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Photo via Flickr
Community television networks are fighting back against the news they’ll be switched off in 2015.
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced on Wednesday the contract for the spectrum community broadcasters use will not be extended past December.
Community television stations, such as Melbourne and Geelong’s C31, Sydney’s TVS and Adelaide’s C44, need to be granted a licence to transmit their content.
Instead of being renewed in December, the ‘sixth channel’ spectrum is likely to be auctioned to the highest bidder.
“By taking that access away from us, it effectively spells the end of community TV in Australia,” C31 Operations Manager Matt Field said.
Without access to the free-to-air broadcast spectrum, Mr Turnbull suggested, the “best outcome” for community television was to move entirely online.
“It’s just not feasible for community TV to be able to do that,” Field said. “To keep the business together and to continue as a viable, cohesive sector.
“We accept that viewing behaviours are changing, and as an organisation we are preparing for that. But free-to-air TV is still the dominant form of media. You don’t see the commercial networks or the national broadcasters giving up their free-to-air television broadcast operations.”
@tommckendrick @timdold @C31Melbourne @theage My mum, uncle and auntie don’t have the internet. Now they can’t watch community TV
— Peter McBain (@petermcbain) September 11, 2014
Mr Field said he was “shattered” by the news, which will affect the 45 staff and hundreds of community members involved with the channel.
Mike Young first became involved in C31 in 2009 through SYN Media, which broadcasts its volunteer-run programs on the channel.
Through volunteering on a range of shows and securing casual work with the station, Mr Young has been a studio technician, technical director, camera operator and EVS operator.
“I love being a part of it, whether it’s the pressure of a live broadcast, the atmosphere created by the crews, or just the fact that I’m doing something damn cool,” he said.
“Where else would I get to jump straight into a crane operator or studio tech role at 22 years old?”
As well as being a training ground for technical knowledge, community television is a springboard for entertainers: Rove, Hamish & Andy, Peter Helliar and John Safran all appeared on C31 early in their television careers.
I’ve been asked by a lot of people about the future of community tv in Australia. Here’s my thoughts on it: https://t.co/UW9gvaDyWF
— Rove McManus (@Rove) September 11, 2014
The Broadcasting Services Act (1992) aims to “promote the availability to audiences throughout Australia of a diverse range of radio and television services”.
Community stations nation-wide, including C31, air programs in hundreds of languages, catering to the 49 per cent of long-term migrants and 67 per cent of recent immigrants who speak a language other than English.
“It gives voice to marginalised areas of the community,” Mr Young said, pointing to programs for the LGBTI community such as Bent TV and a vast range of multicultural programs.
“And it provides for niche interests that commercial and national broadcasters would never devote airtime to,” he said.
Sharona Lin, assistant TV and screen manager at SYN Media, said community programming is an “amazing outlet and opportunity for people to get into broadcast television”.
“That opportunity should be there, not just because there’s a chance that they could be the next Rove, but because young people should have those chances,” she said.
The community broadcasting sector has launched a campaign urging Malcolm Turnbull to reconsider his decision to push community broadcasting off television.
Labor does not have an official stance on the renewing of the transmission licence, saying it will work with the sector to “transition from a broadcast model to online distribution”.
“It doesn’t look good,” C31’s Matt Field said.
“We urge anyone with an interest in community television to speak up now, otherwise it’ll be gone forever.”
