When Bills have been passed and have received Royal Assent, they
become Acts, which can be found at the ComLaw
website.
The purpose of
the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Radio) Bill 2015 (the Bill) is to
introduce a less complex and more flexible process to assist in the planning
and licensing of digital radio in regional Australia.[1]
The Bill will amend the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the BSA) and
the Radiocommunications Act 1992 to:
- repeal
a sub category of datacasting licences—the restricted datacasting licence
- remove
a role for the Minister for Communications in determining the day upon which digital
radio commences in regional licence areas
- repeal
the sections of the BSA which require a six year moratorium on
additional licences in an area once digital radio services have commenced in
that area
- amend
the definition of non-foundation digital radio multiplex transmitter licence.
The Bill also
repeals spent provisions in the BSA and the Radiocommunications Act.
The Bill consists of five schedules.
-
Schedule 1 repeals the restricted datacasting licence.
-
Schedule 2 replaces the Minister for Communications as the authority for
determining the day on which digital radio services will commence in radio
licence areas. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) will
take direct responsibility for determining licence ‘start-up’ days.
-
Schedule 3 repeals sections of the BSA and the Radiocommunications
Act which impose a six year moratorium on ACMA with regards to the
allocation of new digital commercial radio broadcasting licences.
-
Schedule 4 amends the definition of ‘non-foundation digital radio
multiplex transmitter licence’ so that a category 3 digital radio multiplex
transmitter licence is no longer included in the definition.
-
Schedule 5 repeals spent provisions in the BSA and the Radiocommunications
Act which required the Minister to conduct a review, and table a report of
matters referred to in those provisions.
The Parliamentary Library has produced a paper, Going
digital: digital radio for Australia, which details the development of
digital radio and the policy background to its introduction.[2]
The information in this Digest follows from the background provided in this
paper.
Legislation to allow the introduction of Australia's first
digital radio services was passed in May 2007 and high power digital services
commenced in the mainland capital cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide,
Brisbane and Perth later in that year.[3]
Trials of low power digital radio commenced in Canberra (considered a regional
market) in July 2010 and Darwin in August 2010.[4]
Community radio began digital broadcasts in the mainland state capitals in May
2011. Stakeholders were keen for digital radio to be rolled out in regional and
remote areas, but there were concerns raised that the DAB+ technology (see
explanation in Box 1) used in the major metropolitan areas and in the Canberra
and Darwin trials would not be sufficiently robust to replicate the coverage of
existing radio services. [5]
A government review of possible technologies that could be used for digital
radio in regional areas found that while there was considerable support for the
use of DAB+, there was also acknowledgement that the technology will most
likely not be able to cover all regional and remote areas.[6]
Box 1: DAB+
-
To
enable a multiplex to transmit a number of stations, audio compression is
used to reduce the data rate of each station being transmitted. In taking
advantage of the fact that when the human ear detects sound on one frequency
it is less sensitive to quieter sounds on nearby frequencies, an audio
compression coder calculates a noise floor below which sound cannot be perceived
by listeners and discards those sounds.
-
The
audio coding standard used for Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) is MP2. The
code used for DAB+ HE-AAC v2 (also known as MP4 or AAC+) however, is more
compression efficient. It allows for the equivalent or better subjective
audio quality to be broadcast at lower bit rates than DAB. It has been argued
that this, in turn, is more spectrum efficient as more stations can be
broadcast on a multiplex, less transmission cost is incurred per station and
a wider choice of stations becomes available.
-
The
geographical coverage area of radio services using HE-AAC v2 is also slightly
greater than for those using MP2.[7]
|
Section 215B of the BSA and section 313B of the Radiocommunications
Act required that the Minister for Communications initiate two statutory
reviews of digital radio issues by 1 January 2014. Matters to be examined in this
review included consideration of the various terrestrial and satellite
technologies capable of transmitting digital radio broadcasting services and
restricted datacasting services in Australia. This review was also concerned
with other aspects of digital radio rollout, such as ‘the operation of the BSA
in so far as it deals with the licensing and regulation of digital radio and
restricted datacasting services’.[8]
The Government received 15 submissions to this review and
noted in its review report released in July 2015 that the recommendations in
that report were informed by the views expressed in those submissions.[9]
One of these recommendations reflected the conclusion that while the
legislative framework for digital radio was working well, there was room for
improvement in particular areas. The measures in this Bill reflect the
recommendations for such improvements made in the 2015 report.
