Post by Flash on Apr 26, 2008 11:31:27 GMT -5
www.crikey.com.au/Media-Arts-and-Sports.html
Community radio loses the fight for digital
Margaret Simons writes:
Community radio stations have been locked out of
ownership of digital radio, and therefore a large part
of the future of the medium.
Yesterday commercial radio rejected community
broadcasting organisations' last ditch attempt to sign
up to joint ventures conditional on government
funding.
The whole thing really looks like a train wreck – and
it has largely been caused by the Communications
Minister, Stephen Conroy, who has completely clammed
up on the issue despite submissions from all sides
urging him to bring forward funding to help community
radio make the leap into the digital age.
This morning the CEO of Commercial Radio Australia,
Joan Warner, said she had written to Conroy last
December supporting community radio’s request that
funding be brought forward -- but had received no
response.
"We are not commenting on the Minister, actually," she
said.
As reported in Crikey on Tuesday community radio
stations have been through a nail biting period of
anxiety as they try to meet punishing deadlines to
sign up to joint venture companies with commercial
radio in order to operate digital radio multiplexes.
The alternative is being locked out of ownership and
therefore a seat at the table as decisions on the
future are made.
Signing up to the joint ventures means open ended
financial and legal commitments, which community radio
has not been able to make, given the failure of Conroy
to bring forward funding that was allocated in the
last Howard Government budget to help with these
moves.
On Monday, community radio organisations in Melbourne,
Sydney Perth and Adelaide attempted to sign up to the
joint ventures conditional on funding being made
available. Hobart and Brisbane sought an extension.
Yesterday Commercial Radio Australia rejected all of
the conditional sign-ups and refused the requests for
extensions. CRA granted a new extension until 10 am
this morning for non-conditional sign-up.
But meanwhile community radio organisations have
received legal advice that if they commit
unconditionally to the joint ventures they could be
opening themselves to legal action and could even be
found guilty of insolvent trading if unable to meet
their commitments because the government funding isn’t
made available in time.
Warner told Crikey this morning that the tight
deadlines involved meant that it was not possible for
the joint ventures to proceed without firm commitments
of funding from the partners.
"Commercial radio does have some sympathy for
community broadcasting and we have done our best to
help them, but this is a commercial enterprise and
they are being treated the same as everyone else."
What does this mean for community broadcasting? By
law, the community sector is entitled to two-ninths of
the available spectrum, but the failure of Conroy to
bring forward the funding means that they cannot
participate in the legal structures that were
anticipated by the legislation.
At best, they will be access seekers in a structure
dominated by commercial interests.
A spokesperson for the Community Broadcasting
Association of Australia, Kath Letch, said this
morning that it was unclear how this would work.
So why has this been allowed to happen, and what is
going on in Conroy’s office? Both the community
broadcasters and the commercials have been
unsuccessful in getting any response from Conroy’s
office on the issue, and his advisers have not
returned calls and e-mails from Crikey asking for
comment this week.
One possibility is that the budget is being squeezed.
Although the $10 million odd in funding was committed
in the 2007 budget most of it is payable in the next
three years. Is this money now under threat?
The other possibility is that Conroy is considering
policy changes on digital radio. This might have been
a good idea. The yoking together of public, community
and commercial broadcasting in the joint venture
structure was always going to be problematic.
But if he wanted to change things, the time to do so
would have been immediately on taking government. In
this, of course, it would have been handy if he had
had a communications policy -- something that was
constantly promised, but never delivered, in the year
before the Rudd Government came to power.
Now the process is far too far advanced, with the
deadline for digital radio licence applications coming
early next month.
How much it all matters depends on how important
digital radio turns out to be. Some think it is
already dead in the water. Radio with pictures, after
all, is what we usually expect from TV, and there is
little digital radio will do that the internet can’t
do as well.
