It might not be news to you that Australia is switching to digital television, but it’s something of a disgrace that community TV wasn’t allocated any digital spectrum when the plans were first announced back in 2001. Fortunately, that’s been fixed this week.
The government has allocated some spare digital space to existing community TV channels in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide, as well as $2.6 million to help with the costs of switching signal. While community TV is never likely to threaten the ratings of mainstream channels, it has been a training ground for many broadcasters in the past, most infamously Rove McManus. No word in the government announcement on exactly when the switch will happen though.
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