Melbourne and Adelaide’s community television stations 44 and 31 respectively have been given a month to get off the air.
Even though the federal government hasn’t resolved their frequency range for at least three years the channels’ licenses are set to expire on June 30 and their vacated spectrum is unlikely to be auctioned off until mid-2024.
“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 stressing the importance of community television especially to viewers from CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) backgrounds.
Community channels have been a training ground for media students for decades, not to mention they have been covering events and programs from different ethnic communities that commercial broadcasters overlook.
“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,” he said asking for the licenses to extended for another three years.
Channel 31 has been broadcasting Greek language programs for years.
Similarly, community channels in Brisbane (Bris31), Perth (WTV), and Sydney (TVS), have shut down entirely following Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to move them online and free the air for different technologies back in 2014.
