eleventyone

Federal Minister Stephen Conroy became the saviour of community television today, explaining the new digital licence for Channel 31 at a community forum in Melbourne.

The Federal Government has finally come through on its promise to bring community television into the digital age, by granting C31 a digital licence, plus government funding.

Stephen Conroy

An unused piece of the digital spectrum known as Channel A will be temporarily allocated to C31 in Melbourne, TVS in Sydney, QCTV in Brisbane and Channel 31 in Adelaide. A community station in Perth will also begin broadcasts next year.

Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, said since 2001 commercial television stations have been reaping the benefits of digital while ‘community television has been left marooned in analogue’ loosing audiences and advertising revenue. He said this will ‘fix the mistake of the previous government’.

The government will provide $2.6 million in funding to be shared among the stations, to purchase digital transmission equipment and devices to interface with the digital broadcasting network. C31 is expected to begin simulcasting in both analogue and digital early 2010, before analogue broadcasting is switched off in 2013.

C31 Digital Forum

This is only a temporary licence and before community stations in capital cities make a permanent switch to digital they ‘must become sustainable viable businesses’. Conroy said stations ‘can’t rely on government funding’ and that C31 will be ‘at its most successful when it has true independence from the government’.

‘The Rudd government values community television’ said Conroy, who is not ruling out any rural and regional community broadcasters and prepared to look at any serious offers of viable businesses.

C31 will be included in the Freeview package when its digital box rolled-out over Christmas, which Conroy believes is ‘very, very exciting’.