Government Axes Community TV

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced that licensing for Australian community TV will not be renewed beyond 2015. He said that the broadcast spectrum will be sold off and that community TV content can be relegated to the internet.

“I have no doubt that this transition is in the best interests of community television. It will deliver wider audiences, at less cost on a wider range of devices and the ability to do more than linear broadcasting,” Turnbull told attendees at an Australian Communication And Media Authority event in Sydney yesterday.

“ACTA is disappointed that this decision has been made public without any reasonable process of consultation with community TV stations and rejects the Minister's assertion that this decision ‘is in the best interests of community television’.  This decision has been made in the interests of the major media organisations and at the expense of the community,” responded secretary of the Australian Community Television Alliance and general manager of Melbourne’s Channel 31, Richard McLelland.

There is a noticeable lack of diversity on commercial television stations and the cessation of community TV will diminish the variety of people, voices, topics and programs even further. The move risks pushing the marginalised and the niche who make fringe television completely out of the picture.

Channels such as Melbourne’s Channel 31, Brisbane’s 31, Adelaide’s 44, Perth’s WTV and Sydney’s TVS will no longer exist; McLelland said of the decision, "This will mean the death knell for us".

Though the crossover between TV and the internet is forever widening, the mediums are still distinct from each other. As useful as the internet is at making media more accessible to people all over the world, the sheer vastness of information means that things such as community TV programs will get lost in the ether and may not be able to find an audience among YouTube channels and established webseries. On top of that, supporters of community TV believe that local content and Australian voices will be drowned out.

Community TV has also proved a valuable training ground, and launching pad, for Australian talent (independent filmmakers, actors, screenwriters, film editors) – without community TV, names like Wil Anderson, Charlie Pickering, Jess Harris (Twentysomething), Hamish & Andy, Rove McManus and Corinne Grant may not be where they are today.

McLelland adds, “At a time when there are six shopping channels broadcasting on free-to-air in the capital cities, it is unfortunate that the Minister does not value the contribution community television has made – and could continue to make – to media diversity in this country.”

With Turnbull and the government making this kind of decision without a discussion with the relevant institutions, could they do the same to community radio?