Explanatory Statement
Broadcasting Services Act 1992
Broadcasting Services (Digital-Only Local Market Area for Regional Queensland TV1) Determination (No. 1) 2011
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Broadband, Communications
and the Digital Economy
Purpose
The Broadcasting Services (Digital-Only Local Market Area for Regional Queensland TV1) Determination (No. 1) 2011 (the Determination) is made by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (the Minister) under subclause 5F(1) of Schedule 4 to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the BSA). The Determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of section 5 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
The purpose of the Determination is to determine that a specified area wholly within the Regional Queensland TV1 licence area (i.e. the local market area for the purposes of paragraph 5F(1)(a)) is to become a digital-only local market area from and including 6 December 2011. This would require national and commercial television broadcasters in that local market area to cease transmitting their services in analog mode. From and including 6 December 2011, television broadcasts may only be transmitted in digital mode in the local market area.
The specified area that is to become a digital-only local market area includes the Wide Bay, Capricornia, Queensland Central Coast and Whitsundays, Darling Downs, North Queensland and Far North Queensland areas of Regional Queensland TV1.
This Determination should be read in conjunction with the Broadcasting Services (Simulcast Period for Regional Queensland TV1) Determination (No. 1) 2011.
Background
Legislative background
The BSA allows the Minister to implement a phased, region-by-region digital television switchover timetable for metropolitan and regional licence areas. The dates for digital television switchover are set through a transitional period, known as the ‘simulcast period’, during which national and commercial television broadcasters are required to transmit simultaneously in analog and standard definition digital mode (unless an area is a digital-only local market area). At the end of the simulcast period, or at a time an area becomes a digital-only local market area, analog transmissions must cease. Only digital television transmissions are permitted after that time.
Clause 5F of Schedule 4 to the BSA gives the Minister the power to determine, by legislative instrument, ‘digital-only local market areas’ for a licence area. The instrument has two components: the specification of a local market area and the specification of the time the local market area becomes a digital-only local market area. This facilitates a switchover timetable based on geographical areas other than licence areas, recognising that a single licence area may contain a variety of local geographic, technical and market circumstances. In practice, clause 5F allows multiple switchover dates to be determined in a single licence area. Any part of a licence area that is not determined to be a digital-only local market area will switchover at the end of the simulcast period for the licence area or coverage area.
The making of a digital-only local market area is subject to the condition that the local market area be wholly included within a licence area (subclause 5F(2) of Schedule 4 to the BSA refers) and a time specified for a local market area to become a digital-only local market area must fall within the simulcast period for the licence area concerned (subclause 5F(3)). Once made, a determination is irrevocable (subclause 5F(4)), although it may be varied subject to the limitations set out in subclauses 5F(5) to (10). The Minister must consult the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) before making or varying a determination (subclause 5F(11)).
Simulcast period and establishment of digital-only services in the Regional Queensland TV1 licence area
The switchover timetable released by the Minister on 19 October 2008 provides for six switchover areas in regional Queensland to switch to digital-only television between 1 July and 31 December 2011. These are Wide Bay, Capricornia, Queensland Central Coast and Whitsundays, Darling Downs, North Queensland and Far North Queensland. These switchover areas are all located in the Regional Queensland TV1 licence area.
Results in the Digital Tracker report released quarterly by the Digital Switchover Taskforce within the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy indicate that, in the last quarter of 2010, 95% of households in regional Queensland were aware of switchover and 79% had already converted at least their main television set.
As a result, the Minister has decided that from and including 6 December 2011, television broadcasts may only be transmitted in digital mode in the Wide Bay, Capricornia, Queensland Central Coast and Whitsundays, Darling Downs, North Queensland and Far North Queensland switchover areas.
