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Tuesday, January 12, 2010

News: Sunraysia/Mildura Region Will Be First To Receive Satellite Digital Television Conversion Subsidy

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IMAGEIn response to requests from the Liberal party for Labor to provide more information on the proposed free-to-air satellite digital television  service, the office of the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has today outlined details of the scheme to One Cuckoo Short of a Nest.

In an article published on One Cuckoo Short of a Nest (OCSN) last week entitled “Labor Announces Satellite Broadcasting to Improve Rural Digital Television Reception”, a spokesperson for the Shadow Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Tony Smith MP explained that the Liberal party had “not been provided with enough information from Labor” on the details of the upgrades.

The satellite scheme aims to remove “blackspot” areas of free-to-air digital television reception which will otherwise be left without television when the analogue signals are cut off.

Today by email, the office of the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Senator Stephen Conroy answered questions on the scheme. The questions cover the time frame of the scheme, availability of public information and how the subsidy for satellite television conversion will work. (A full transcript can be found at the end of this article).

When asked what time frame the project will be started and completed in, the spokesperson replied “the measures to upgrade 100 ‘self-help’ towers and launch the digital satellite service will be in place before analogue services are switched off in each regional broadcast license area. [The] switchover [will commence] with the Sunraysia/Mildura region on the 30th of June 2010 and it will progress according to a region-by-region timetable until the 31st of December 2013.” The spokesperson also said that more information on the switch-offs is available at http://www.digitalready.gov.au/rolloutmap.aspx.

OCSN asked when full information on the details of the scheme will be released to the public and other parties, to which the spokesperson replied “the Government will be writing to ‘self-help’ transmission licensees detailing the new measures as well as providing further information to local communities shortly.”

Commenting on how the subsidy will work, the spokesperson explained that “residents [who] rely on a self-help retransmission facility that is not converted to digital will be eligible to receive a satellite conversion subsidy. The satellite conversion subsidy recognises past community investment in analogue television transmission infrastructure and is intended to ease the cost burden for the households where they will need to install a satellite dish and equipment because they are reliant on terrestrial self-help towers that are being switched off. A pilot of the satellite conversion subsidy will be piloted in the Sunraysia/Mildura region.”

The infrastructure upgrades could be considered part of the “nation-building for the future” outlined in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s New Year’s Message.

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Full email interview transcript:

OCSN: In roughly what time frame will the project be started and completed in?

Spokesperson: The measures to upgrade 100 ‘self-help’ towers and launch the digital satellite service will be in place before analogue services are switched off in each regional broadcast license area. Switchover commences with the Sunraysia/Mildura region on 30 June 2010 and it will progress according to a region-by-region timetable until 31 December 2013. More info here: http://www.digitalready.gov.au/rolloutmap.aspx.

OCSN: When will full information on the details of the scheme be released to the public and other parties?

Spokesperson: The Government will be writing to ‘self-help’ transmission licensees detailing the new measures as well as providing further information to local communities shortly.

OCSN: How will the subsidy work?

Spokesperson: Residents that rely on a self-help retransmission facility that is not converted to digital will be eligible to receive a satellite conversion subsidy. The satellite conversion subsidy recognises past community investment in analogue television transmission infrastructure and is intended to ease the cost burden for the households where they will need to install a satellite dish and equipment because they are reliant on terrestrial self-help towers that are being switched off. A pilot of the satellite conversion subsidy will be piloted in the Sunraysia/Mildura region.

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