At the time of writing this Digest the Senate Scrutiny of
Bills Committee had not commented on the Bill.
On 3 December 2015 the Senate Selection of Bills Committee
deferred consideration of this Bill to its next meeting.[10]
At the time of writing this Digest Parliamentarians do not appear
to have made any specific comments on the issues raised in this Bill.
The position of major interest groups regarding the measures
proposed in this Bill can be found in the various submissions made to the
Government’s review of digital radio completed in July 2015. These are
elaborated upon in more detail in the key issues and provisions section of this
Digest. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) submission, for
example, remarked on the regulatory regime for digital radio in general that it
considered:
... regulatory frameworks should maximise the opportunities for
businesses to enter media and communications industries and encourage robust
competition between different types of services. On this basis, any regulation
should meet broader public interest objectives and be proportional to the
market or regulatory failure that has been identified.
As such, the ACCC considers that any reform of the
legislative or regulatory framework should not have the effect of inhibiting
the development of competition in the digital radio market or other media or
communications platforms. The ACCC submits that any reform to the relevant
frameworks should be based on an identified and persistent issue with its
current construction, and consideration should be given to the precise outcomes
sought by any modifications to the regime.[11]
After the release of the digital radio review findings it
was reported across the media that all major regional broadcasters welcomed the
review recommendations.[12]
There appears to be no direct financial implications for the
federal government or relevant commercial stakeholders arising from this Bill.
It should be noted, however, that there has been some speculation that if the
Government chose to fund contributions to digital radio roll out in regional
areas, the cost could be in the vicinity of $500 million over a 16 year period.[13]
This may partly explain the Government’s recommendation in its review paper
that the timing of digital rollout in regional areas should be a commercial
decision for broadcasters to be made in the medium to long term.[14]
As required under Part 3 of the Human Rights
(Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 (Cth), the Government has assessed the
Bill’s compatibility with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared
in the international instruments listed in section 3 of that Act. The
Government considers that the Bill is compatible as it does not engage any of
the relevant rights or freedoms to which the Act refers.[15]
At the time of writing this Bills Digest, the
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights had not commented on the Bill.
This section does not discuss all provisions in this Bill.
For a detailed analysis of all provisions, see the Explanatory Memorandum.
Box 2: datacasting
Datacasting services
A datacasting service is one which delivers content in the
form of text, data, speech, music or other sounds or visual images (animated
or otherwise), or in any combination of forms to persons who have the
equipment to receive that service.
The BSA gives ACMA the power to allocate
datacasting licences to authorise the provision of datacasting services. ACMA
is also empowered under the Radiocommunications Act to require
datacasting services to hold an apparatus licence for the purposes of
delivering, by means other than by satellite, datacasting services to persons
having equipment appropriate to receive that service. Apparatus licences are issued
by the regulator.
The operation of transmitters used for datacasting is
authorised under the datacasting licence type. A datacasting licence
authorises the use of one or more transmitters that are operated.
Restricted datacasting licences
The Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Radio)
Act 2007 amended the BSA to establish a new category of
datacasting service, known as the restricted datacasting service. This
category was intended to enable non‑radio broadcasters to make use of
the digital radio platform to deliver innovative non-radio services.[16]
|
Broadcasting Services Act
Items 1, 2 and 3 of this Schedule repeal the
definition of restricted datacasting licence and restricted datacasting service
and remove the existing reference to restricted datacasting licence and
restricted datacasting service from the definition of broadcasting services
bands.
Other changes to provisions in the BSA proposed under
this Schedule are either repealed consequentially as a result of the repeal of
the definitions of restricted datacasting licence and restricted datacasting
service, are redundant because these categories will no longer be included in
the BSA or are no longer necessary as a result of the repeal of the
definitions.
