C31 to ‘switch-off’ with defiant 144 hours of Live TV
Live to air, six straight days -Community TV will break broadcasting records, determined to go out with a bang.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
Melbourne community broadcaster Channel 31 will broadcast for a record-breaking 144 hours of Live TV as a final act before it is forced to switch off its signal.
The community TV sector has been fighting a government directive to switch to online only from midnight on December 31st, and has opted to “go out with a bang!”
“We’re going to claim an unofficial Australian free-to-air TV record, surpassing previous milestones held by the likes of the Apollo moon landing and others, by going live to air for six straight days, 24 hours a day. We’ll be Live, around the clock for a total of 144 hours!” it said in a statement.
“Not only will we be producing the last piece of Community TV on your free-to-air screens, we’ll be streaming it all to the C31 Facebook page (@C31Melbourne), and posting highlights around the clock to our YouTube network.
“And, it won’t just be C31 Melbourne getting involved, our friends in Adelaide (44 Adelaide), Perth (WTV), Brisbane (31 Digital) and RMITV (the birthplace of Rove, Hamish & Andy, Waleed Aly) are on board to take the wheel throughout the week, Plus we’ll be sending our roving reporters around town for a bunch of live crosses with many special guests.”
‘Last Week Live’ plans to celebrate the history and legacy of Community TV in Australia, and continues to provide training to young producers and technical volunteers.
It takes place from Monday the 26th to Saturday the 31st of December.
Amended.
14 Responses
Sadly, when he was communications minister Mr Turnbull accepted the long held (but ludicrous) view of his department that CTV should move online. More sadly, instead of disputing this idea C31 simply asked for more time on FTA, which they were given. They committed suicide. And they undermined the case on behalf of all the other CTV stations. C31 might just survive online (might), but the rest will disappear. TVS (Television Sydney) has already gone off-air.
They did dispute the turn off, and ran a public complaint campaign. It didn’t work.
I think its short sided for our government to allow this to happen.
Like others here I find it hard to understand that why spectrum can’t be found by getting rid of one of the useless shopping channels, but alas commercial realities have won there.
Although I do enjoy SBSs cooking channel I can’t see why a government financed channel is using valuable spectrum and financial resources on this whilst ch 31 is being forced off air
Because SBS isn’t financed by the government to broadcast four channels of high quality public interest television.
Rather than devote a channel to ads (which would be tricky to do under it’s enabling legislation), Food Network is the next best thing – a cheap to produce channel with advertiser appeal. It’s intended to be revenue positive, not a drain on resources.
Is it just the Melbourne channel going off or is it all of them? I watch 44 Adelaide probably more than any of the channel & it would suck if they turn it off.
All of them moving online.
If only the “Australia Needs Free TV” campaign cared about things other that cheaper licence fees for the commercial stations
Not happy about them being forced off air.
This is a real shame. I think being forced online will effectively be the death of them as they’ll just be another chirp in a jungle full of lots of other little birds chirping away to a few hundred people who’ve randomly stumbled upon them, who then hang around for a bit before moving on to the next thing.
Such sad news. Especially when we can see channels like NITV with 0.1% audience share and the ”datacasting”-shopping channels and Racing occupying bandwidth that could be better utilised for CTV.
Is there any particular technical reason why ABC or SBS could not carry CTV? Online? What a joke.
My bad. Someone working too long!
Surely you mean “switch off their digital signal” and “government directive to switch to on-line only”? They switched their analogue signal off over 4 years ago, and it’s the digital they’re being forced to turn off by 2017…
Digital, not analog. Analogue was switched off a few years ago.
David, C31 doesn’t produce an analog signal. That was switched off long ago when they went digital. Now the digital broadcast is being switched off and they are being forced to go online only. A very sad day for community tv.