ACMA - Primary commercial television broadcasting services

Background

The advent of digital television broadcasting in Australia has brought about new opportunities for the television broadcasting industry and television viewers, most notably the capacity for television service providers, including commercial television broadcasting licensees, to deliver multiple services under a single licence (known as ‘multi-channelling’). Since January 2009, commercial broadcasting licensees have commenced new digital multi-channels such as ‘ONE’, ‘GO!’ and ‘7TWO’.

The introduction of multi-channelling has created a two-track regulatory system for commercial television broadcasting services, in which a number of obligations apply to the analog service and its digital simulcast, but not to the other streams of programs transmitted by the same licensee in digital mode.

During the period in which each analog service and its digital equivalent in a licence area must be simulcast, the concept of a ’core commercial television broadcasting service‘ (core service) is used by the legislation to identify the service to which certain regulatory provisions of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 apply. Generally, the legislation identifies the core service as the digital simulcast service of the analog service.

If a commercial broadcasting licensee does not provide an analog service, this legislative approach is not available. This is the case after the end of a simulcast period for a licence area when analog television services have ceased or upon commencement of multi-channelling in the case of the small number of terrestrial services provided by digital-only licences. It is also the case for the three commercial television broadcasting licences allocated under section 38C of the BSA that will provide satellite delivered services as part of the Viewer Access Satellite Television (VAST) service – a Government initiative to provide people in remote areas and blackspots access to a metropolitan equivalent suite of television services.

In these instances, the ACMA will declare one (or up to three in the case of licences allocated under s38C of the BSA) of the standard definition multi-channels provided by a commercial television broadcasting licensee to be the primary commercial television broadcasting service (Primary Service) for the licence.

Approach

Following consultation with the public and industry, the ACMA’s agreed approach to declaring Primary Services for all commercial television broadcasting licences after the simulcast period is to declare the service that is currently the commercial television broadcaster’s ‘core’ service to be the Primary Service by reference to its on-air identification tag. The ACMA will declare Primary Services for commercial television broadcasting licences in each licence area prior to the end of the simulcast period in that area.

Primary Services will be declared for the terrestrial digital-only licences as soon as practicable after the service has commenced with effect until the end of the simulcast period, and will be in force from the start date of the licences for satellite delivered services.

As a general rule, the public will have the opportunity to comment on all proposed Primary Service declarations prior to the declarations being made. Notification of public consultation processes will be available on the ACMA’s website.

Current Primary Service Declarations

The ACMA has made the following Primary Service declarations:

Primary commercial television broadcasting services after the end of a simulcast period

Item	Licence Area	Service licence number	SDTV multi-channelled commercial television broadcasting services provided at end of simulcast period, or end of simulcast-equivalent period	Primary Commercial Television Broadcasting Service
1	Mildura/Sunraysia TV1	SL10088	WIN, GO!	WIN
2	Mildura/Sunraysia TV1	SL10089	PRIME, 7TWO PRIME	PRIME
3	Mildura/Sunraysia TV1	SL1150827	TEN Mildura, ONE SD	TEN Mildura
4	Spencer Gulf TV1	SL10234	Southern Cross Television	Southern Cross Television
5	Spencer Gulf TV1	SL1150798	Southern Cross TEN	Southern Cross TEN
6	Spencer Gulf TV1	SL1130142	Nine	Nine
7	Broken Hill TV1	SL10241	Southern Cross Television	Southern Cross Television
8	Broken Hill TV1	SL1150797	Southern Cross TEN	Southern Cross TEN
9	Broken Hill TV1	SL1130143	Nine	Nine
10	Mount Gambier/South East TV1	SL10330	WIN	WIN
11	Mount Gambier/South East TV1	SL1150799	WIN TEN	WIN TEN
12	Mount Gambier/South East TV1	SL1130144	7	7
13	Riverland TV1	SL10174	WIN	WIN
14	Riverland TV1	SL1150796	WIN TEN	WIN TEN
15	Riverland TV1	SL1130145	7	7
16	Regional Victoria TV1	SL103	PRIME, 7TWO on PRIME, 7mate	PRIME
17	Regional Victoria TV1	SL107	WIN, GO!, GEM	WIN
18	Eastern Victoria TV1	SL106	Southern Cross TEN, OneHD	Southern Cross TEN
19	Western Victoria TV1	SL106	Southern Cross TEN, OneHD, ELEVEN	Southern Cross TEN
20	Griffith and Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) TV1	SL10104	WIN, GO!, GEM	WIN
21	Griffith and Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) TV1	SL10103	7, 7mate, 7TWO	7
22	Griffith and Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) TV1	SL1130146	TEN, ONE, ELEVEN	TEN
23	Southern NSW TV1	SL85	Southern Cross TEN, ONE, ELEVEN	Southern Cross TEN
24	Southern NSW TV1	SL90	PRIME7, 7mate, 7TWO on PRIME	PRIME7
25	Southern NSW TV1	SL99	WIN, GO!, GEM	WIN
26	Adelaide TV1	SL120	Ten, One (HD), ELEVEN	Ten
27	Adelaide TV1	SL121	Nine, Gem (HD), GO!	Nine
28	Adelaide TV1	SL122	7, 7mate (HD), 7TWO	7
29	Tasmania TV1	SL132	WIN Network, Gem (HD), GO!	WIN Network
30	Tasmania TV1	SL133	Southern Cross Television, 7mate (HD), 7TWO	Southern Cross Television
31	Tasmania TV1	SL 1150806	Ten Tasmanian Digital Television, One (HD), ELEVEN	Ten Tasmanian Digital Television
32	Perth TV1	SL 10161	7, 7mate (HD), 7TWO	7
33	Perth TV1	SL 10162	Nine, Gem (HD), GO!	Nine
34	Perth TV1	SL 10163	Ten, One (HD), ELEVEN	Ten

Primary commercial television broadcasting services for digital-only licences during the simulcast period

Item	Licence Area	Service licence number	SDTV multi-channelled commercial television broadcasting services provided during simulcast period, or simulcast-equivalent period	Primary Commercial Television Broadcasting Service
1	Southwest and Great Southern	SL1130049	TEN West	TEN West
2	Geraldton TV1	SL1130046	TEN West	TEN West
3	Kalgoorlie TV1	SL1130047	TEN West	TEN West
4	Western Zone TV1	SL1130048	TEN West	TEN West
5	Broken Hill TV1	SL1130143	Nine	Nine
6	Spencer Gulf TV1	SL1130142	Nine	Nine
7	Remote Central and Eastern Australia TV2	SL1130050	CDT (Ten) ELEVEN OneHD	CDT (Ten)
8	Mt Isa TV1	SL1130051	CDT (Ten) ELEVEN OneHD	CDT (Ten)
9	Griffith and Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) TV1	SL1130146	TEN ELEVEN One	TEN

Primary commercial television broadcasting services for section 38C licences after the start date

Item	Licence Area	Service licence number	SDTV multi-channelled commercial television broadcasting services provided at start date	Primary Commercial Television Broadcasting Service(s)
1	South Eastern Australia TV3	SL1130135	CDT (TEN) Gem GO! Imparja One OneHD Regional News Southern Cross Television 7Mate 7Two	CDT (TEN) Imparja Southern Cross Television
2	Northern Australia TV3	SL1130136	CDT (TEN) Gem GO! Imparja One OneHD Regional News Southern Cross Television 7Mate 7Two	CDT (TEN) Imparja Southern Cross Television
3	Western Australia TV3	SL1130166	GWN7 WIN TEN 7Two 7Mate Go! Gem One ELEVEN	GWN7 WIN TEN