Radiocommunications Act
Items 44 to 48 remove references to
restricted datacasting licences within the definitions of category 1 and
category 2 digital radio multiplex licences (see current definitions in Box 2
below), to reflect the repeal of the category of restricted datacasting licence
in the BSA. Item 49 makes an equivalent amendment to the
definition of category 3 digital radio multiplex licence. Items 50 and
51 repeal the definitions of ‘restricted datacasting licence’ and
‘restricted datacasting service’ in section 5 of the Radiocommunications Act.
These definitions refer to the definitions in the BSA that are repealed
by items 2 and 3 of this Schedule.
The other changes to the Radiocommunications Act
proposed in this Schedule are a consequence of the removal of the references to
restricted datacasting services in items 44 to 51.
Box 3: Categories of digital radio multiplex transmitter
(DRMT) licences
A
category 1 digital radio multiplex transmitter (DRMT) licence is a licence that
provides for the transmission of any or all of the following services:
- one or more digital commercial radio
broadcasting services;
- one or more digital community radio
broadcasting services;
- one or more restricted datacasting services.
A
category 2 DRMT licence is a licence that provides for the transmission of any
or all of the following services:
- one or more digital commercial radio
broadcasting services;
- one or more digital community radio
broadcasting services;
- one or more digital national radio broadcasting
services;
- one or more restricted datacasting services.
A
category 3 DRMT licence is a licence that provides for the transmission of:
- one or more digital national radio broadcasting
services;
- one or more restricted datacasting services,
where each relevant restricted datacasting licence is held by a national
broadcaster.[17]
|
Comment
ACMA has issued no restricted datacasting licences since
this sub-category of datacasting was introduced in 2007.[18]
The ABC commented on this fact by noting that there was ‘little or no industry
interest in restricted datacasting’ and given this absence of demand, combined
with the scarcity of spectrum it could see no reason for retaining the licence
category.[19]
Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) could see limited
benefits from maintaining the restricted datacasting licences category and
agreed that there was little or no excess multiplex capacity in existing
markets to be allocated for this purpose. In addition, in reference to its
proposal to the review for shared multiplexes between commercial and public
service broadcasters in the vast majority of regional areas, multiplex capacity
is also likely to be extremely scarce in those markets. Further, the CRA found
it difficult ‘to see the benefit of industry participants incurring additional
infrastructure build costs for demand that is unlikely to materialise’. At the
same time, the CRA was prepared to support a review of the restricted
datacasting licensing framework, as opposed to its repeal.[20]
The Australian Narrowcast Radio Association (ANRA) wanted
the restricted narrowcast licence category retained with narrowcasters given
the right to apply for and operate these services as it was ‘the nature’ of
narrowcasting to provide niche services.[21]
This was echoed in a submission by a member of the public who considered the
category should be opened up to ‘scientific licences’ so they could be used ‘to
test equipment’.[22]
However, as the review report pointed out, there is nothing in the current
legislation to prevent existing narrowcasters from applying for a restricted
datacasting licence, yet none has chosen to do so.[23]
Schedule 2: start-up day
Item 1 of Schedule 2 repeals subsection 8AC(3) of the
BSA to remove a requirement for the Minister to specify in a legislative
instrument a digital radio start-up day for a licence area. Thus it will be
left to ACMA to set the commencement dates for regional digital radio services.
A digital radio start-up day is the day on which licensees are authorised to
commence digital radio services in an area.
Comment
As the Explanatory Memorandum notes, this proposed changes
would ‘remove unnecessary Government intervention in the commencement of
digital radio services’ in regional areas, giving the broadcasting regulator
‘direct responsibility’ for determining when digital radio services should be
allowed to commence in an area.[24]
Schedule 3: digital radio
moratorium period
Broadcasting Services Act
Under section 35C of the BSA new digital commercial
radio broadcasting licences must not be allocated by ACMA for a period of six
years after the digital start-up day in a particular licence area. This is
known as the digital radio moratorium period and it was intended to provide
incumbent broadcasters with ‘stability and certainty’ during the investment
phase of establishing digital radio services.[25]
This moratorium period expired for metropolitan areas on 30 June 2015. However,
a moratorium period is to commence in regional areas when they commence digital
radio services. In his second reading speech the Minister for Major Projects,
Territories and Local Government, Paul Fletcher, stated that the digital radio
report found the moratorium did not provide sufficient incentive for commercial
radio broadcasters to extend digital radio services into regional licence areas.[26]
It is unclear if this means that the moratorium remained necessary but not
sufficient on its own.
