Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Coonan. Would the minister please inform the Senate how the government is encouraging the take-up of digital television in Australia by providing Australian consumers with new digital services? Further, is the minister aware of any alternative policies?

Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Parry for the question, and I want to take this opportunity to congratulate him on being elected Deputy Government Whip in the Senate. It is a very auspicious position, and I well recall how much I enjoyed it. I am sure he will do extremely well.

The growing popularity of digital is changing the face of television for Australian consumers. It offers new services, makes viewing interactive and improves picture quality, among other benefits. That is why new and innovative services for consumers are the centrepiece of the government’s media reform package. I announced earlier this year that, following the passage of legislation, the two national broadcasters will be able to show a broader range of content on their digital multichannels. From 1 January 2007 commercial broadcasters will be able to create one high-definition multichannel to be complemented by a standard definition multichannel from 1 January 2009. This will significantly augment the services of the current television broadcasters and provide new viewing choices for Australian consumers.

However, in addition, there are currently two unallocated lots of spectrum that could be made available for innovative news services, including in-home digital services to help drive digital take-up. Earlier today, I announced details for the allocation of the two channels, channel A and channel B. Both channels will be auctioned as separate national licences, with channel A to be used for in-home, free-to-air digital services and channel B for innovative new digital services such as mobile television. A potential model for channel B could be a mobile TV offering integrated with 3G mobile telephony and Diginet services made available on a subscription basis. To ensure Australian consumers get access to new services, as opposed to a replication of currently available services, neither channel A nor channel B will be able to be used for traditional commercial free-to-air TV services or subscription TV services to fixed in-home receivers—that is, the set sitting in your lounge room. This is exciting news for Australian consumers who, over the next few years, will be able to enjoy the true digital experience and the new range of offerings that will be enabled by these measures.

To encourage new players and services into the media market there will be restrictions on who can control channel A, the in-home services. Considerable interest, however, has been expressed in the potential uses of channel B by current media and telecommunications players, content aggregators and infrastructure companies. The government has decided, therefore, not to restrict who can bid for this channel in an attempt to ensure the channel’s success and sustainability and to encourage the emergence of new and different services on this spectrum. All bidders will be subject to the usual competition constraints that are set out in the Trade Practices Act and apply to acquisitions in any industry.

I was asked about alternative policies. So far as I can tell, Labor do not have a policy for digital television in Australia, and they also oppose cross-media reform. Labor would rather stick with the old Keating model, which is 20 years old and very out of date, where you can only be a prince of the printer or a queen of the screen but certainly not both. But the game has moved on and industry needs to grow and invest in new services while maintaining diversity. This government now has a far-reaching set of media policies and reforms designed to give consumers the new media services they want, that they need and that they will enjoy.