EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Communications,
Information Technology and the Arts
Broadcasting Services Act 1992
NOTICE OF RESERVATION OF CAPACITY FOR NATIONAL RADIO BROADCASTING SERVICES (NO. 1) 2005
The Notice of Reservation of Capacity for National Radio Broadcasting Services (No. 1) 2005 (the Notice) is made by the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts under subsection 31(1) of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the Act). That subsection provides that the Minister may notify the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in writing of capacity in the broadcasting services bands to be reserved for a specified number of:
(a) national broadcasting services; or
(b) community broadcasting services.
The Notice revokes and replaces the Notice of Reservation of Capacity for National Radio Broadcasting Services (No. 1 of 2002) (the previous notice).
The Notice instructs ACMA to reserve capacity in the broadcasting services bands for national radio broadcasting services provided by:
- the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) under section 6 of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 or section 4 of the Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Act 1946; and
- the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) under section 6 of the Special Broadcasting Service Act 1991.
The Schedule to the Notice sets out the total number of AM and FM frequencies required in relation to specified cities, towns, suburbs or other areas or locations to deliver these services.
The Notice reserves capacity for:
the provision of all existing radio services provided by the ABC and SBS;
the future provision of a new national broadcaster radio service (ABC NewsRadio) to a number of transmission areas with a population of 10,000 people or more;
the future provision of a new national broadcaster radio service (a second SBS Radio service) to the Canberra and Wollongong transmission areas;
the future AM to FM conversion of a national broadcaster radio service (ABC Local Radio) that is currently transmitted to the Launceston transmission area – the new service will be transmitted to the north-east Tasmania transmission area; and
the possible future provision of other national broadcaster radio services to a number of transmission areas with a population of 10,000 people or more on FM frequencies that were assigned in Licence Area Plans (LAPs) made by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (which merged with the Australian Communications Authority on 1 July 2005 to form the ACMA) since the previous notice was issued in 2002.
No specific consultation has been undertaken in relation to the making of this Notice, other than with the national broadcasters and ACMA. The ABA undertook extensive consultations with industry and interested parties in the process of making new LAPs since 2002. Since the regulator has already engaged in appropriate consultation, consultation on this Notice was considered unnecessary (see paragraph 18(2)(e) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 (LIA)).
A notice under section 31 is a disallowable legislative instrument for the purposes of the LIA. The Notice will be registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments, and will take effect the day after it is registered.