Item 1 of Schedule 3 repeals the definition of
digital radio moratorium period in subsection 6(1) of the BSA. The other
proposed changes to the Act in items 2 to 7 are a consequence of
the repeal of this definition as they are redundant or unnecessary as a result.
Radiocommunications Act
Item 8 repeals the definition of digital radio
moratorium period in section 5 of the Radiocommunications Act as a
consequence of the repeal of the definition in the BSA. Other proposed
changes to the Radiocommunications Act in items 9 to 14 are
a consequence of the repeal of this definition as they are redundant or
unnecessary as a result.
Comment
In its submission to the digital review paper, the ACCC did
not support the extension of a moratorium period for digital radio. It noted that
the stability and certainty rationale for the moratorium for incumbent
broadcasters during the digital radio investment phase had lessened as digital
radio has become established.[27]
According to the ACCC:
The potential emergence of new competitors may further
stimulate the market by driving innovation and investment. For example, as
digital radio services are not intended to replace existing analogue services,
a broader range of services available on digital radio platforms may enhance
consumer awareness and drive take-up rates through further differentiation from
existing analogue services.[28]
The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA)
was concerned about the effect extending the moratorium requirements would have
on the community broadcasting sector. CBAA stated:
If the moratorium is extended for any significant length of
time, and no counter-measure is taken by government to provide for additional
community sector capacity, the moratorium will, effectively, lock community
digital radio broadcasting into severe capacity constraints long-term.
In that circumstance, the ability for digital community
broadcasting services to increase their self-reliance and, in fact, to exist in
a way that is equitable or comparable with other digital radio broadcast
services, is severely compromised.[29]
CRA disagreed, arguing in favour of extending the existing
moratorium ‘for a period of years’.[30]
In CRA’s view this was necessary because it was possible that the viability and
profitability of future digital radio services could be undermined if new
digital broadcasters who ‘bear none of the analogue costs borne by incumbent
broadcasters’ are allowed into the market.[31]
CRA continued:
Over recent years, radio has evolved to become a medium which
is compatible with and complemented by the alternative delivery models, such as
digital radio and the internet.
This multi-mode environment has resulted in substantial
additional costs on broadcasters which are not off-set by any additional
revenue.
More importantly, digital multi-channelling and a converged
environment by its nature results in a more competitive and diverse media
landscape.
As a result, the argument for awarding new entrant digital
broadcast licences in addition to those already allocated to analogue licence
holders has been significantly weakened. [32]
The digital radio review report noted that the existence
of the moratorium in metropolitan areas did not provide sufficient incentive
for commercial broadcasters to extend the services to regional Australia.
Given this situation, the review considers that there is no
strong public policy rationale for artificially restricting the allocation of
new digital commercial radio broadcasting licences in a regional licence area
for six years after the commencement of services in that area. On the contrary,
audience take-up of digital radio services—and purchase of digital radio
receivers—in regional areas would be assisted by the presence of additional
broadcasters delivering a greater range of content, subject to spectrum
availability (and commercial interest). Furthermore, the participation of
additional broadcasters may assist in recovering the infrastructure costs borne
by those broadcasters who first supply digital radio services in an area.[33]
Schedule 4: non-foundation digital
radio multiplex transmitter licence
The Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Radio)
Act 2007 implemented certain multiplex management and access arrangements
for digital radio.[34]
These arrangements drew a distinction between what are called foundation DRMT
licences and non-foundation DRMT licences. The distinctions are:
-
foundation digital radio multiplex transmitter licences are
licences that provide standard access entitlements for digital commercial,
digital community and digital national radio broadcasting operators in an area.
