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Training to be impacted as Community TV pushed to online

Channel 44 says govt pushing it to an online-only model will impact on training emerging talent.

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2016-07-25_1201

Adelaide community television station Channel 44 are concerned their looming switch off from broadcast to an online-only model will impact on emerging talent.

The Federal govt gave community broadcasters around Australia until December 31 to switch to online models as it takes back broadcast spectrum, but some stations including TVS in Sydney have already closed down.

Channel 44 started as ACE TV more than 20 years ago, morphed into Channel 31 and then became 44 with the advent of digital TV.

“It’s a sad decision,” Channel 44 general manager Lauren Hillman told ABC.

“It seems a very unfair decision because all of the people that get their start in community television, especially all of the volunteers, there won’t be that opportunity for them any more beyond 2016.”

Community TV has helped launch the careers of Rove McManus, Hamish & Andy, Waleed Aly and Nazeem Hussain.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon has said previously, “These cuts to community radio funding and removing access to the broadcasting spectrum are mean and miserable decisions made by the Abbott Government that the Turnbull Government is recklessly following through on.”

Channel 44 has already launched its online portal but now has to make it financially viable.

6 Responses

  1. I have tried Stan and Netflix, but to stream normal TV, does not make any sense to me especially if you are on set monthly internet limit.

  2. I would never watch TV on a computer-it’s absurd to do this while commercial TV wastes publicly owned spectrum on horse racing/wall to wall ads 24/7-even a blank channel 74!

    1. Except that many of us have Smart TVs where the internet is on the big screen, or can stream it to TV via Chromecast, Apple TV etc. Some of those you mention are datacasting not broadcast spectrum.

    2. Southern Cross said they didn’t have the bandwidth to show 9Life but Canberra viewers can pick up a phantom channel – Channel 350 – which is showing GEM without sound.

  3. Surely the ABC or SBS could take these on and have community TV as part of their spectrum. The SBS charter was to offer what community TV mostly offers.

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