Regional SA & Broken Hill switch to digital in December
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has confirmed Regional South Australia and Broken Hill will switch to digital television on December 15th.
- Published by David Knox
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Regional South Australia and Broken Hill will switch to digital television on December 15th.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy confirmed the date today. The date is two weeks ahead of the December 31 date that appears on the Digital Ready website.
“The switchover to digital TV in the Spencer Gulf, Riverland, Mt Gambier and southeast South Australia, and Broken Hill regions is part of the progressive switchover to digital TV around Australia by 2013,” he said.
“Already 64 per cent of households in these regions have converted to digital TV, which is more than the Australia-wide conversion rate of 61 per cent by the end of 2009.
“Digital switchover will deliver more choice and content, better picture and sound quality and free up spectrum which can be used for the delivery of new and improved broadcasting and communications services, such as high speed broadband.
“A new satellite service will provide all free-to-air digital television services to viewers who are in regional blackspot and remote areas, allowing them to receive the same number of channels as city residents, as well as local news.”
But the satellite service will incur a set-up cost factor for viewers, with subsidies available for eligible households.
“We will be working closely with the community in each region to make sure they are ready for the switch to digital TV on 15 December 2010,” said Executive Director of the Government’s Digital Switchover Taskforce, Andy Townend.
“This will include local advertising and information campaigns and the engagement of Digital Switchover Liaison Officers in each region.”
“We will also be explaining how the Government is helping Australians get ready for digital TV through programs such as the Household Assistance Scheme which provides practical assistance to those people who need some extra help to convert to digital TV.”
Mildura and surrounding districts are the first region to switch to digital-only on June 30th.
www.digitalready.gov.au / Ph: 1800 20 10 13.
3 Responses
Just hope Southern Cross and Win can broadcast new channels before the switch off date to increase that 64% digital take up statistic. Win9 surely helped Win’s region to switch and Southern Cross should do the same months before the switchover process.
December 15 is a good date to switch off considering December 31st is a day to celebrate the end of year not the end off analog.
The premiere of house was shown on WINTen on Sunday night. But the bigger questions is, will we get ONE, GO! and 7TWO?
That should mean regional channels such as Southern Cross and WIN Ten will no longer have to show Channel Nine sports programming, as was the case with international cricket and Winter Olympics recently, which threw their scheduling into chaos. As I understand, the first five episodes of House were not shown on Southern Cross Ten on Spencer Gulf region of SA due to cricket and there are no plans to show them on a later date, forcing people to watch the episodes online.