They are licences designed to accommodate incumbent operators and
-
non-foundation digital radio multiplex transmitter licences are
any additional licences issued in an area which do not provide for standard
access entitlements. They are licences intended to accommodate any future
digital radio broadcasters.
ACMA can declare category 1 and category 2 DRMTs as
foundation licences. Foundation licences provide standard access entitlements
for incumbent licensees, namely:
- each incumbent digital commercial radio broadcasting licensee in the
licence area is entitled to access one‑ninth of multiplex capacity under
a foundation category 1 or category 2 DRMT
-
two-ninths of multiplex capacity under a foundation category 1 or
category 2 DRMT is reserved for sharing between digital community radio
broadcasting licensees nominated by the digital community radio broadcasting
representative company for the area and
- each national broadcaster is entitled to access one-ninth of multiplex
capacity under a foundation category 2 DRMT.[35]
As noted in Box 3 above, category 3 DRMT licences authorise
the transmission of national radio broadcasting services and/or restricted
datacasting services. These licences can only be held by the national
broadcasters. Category 3 DRMT licences are regarded as non-foundation licences,
and as such they cannot be issued in a particular licence area unless ACMA has
issued one or more foundation licences for that area (section 102F of the Radiocommunications
Act). Further, section 129 of the Radiocommunications Act prohibits non-foundation
licensees (including category 3 DMRT licensees) from applying for renewal. As
Minister Fletcher noted in his second reading speech on this Bill, this
situation means that the ABC and SBS are unable to apply for renewal of
licences. Hence, this is ‘a technical amendment to address an
unintended consequence of the existing drafting’.[36]
The Explanatory Memorandum argues that as there is no ‘clear
policy reason’ for category 3 licences to be so limited, the Bill intends in item
1 of schedule 4 to amend the definition of non-foundation DRMT licence so
that it excludes category 3 licences.[37]
Comment
Given the government’s recommendation that the roll out of
digital radio should be a commercial decision for broadcasters, it may be that
they choose not to roll out digital broadcasting in certain areas for reasons
of cost and because there may be limited possibilities that services will be
commercially viable. This possibility can be illustrated by claims made by the
broadcasters over time in relation to lobbying the Government for more flexible
licence requirements for regional commercial radio generally. Many of the
arguments posed by the broadcasters, for example, express concern that excessive
licensing, staffing and content requirements make it more difficult for them to
make a profit in regional markets where they are required to serve large
geographical areas which have limited populations and potential to deliver
revenues.[38]
The digital radio report observed that while the current legislative
framework provides for arrangements which allow the national broadcasters to
share a multiplex with commercial and community broadcasters (category 2), or
operate their own multiplex (category 3) independently of other broadcasters:
... the optimal arrangement would depend on the number of
commercial and eligible community licensees in the area, and other issues such
as cost, as well as optimum arrangements for using any excess capacity on the
multiplex.[39]
The proposed change to the definition of a category 3 DRMT
provides some opportunity to explore what would be ‘optimal arrangements’ as it
gives the national broadcasters the capacity to extend digital services to
regional areas without having regard to the existence of a category 1 DRMT in
the licence area. This point having been made, to what extent the national
broadcasters will have the capacity to undertake extensive roll out of digital
radio services in regional areas will also be a ‘commercial’ decision in a
budgetary sense. This is because from July 2015, the Government ceased extra
funding provided to the national broadcasters for digital radio transmission.
From 2015 digital transmission became part of the base funding equation for the
broadcasters. The digital radio review noted:
Any rollout by the ABC or SBS of digital radio services in
regional areas using DAB+ or other technologies would be a decision for the
national broadcasters. Similarly, it is a matter for the national broadcasters
whether they maintain their existing services.[40]
Taking into account the findings of the Peter Lewis’
Review into the national broadcasters, adds another dimension to the
discussion. Lewis was of the view that discontinuing terrestrial digital radio
services may deliver savings to the national broadcasters, and it appears that
this view may have informed at least some of the thinking expressed in the
Government’s review report.