The Sunshine Coast switchover area is also located in the Regional Queensland TV1 licence area. It encompasses the commercial and national broadcaster sites of Gympie Town, Gympie, Noosa/Tewantin, Nambour and Sunshine Coast. In order to make the switchover process more manageable for broadcasters, the Minister has decided that the end of the simulcast period for the Sunshine Coast switchover area is to be synchronised with the end date for the simulcast period that applies to the Brisbane TV1 licence area. The end date for the Brisbane TV1 licence area is 30 June 2013 (see Broadcasting Services (Simulcast Period for Metropolitan Licence Areas) Determination (No. 1) 2009). Consequently, the Broadcasting Services (Simulcast Period for Regional Queensland TV1) Determination (No. 1) 2011, which is intended to come into effect on the same day as this Determination, will also set 30 June 2013 as the switchover date for the Regional Queensland TV1 licence area.
To facilitate an earlier switchover date of 6 December 2011 for the switchover areas in the Regional Queensland TV1 licence area other than the Sunshine Coast switchover area, this Determination will provide that those areas (i.e. all switchover areas except the Sunshine Coast switchover area) will comprise a local market area for the purposes of paragraph 5F(1)(a) of Schedule 4 to the BSA. This Determination will also provide that the local market area becomes a digital-only local market area from and including 6 December 2011 (which will fall within the simulcast period for the Regional Queensland TV1 licence area (paragraph 5F(3) refers).
The effect of this Determination, along with the Broadcasting Services (Simulcast Period for Regional Queensland TV1) Determination (No. 1) 2011, will be that television broadcasts may only be transmitted in digital mode in the switchover areas that comprise the local market area from and including 6 December 2011. However, the transmission of commercial and national television broadcasts will continue in both analog and digital mode in the Sunshine Coast switchover area until the end of the simulcast period for the Regional Queensland TV1 licence area (i.e. 30 June 2013, the same date as the Brisbane TV1 switchover).
Notes on Clauses
Clause 1 provides that the name of the Determination is the Broadcasting Services (Digital-Only Local Market Area for Regional Queensland TV1) Determination (No. 1) 2011.
Clause 2 provides that the Determination takes effect from the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
Clause 3 is a definitions clause.
Clause 4 is the main operative clause.
Clause 4 provides that a certain area wholly within Regional Queensland TV1 is a local market area for the purposes of Schedule 4 to the BSA (subclause 4(a) refers). This area becomes a digital-only local market area from and including the date specified under clause 4(b).
Subclause 4(a) provides that the regional licence area within Regional Queensland TV1, except for a specified area around the Sunshine Coast (subclause 4(a) and Schedule 1 of the Determination refer), is a local market area.
The area will become a local market area from the commencement of this Determination (clause 2 and subclause 4(a) of the Determination refer). In turn, the local market area is to become a digital-only local market area from and including 6 December 2011 (subclause 4(b) of the Determination refers).
The area within the Regional Queensland TV1 licence area that is not included in the local market area, the Sunshine Coast switchover area, is specified by reference to Census Collection Districts (CDs). CDs are geographic areas developed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Each CD is represented by a unique seven digit code. The CDs used in the Determination are those defined by the ABS at the Census of 8 August 2006. A fuller description of CDs is given on the ABS website at http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/web+pages/Census+Data.
The local market area created by this Determination, and the area not included in the local market area, is illustrated in the maps at Attachment A and Attachment B respectively.
The map at Attachment A shows the entire area to be the local market area in green. The area within the Regional Queensland TV1 licence area that is not to be included in the local market area, the Sunshine Coast switchover area, is represented in white, with the borders of the census collection districts that define the excluded area indicated in red. The inset on the map at Attachment A shows the area that is not included in the local market area in greater detail. The map at Attachment A also shows the Brisbane TV1 licence area in pink. The Brisbane TV1 licence area forms the southern border of the area to be excluded from the local market area, but it is not affected by this Determination.
The area that is within the Regional Queensland TV1 licence area, but that will not be included in the digital-only local market area, is illustrated in detail in the map at Attachment B.
Consultation
As required by subclause 5F(11) of Schedule 4 to the BSA, the Minister has consulted with the ACMA about the timing of the determination of the digital-only local market area in regional Queensland.
The ACMA indicated it was unaware of any significant issues or difficulties which might impact on a decision to determine the proposed switchover date. The Minister has also consulted extensively with broadcasters on the proposed date. The affected broadcasters have raised no concerns when consulted, as the date provides them with an extended period of time within the announced switchover window to complete any outstanding work.