<
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-29/community-tv-stations-channel-31-channel-44-off-air/100173942>
'Adelaide and Melbourne's community television stations have been given a month
to get off the air, despite the federal government being unlikely to do
anything with their frequency range for at least three years.
Channels 44 and 31 have faced ongoing uncertainty since former communications
minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2014 ordered stations to shift to an online-only
model to free their spectrum up for testing new technologies.
The government has since given community TV stations seven last-minute
reprieves to keep operating, but it has not helped those in Brisbane (Bris31),
Perth (WTV), and Sydney (TVS), which have since shut down entirely.
"On the 30th of June, community television stations in Victoria and South
Australia are being kicked off air to be replaced by static," Labor Senator for
SA Marielle Smith said.
"There's no plans to use the spectrum for at least three years, and with
absolutely no cost to the government to maintain community television on the
air, it just seems absurd to me that it would be doing this."
As well as broadcasting community events and programs overlooked by national
and commercial broadcasters, the stations are critical training grounds for
journalism and media students, and often run partnerships with universities.'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