The Lewis report stated:
Terrestrial digital radio represents a significant ongoing
expense for what is primarily a complimentary service, which does not attract a
significant additional audience (Nielsen survey results for September-November
2012, estimated the weekly reach for all ABC digital radio services to be
approximately 750,000) compared to 716,000 for Classic FM, a single analog
service. Nor does digital radio appear to be adding significantly to the
diversity and quality of national broadcasting radio content already available
to the public, at this stage.[41]
In terms of savings to the national broadcasters Lewis
suggested:
The cost of digital radio services comprises the content
costs (which would be very small for simulcast services, and modest for
services which largely stream music content), and the distribution costs.
Significant savings could be realised if a decision is taken to cease
terrestrial transmission which is currently only available in capital cities.
Content would continue to be available on alternative platforms such as the
web, mobile and through digital television.
Digital radio services are provided for under a joint venture
company established between the ABC and SBS with a 15 year contract with
Broadcast Australia that expires in September 2024. The joint venture agreement
also covers distribution and head end multiplex equipment and maintenance costs
provided by other suppliers. It may be possible for these contracts to be
terminated [funding amounts blanked out in the report], in order to achieve
potential annualised savings [savings amount blanked out in the report] from
financial year 2014-15 onwards.[42]
Ultimately, in making decisions about whether they will
roll out regional digital radio, the national broadcasters will be required to
take into account the obligations in their charters to provide services to the
Australian public. The ABC Charter for example says that the broadcaster must
take into account ‘services provided by the commercial and community sectors of
the Australian broadcasting system’ when making decisions about its own
services and programming.[43]
Given that the ABC has recently committed to streaming
more regional services, it may be that the broadcaster has already decided that
it can best fulfil its charter obligations in this manner, rather than through
what it appears will be the more costly roll out of terrestrial digital radio,
but it is not certain if this is, or will be, the case.[44]
The proposed changes in Schedule 4 simply provide more flexibility for the
broadcasters in making decisions on regional roll out.
Members, Senators and Parliamentary staff can obtain
further information from the Parliamentary Library on (02) 6277 2500.
[1].
Broadcasting Services
Act 1992 (BSA) and Radiocommunications Act
1992, accessed 10 December 2015.
[2]. R
Jolly, Going
digital: digital radio for Australia, Research paper, 18, 2008–09,
Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2008, accessed 8 January 2016.
[3]. Broadcasting
Legislation Amendment (Digital Radio) Act 2007 and the associated Radio Licence Fees
Amendment Act 2007, accessed 8 January 2016.
[4]. Note
the legislation to introduce digital radio was amended to exclude the capital
city of Hobart from the requirement to launch digital radio at the request of
Hobart broadcasters who believed that it was not commercially viable at the
time.
[5]. It
was noted for example that the potential adequacy of DAB+
coverage in regional Australia is directly linked to the spectrum in which the
technology operates. The preferred spectrum for DAB+ digital radio services is
VHF Band III, which is generally defined in Australia as 174–230 MHz. but this
band was then used by existing free-to-air analogue and digital television
services. This restricted the availability of VHF Band III in the period before
analogue television services were switched off, especially in those regional
areas close to major metropolitan centres. A direction issued by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital
Economy on 9 July 2010 allowed for 14 MHz of VHF Band III spectrum in each
metropolitan licence area to assist in the future rollout of digital radio in
regional Australia. Despite this release of spectrum however, there continue to
be concerns that the roll out of DAB+ in all regional licence areas may require
compromises—particularly in those areas adjacent to metropolitan licence areas
where there is considerable spectrum congestion. Department
of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), Technologies
for digital radio services in regional Australia: discussion paper,
DBCDE, Canberra, November 2010, p. 3, accessed 22 January 2016.
[6]. DBCDE,
Technologies for digital radio services in regional Australia, op. cit. and
DBCDE, Review
of technologies for digital radio in regional Australia—Final report,
DBCDE, Canberra, 7 October 2011.
[7]. Jolly,
Going digital, op. cit., p. 11.
[8]. Department
of Communications (DoC), Digital
radio: reviews to be conducted under section 215B of the Broadcasting
Services Act 1992 (BSA) and section 313B of the Radiocommunications
Act 1992 (Radiocommunications Act): discussion paper, (Digital
radio discussion paper), DoC, Canberra, December 2013, p. 2, accessed
22 January 2016.
[9]. DoC,
Digital
radio report: reviews under section 215B of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and
section 313B of the Radiocommunications Act 1992, report, DoC,
Canberra, July 2015, accessed 22 January 2016.
