Access 31's final cry for help

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Stephen Conroy yesterday urged the West Australian Government to continue its support for Perth community television station Access 31 to head off its looming liquidation.

But Access 31 chief executive Andrew Brine said the station could be saved only by the federal Government taking action to help it start digital broadcasting.

"We have no access to the digital spectrum, no timetable to get access, no legislation or policy allowing us to go digital, and no money made available to help us go digital," Mr Brine said.

"For many years now we have been advising the Government that unless ... we were to gain access to digital spectrum the models we had established would no longer be sustainable."

In 2006 the state Government gave Access 31 $900,000, and four weeks ago the station had turned on a $780,000, digital-ready transmitter, bought with grants from the Regional Partnerships Program and Lotterywest, Mr Brine said.

"The (Access 31) board has agreed we can't ask the state Government for more money until such time as we have a firm commitment of a digital future from the federal Government," he said. "There's no point continuing to invest in this service, or any business, if it doesn't have a future."

Access 31's board filed a solvency declaration with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission last Thursday, the first step in its shutdown, and has called a special meeting of members for June 27 to vote on winding up the operation.

Senator Conroy said the Government strongly valued community TV's role in supporting diversity, localism and providing a voice for communities.

"I have written to the West Australian Government urging that it continue to support Access 31," he said.

"The Government is committed to finding a pathway for community TV to transition from analog to digital, and is actively pursuing a solution."

Mr Brine, a member of the national Digital Switchover Taskforce, said he had heard similar sentiments for four years, "yet we're still no closer".

However, he did not blame Senator Conroy. "We appreciate he has inherited this situation," MrBrine said. "Something should have been done years ago by the previous government."

Mr Brine said no creditors would be left owing if Access 31 was wound up. However, 21 paid staffers would be out of a job, with about 380 station volunteers and hundreds more involved in producing content for the station also affected.

"I estimate more than 1000 people are involved in producing local programs for Access 31," Mr Brine said.

"Over nine years we have locked in to the social fabric of the community here in Perth and it's hard to estimate the impact (closure) is going to have."

With 42 per cent of households having switched to digital free-to-air TV, and the take-up rate increasing, community TV stations have long complained that remaining marooned on the analog signal was eroding their audience.

"No business can afford to lose (42 per cent) of its customers, and that is what has happened," said Andrew Carroll, chief executive of Brisbane's Channel 31. "The former government has induced market failure. It has given tens of millions of dollars to the free-to-air and public broadcasters (to go digital) and nothing to the one sector that can least afford to be forgotten."

Source

Being left out of the digital world is the most serious threat to the continuation of
community TV in all Australian metropolitan markets. A fall in revenues inevitably follows
audience reductions of this magnitude, making community TV as we know it
unsustainable. Furthermore, a constant chipping away of audiences as community TV is
left off the digital broadcasting agenda will de-motivate volunteer presenters and
producers, since fewer and fewer people will be able to watch their programs. In other
words, if the situation remains unchanged for the next twelve to eighteen months, the
entire community TV sector will be engulfed by two downward spirals – one in revenues
and a second in program production. On the other hand, this impending doom scenario
could be completely averted, if appropriate digital spectrum is released now. This would
enable community television to survive and thrive by turning the current impasse into a
great opportunity for securing the future of the sector.