Community television in Australia


Community television in Australia is a form of free-to-air non-commercial citizen media in which a television station is owned, operated and/or programmed by a community group to provide local programming to its broadcast area. In principle, community television is another model of facilitating media production and involvement by private citizens and can be likened to public-access television in the United States and community television in Canada.
Each station is a not-for-profit entity and is subject to specific provisions of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992. A Code of Conduct, registered with the Australian Communications and Media Authority, provides additional regulation of the sector. The community television stations operate independently so they are technically not a network. However, some programs are broadcast on multiple stations in the group, and they do co-operate with each other in various ways. The stations act collectively through the Australian Community Television Alliance.
"Channel 31" is the colloquial name for metropolitan community-licensed television stations throughout Australia. The name originates from UHF 31, the frequency and channel number reserved for analogue broadcasts by metropolitan community television stations. As of 2010, all stations are now broadcasting in 576i standard definition on digital channel 44 since their analogue signals were switched off and replaced with digital.

History

In the early 1970s, the Australia Council worked together with various community groups to establish a number of video production centres that could be used to produce Australian television programs. Many people began using these production centres, as well as their own resources, to make television programs. It was still difficult for these programs to be screened on commercial or government-funded television. It has been suggested that this was because the programs were thought to be too short, long or different from the programs already showing.
Whilst community radio stations were quickly established around Australia, community television took longer to develop. During 1984, a Perth-based community group unsuccessfully applied for a community television licence. In the late 1980s in Alice Springs, Imparja Television was established. In 1987, RMITV was set up by students at RMIT University in Melbourne. This became the first community television station to receive a test transmission permit.
In 1992, the Government asked the ABA to conduct a trial of community television using the vacant sixth television channel. Community television services have been provided on a trial basis since 1994 under the open narrowcast 'class licence'. These licences are issued on the condition that they are used only for community and educational non-profit purposes and are held by broadcasters in most Australian capital cities.
In 2002, the legislation was changed to introduce new community television licences and in 2004 the first licences were issued in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Decline

In September 2014, then Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull announced that all community television licences would end in December 2015. Turnbull, now Prime Minister, later amended the deadline in September 2015 by one year, to 31 December 2016. However, Television Sydney later ceased broadcasting on 20 December 2015. The other stations in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth had already started their shift to online services, but remained broadcasting.
The deadline has been extended a number of times at the last minute by Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield, first to 30 June 2017, and later to 31 December 2017. An additional extension to 30 June 2018 was made as part of the government's deal with the Nick Xenophon Team to garner support for large-scale media reforms in the Senate. However, by that point, 31 Digital had already ceased broadcasting on 27 February. A further extension, announced on 1 June 2018, gave broadcasters an additional two years through 30 June 2020.

Licensing

Australia has a special type of broadcasting licence for community television which is available via free-to-air terrestrial reception. Holders of a community television licence must conform to various rules, primarily relating to advertising and to a lesser extent, program content. They are licensed by, and regulated by, the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
In the strictest sense of the term, Australian community television is the officially licensed stations and their programming. However, there are a number of stations and distributors that release similar content - but they are not subject to government regulation.

Stations

Licences for the two remaining community television stations will end on 30 June 2020.
DVB nameLCNLaunch dateNotes
C31 Melbourne446 Oct 1994Broadcast in Melbourne, Geelong and surrounding areas. Originally broadcast on UHF 31 until 2010.
Channel 444423 Apr 2004Broadcast in Adelaide and surrounding areas. Originally broadcast on UHF 31 until 2010.

Defunct stations

DVB nameLCNLaunch dateDiscontinued dateNotes
Television Sydney4420 Feb 200620 Dec 2015Broadcast in Sydney, Central Coast, Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands. Originally broadcast on UHF 31 until 2010.
31 Digital4431 Jul 199428 Feb 2017Broadcast in Brisbane and surrounding areas. Originally broadcast on UHF 31 until 2010. Reinvented as online streaming service Hitchhike TV.
West TV4410 Apr 201020 Feb 2020Broadcast in Perth and surrounding areas.

Community support

Community television programs are most often made by amateurs about their own communities and special and diverse interests. In other cases, companies produce the programs. The sector is represented by the Australian Community Television Alliance.
Community television is funded by a mixture of sponsorship, subscriptions and donations, membership fees, grants, merchandise sales and sale of air time to program providers. It receives no regular national government funding. Many programs are paid for by the producers themselves.
The audience reach is over 5 million Australians, based on surveys, research and ratings.
The Antenna Awards, recognising outstanding community television programs, were established in 2004 and were awarded annually until 2010. They are traditionally hosted at a gala awards ceremony at Federation Square in Melbourne by C31 Melbourne, and have been revived twice – once in 2014, and again in 2019.
A special emphasis of community television is the provision of programs in an increasing range of community languages and about community cultures. Over twenty languages groups, many from newly migrant and refugee communities, are broadcast regularly by the community television stations. Australian Community Television producers are often also producers of other community media. Examples are: SYN and .