But nobody can be sure what the future holds, and with
this apparent stuff-up, one part of that future is
closed for community radio -- and for no good reason. QCOMMUNITY
Community radio loses the fight for digital
Margaret Simons writes:
Community radio stations have been locked out of
ownership of digital radio, and therefore a large part
of the future of the medium.
Yesterday commercial radio rejected community
broadcasting organisations' last ditch attempt to sign
up to joint ventures conditional on government
funding.
The whole thing really looks like a train wreck – and
it has largely been caused by the Communications
Minister, Stephen Conroy, who has completely clammed
up on the issue despite submissions from all sides
urging him to bring forward funding to help community
radio make the leap into the digital age.
This morning the CEO of Commercial Radio Australia,
Joan Warner, said she had written to Conroy last
December supporting community radio’s request that
funding be brought forward -- but had received no
response.
"We are not commenting on the Minister, actually," she
said.
As reported in Crikey on Tuesday community radio
stations have been through a nail biting period of
anxiety as they try to meet punishing deadlines to
sign up to joint venture companies with commercial
radio in order to operate digital radio multiplexes.
The alternative is being locked out of ownership and
therefore a seat at the table as decisions on the
future are made.
Signing up to the joint ventures means open ended
financial and legal commitments, which community radio
has not been able to make, given the failure of Conroy
to bring forward funding that was allocated in the
last Howard Government budget to help with these
moves.
On Monday, community radio organisations in Melbourne,
Sydney Perth and Adelaide attempted to sign up to the
joint ventures conditional on funding being made
available. Hobart and Brisbane sought an extension.
Yesterday Commercial Radio Australia rejected all of
the conditional sign-ups and refused the requests for
extensions. CRA granted a new extension until 10 am
this morning for non-conditional sign-up.
But meanwhile community radio organisations have
received legal advice that if they commit
unconditionally to the joint ventures they could be
opening themselves to legal action and could even be
found guilty of insolvent trading if unable to meet
their commitments because the government funding isn’t
made available in time.
Warner told Crikey this morning that the tight
deadlines involved meant that it was not possible for
the joint ventures to proceed without firm commitments
of funding from the partners.
"Commercial radio does have some sympathy for
community broadcasting and we have done our best to
help them, but this is a commercial enterprise and
they are being treated the same as everyone else."
What does this mean for community broadcasting? By
law, the community sector is entitled to two-ninths of
the available spectrum, but the failure of Conroy to
bring forward the funding means that they cannot
participate in the legal structures that were
anticipated by the legislation.
At best, they will be access seekers in a structure
dominated by commercial interests.
A spokesperson for the Community Broadcasting
Association of Australia, Kath Letch, said this
morning that it was unclear how this would work.
So why has this been allowed to happen, and what is
going on in Conroy’s office? Both the community
broadcasters and the commercials have been
unsuccessful in getting any response from Conroy’s
office on the issue, and his advisers have not
returned calls and e-mails from Crikey asking for
comment this week.
One possibility is that the budget is being squeezed.
Although the $10 million odd in funding was committed
in the 2007 budget most of it is payable in the next
three years. Is this money now under threat?
The other possibility is that Conroy is considering
policy changes on digital radio. This might have been
a good idea. The yoking together of public, community
and commercial broadcasting in the joint venture
structure was always going to be problematic.
But if he wanted to change things, the time to do so
would have been immediately on taking government. In
this, of course, it would have been handy if he had
had a communications policy -- something that was
constantly promised, but never delivered, in the year
before the Rudd Government came to power.
Now the process is far too far advanced, with the
deadline for digital radio licence applications coming
early next month.
How much it all matters depends on how important
digital radio turns out to be. Some think it is
already dead in the water. Radio with pictures, after
all, is what we usually expect from TV, and there is
little digital radio will do that the internet can’t
do as well.
But nobody can be sure what the future holds, and with
this apparent stuff-up, one part of that future is
closed for community radio -- and for no good reason. QCOMMUNITY