“Is anything happening on the 1st. of July?”: Govt grilled on Community TV
Like an episode of Utopia, the Dept. of Communications can't explain a switch-off date of June 30.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News, Top Stories, Video
With Community Television stations Channel 31 & 44 once again facing a switch-off deadline of June 30 from TV broadcasting to online only, questions were raised this week at Senate Estimates.
SA Senator Marielle Smith asked what was relevant about the date of June 30, given there would be static in its place.
“Is anything happening on the first of July? ….It’s just the date the Minister chose… that’s why we’re working towards that date. Is that correct?” she asked.
Pauline Sullivan, First Assistant Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development & Communications replied, “It was the date the Minister chose.”
Community TV is incredibly important in SA and Victoria. Today, the Government confirmed when @44adelaide and @C31Melbourne are forced off air on June 30, they’ll be replaced by static, with the spectrum left vacant for years. Where on earth is the value in that? #KeepLocalTV pic.twitter.com/AcO8R1soL7
— Senator Marielle Smith (@MsMarielleSmith) May 26, 2021
The Department of Communications representatives asserted multiple times today that Community TV stations in other cities have transitioned to online-only models.
However stations in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth were forced to close down due to uncertainty around the short term licence extensions.
There are no Community TV that have transitioned to online-only models.
There were questions around why C31 and C44 were being forced off broadcast in the middle of a consultation.
“Community TV will be off air, before that process is complete?” Senator Smith asked.
There were also unanswered questions on the number of meetings Minister Paul Fletcher has had with both Channels in Adelaide and Melbourne in the past two years.
5 Responses
I don’t understand how this can be justified or why community stations are being singled out to have their broadcast licence taken off them.
Community TV does a much greater service to the community than channels 7, 9, or 10.
If metropolitan community channels Channel 44 Adelaide and Channel 31 Melbourne aren’t able to continue on the digital TV broadcast spectrum, I would like to suggest allocation, funding or resources for new or additional content for the government channel broadcasting on any spare parts of the broadcast spectrum as it would otherwise effectively be dead air space.
I’d personally suggest a 24 hour Rage channel that is very much advocated for widely. Or any other general or specialised content that either ABC or SBS could utilise, or be used by another service, such as Parliamentary broadcast channels, or new or other content on the free-to-air television digital spectrum.
How are those datacasting channels going? That was the reason they cancelled TVS Sydney wasn’t it?
So, Pauline Sullivan, First Assistant Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development & Communications (try to fit that on a 9x5cm business card) believes that “Community TV stations in other cities have transitioned to online-only models” when in fact none have done so. So sad to see the “First Assistant Secretary” claiming this factual inaccuracy. From where did she get that misinformation? Or did she just make it up, hoping no one would know the real situation? And Minister Fletcher refusing to meet with broadcasters. So sad.
The government really cares about the community needs..not