ACMA giveth and ACMA take away

A few months ago I had work done on our television antenna so we could get better reception on the digital set-top box (actually a PVR but the same concept applies).  It worked so well, that about a month ago I re-tuned the PVR and picked up ten new channels from Sydney!  They are 4 (a programme guide) 40 (national indigenous television), 41 (ABC News text service), 42 (announcements page), 44 (TVS Sydney Community TV), 45 (Teachers TV), 46 (Christian Channel), 47 (House of Reps), 48 (Senate) and 49 (Expo - flogging stuff).

These are currently transmitted as a trial service from a transmitter at Gore Hill in Sydney's North Shore on the above digital frequencies.  We do well to get them from Gosford, but is exactly what digital TV is about: despite a 2% signal strength, which is pretty lousy, we get an almost perfect image on the screen.  (Mind you in a storm, they drop out, but we are well out of the intended service area anyway).

I've really enjoyed seeing parliamentary transmissions other than question time, the Christian Channel sometimes has reasonable stuff, and the NITV channel is absolutely briliant.  TVS is also finally on the digital spectrum after transmitting on analogue for many years.  TVS is a community television channel run by a non-profit collective rather than a media mogul.  And there is plenty of room for these broadcasters on the ariwaves!  After all, in 1956 when television was introduced, up until only a few years ago, there were stiull exactly the same number of channels, despite a massive population increase.  In reality, there is more than enough room for a new full-blown commercial television network, but try telling that to the powers that be and the existing operators!  In the meantime I'll settle for the extra community channels.  Anything to give us more choice...

The horrible thing, though, is apart from TVS on Channel 44, all the other channels are slated to be discontinued from April 30!!!

I've only just started to enjoy the stations, and they are only going to be with us for another couple of months!  It is hard to believe!  I reckon a lot of people won't even know these services exists as they (a) won't have digital television or (b) won't have them tuned in on their set top boxes.

To register your protest (like I have) you can see the website of the Minister, Stephen Conroy or the Australian Communications and Media Authority.  As always, a WRITTEN or FAXED protest carries more weight than an email one, however feel free to email one as well, it's better than nothing.

If you want to save some typing, here's the text of the letter I sent to the Minister for you to cut and paste:

Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy
Level 4, 4 Treasury Place
Melbourne Vic 3002

Fax: 03 9650 3251

Dear Senator Conroy,

I wish to protest strongly about the planned discontinuation on April 30of the digital fortyfour services on digital television in the Sydney area.

I have just found the digital fortyfour services on the digital tuner after getting an antenna upgrade and re-tuning the set-top box. I live near Gosford on the NSW Central Coast and prior to the antenna upgrade we just didn't have enough signal to receive these new channels.

In the last couple of weeks I've really come to enjoy the services of parliamentary telecasts, the Christian channel offerings and especially the nitv services. (I am not a christian or indigenous person, but some of the programming on those channels has been exceptional).

Yesterday I was absolutely thrilled to see TVS added to the services.

But I was also horrified by the announcement of the suspension of the trial services on 30 April. Why on earth is this necessary?

Despite their existence for years, I have just started to get to like the new channels, and they are now going to be removed... At least I've been lucky. Many many people are not going to have even SEEN these services before they are discontinued. Digital TV uptake in this country is slow, and I know many non-technical people won't be re-tuning in their equipment to take advantage of the new broadcasts. They will not be protesting about the dropping of the services, because they won't even have known they existed.

Please record my strong protest about dropping digital fortyfour services, and my plea to have the services retained.

Yours sincerely,

etc, etc.