonder your ratings continue to plummet.

Here’s a collection of all the watermarks, except SBS – that’s another rant yet to come. I guess the only reason I haven’t ripped in to 7 HD is that they’ve at least stuck with their first attempt (annoying as it is). Keep in mind that 3 of these watermarks are in a 4:3 frame, 1 is too far out from the corner, and all are annoying as hell!

The competition has been fierce. For weeks now the Australian commercial television networks have been changing their watermarks in a battle to see who could make the most annoying aberration to a TV programme picture. We had thought Channel 9 had won.

And then the ABC joined the fray. Who would have thought that a non-commercial network – a network paid for by tax payer dollars – could out-innovate the commercial networks? If you’d asked me last week, I would have said it wasn’t possible. Yet here I am today, watching TV, and there it is.

Not one, but two watermarks. And two colours. In two different corners. Genius!

It pains me to say this, but the ABC now officially sucks more than the commercial networks. The proof is right here. Sadly, the ABC looks likely to win this battle – though we’ve yet to hear from SBS. SBS surprised us all last year when the non-commercial network suddenly decided to go commercial, complete with annoying popups before and after ads. So they could surprise us all soon – maybe a multi-coloured animated watermark?

As a tax payer I think I should have a say in what the ABC spend their money on. And spending their money on technology for watermarking their programmes is not what I have in mind. I want to watch the ABC without watermarks! Who’s with me? Anyone out there willing to sign a petition to make the ABC (and SBS) drop their watermarks? Or maybe there is some other action we can all take to stop the insanity?