[10]. Senate
Standing Committee for the Selection of Bills, Report,
16, 2015, The Senate, Canberra, 3 December 2015, accessed 16 December 2015.
[11]. Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission ACCC), ACCC
submission to the Department of Communications’ review of digital radio,
February 2014, p. 4.
[12]. M
Bodey, ‘Regional
digital rollout planned’, The Australian, 13 July, p. 25, accessed
22 January 2016.
[13]. ‘Commercial
Radio Australia launches “We want digital radio” regional awareness campaign’,
Campaign Brief website, 18 March 2013, cited in DoC, Digital radio report,
op. cit., p. 24, accessed 21 January 2016.
[14]. Ibid.
[15]. The
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights can be found at pp. 4–6 of the
Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill.
[16]. Broadcasting
Legislation Amendment (Digital Radio) Act 2007, accessed 22
January 2016.
[17]. Section
5 of the Radiocommunications Act and ACMA, ‘Digital
licensing categories’, ACMA website, 30 September 2013, accessed
22 January 2016.
[18]. ACMA,
‘Register
of datacasting licences’, ACMA website, 26 September 2013, accessed 22
January 2016.
[19]. Australian
Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Submission
to DoC, Digital radio discussion paper, March 2014, p. 9, accessed 21
January 2016.
[20]. Commercial
Radio Australia (CRA), Submission
to DoC, Digital radio discussion paper, February 2014, p. 15, accessed
21 January 2016.
[21]. Australian
Narrowcast Radio Association (ANRA), Submission
to DoC, Digital radio discussion paper, February 2014, p. 3, accessed 21
January 2016. Note: sections 17 and 18 of the BSA define narrowcasting
services as broadcasting services whose reception is limited by: being targeted
to special interest groups; intended only for limited locations; provided
during a limited period of time; because they provide programs of limited
appeal or for some other reason.
[22]. C
Allen, Submission
to DoC, Digital radio discussion paper, 2013, accessed 21 January 2016.
[23]. DoC,
Digital radio report, op. cit., p. 34,
[24]. Explanatory
Memorandum, op. cit., p.2.
[25]. Explanatory
Memorandum, Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Radio) Bill 2007,
p. 40, accessed 29 January 2016.
[26]. P
Fletcher, ‘Second
reading speech: Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Radio) Bill 2015’,
House of Representatives, Debates, 2 December 2015, p. 14445,
accessed 28 January 2016.
[27]. ACCC,
Submission to DoC, op. cit., p. 7.
[28]. Ibid.
[29]. Community
Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA), Submission
to DoC, Digital radio discussion paper, n.d., p. 15, accessed
27 January 2016.
[30]. CRA,
Submission to DoC, op. cit., p. 13.
[31]. Ibid.
[32]. Ibid.
[33]. DoC,
Digital radio report, op. cit., p. 29.
[34]. As
unoccupied spectrum which could be used for digital radio
services was limited (particularly in Sydney and Melbourne), the spectrum was split
into multiplexes, which are able to accommodate a number of different streams
of content to be broadcast within the one spectrum. DAB+ technology allows nine
channels per multiplex.
[35]. ACMA,
Proposed
variations to digital radio plans: discussion paper, November 2014, p.
7.
[36]. Fletcher,
Second reading speech, op. cit.
[37]. Explanatory
Memorandum, op. cit., p. 3.
[38]. For
example in 2010 Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) argued strongly that the
existing legislation threatened ‘the viability of the regional commercial radio
industry by imposing inflexible and unworkable operating conditions and
significant additional compliance costs and obligations’, Commercial Radio
Australia, Submission to the review of local content requirements for
regional commercial radio, March 2010, cited in R Jolly, Broadcasting
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[39]. DoC,
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[40]. DoC,
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[41]. DoC,
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[42]. Ibid.
[43]. Australian Broadcasting
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[44]. ABC,
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