Content and access: The future of program standards and captioning requirements on digital television multi-channels Discussion paper December 2009
Introduction
Australian television screens are changing rapidly. Free-to-air digital television broadcasters now provide far more content than at any other time in broadcasting history. Digital television technology not only provides a superior viewing experience with better pictures and better sound, it can also support the delivery of as many as five or six digital television channels with the amount of spectrum previously used to deliver a single analog television channel. This means many viewers are enjoying an unprecedented level of choice when it comes to deciding what to watch free-to-air.
Broadcasters have had the option transmit multi-channels since 20071 and the range of multi-channels they now offer includes ABC2, ABC3, SBS Two, the Seven Network’s 7TWO, the Ten Network’s ONE and the Nine Network’s GO!. All these multi-channels are offered in addition to the simultaneous digital broadcast, or simulcast, of the analog television channel that each broadcaster is required to transmit under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the Act) prior to digital switchover taking effect in a particular area.2
On 19 October 2008, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy announced a phased, region-by-region timetable for the switchover to digital television. Digital switchover will begin in Mildura in Victoria on 30 June 2010, progress throughout regional and metropolitan Australia, and conclude in the metropolitan and remote area markets in 2013. The full switchover timetable is outlined at Appendix A.
Standards for children’s programs, Australian content and captioning requirements play a significant role in the way that many view and interact with television. As the switchover to digital television approaches, and because of the proliferation of new content provided by Australian broadcasters when compared to analog television, different ways of regulating program standards and captioning requirements on digital multi-channels may need consideration.
The Government is committed to preserving Australian content on television, and the advent of digital multi-channels is clearly an opportunity for increased transmission of local programming. However, as the Minister noted in his speech to the Screen Producers Association of Australia’s annual conference on 20 November 2009, rolling out a suite of new digital channels prior to digital switchover is currently a technical and economic challenge for commercial broadcasters.3
The program standards and captioning requirements that currently apply to each analog television channel are automatically replicated on its digital simulcast, but digital multi-channels are currently exempt from these requirements.4 Once digital switchover is completed in a particular licence area, all digital multi-channels provided to that area will need to comply with program standards and captioning requirements.
Regional broadcasters generally source the content for their multi-channels from the metropolitan broadcasters to which they are affiliated. With digital switchover commencing in regional Australia, this means the multi-channels they provide will need to meet program standards and captioning requirements well before, in most cases, the same content is subject to those arrangements in metropolitan areas. This could impact on a regional commercial broadcaster’s decision to establish or maintain those services following digital switchover in their area. The lifting of the exemptions may also affect how the programming on digital multi-channels targets specific or niche audiences. However, the public may believe that in a digital-only environment it is appropriate for these arrangements to apply equally to all the free-to-air television services it receives.
This discussion paper
The purpose of this paper is to discuss how program standards and captioning requirements should apply to commercial digital multi-channels. In doing so, this review will also consider the digital multi-channels offered by the national broadcasters.
The Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the Act) requires the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy to conduct a review on:
- the operation of program standards and captioning rules applicable to standard definition and high definition multi-channel commercial television broadcasting services; and
- whether program standards and captioning rules should be amended in relation to standard definition and high definition multi-channel commercial television broadcasting services.5
The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy must cause this review to be conducted before 1 January 2010.
The Government seeks your views on how program standards and captioning requirements should apply to commercial broadcasters’ digital multi-channels during and after the phased, region-by-region switchover to digital television.
This review does not examine the actual standards for Australian and children’s content, or the existing substantive requirements for broadcasters to provide captioning. Rather, this review examines how and to what extent program standards and captioning requirements should apply to digital multi-channels in the future. The various options outlined in this paper are not exhaustive and are included for consideration only. This review will not consider the availability, or otherwise, of digital multi-channels provided by broadcasters across regional and remote Australia.
The Government welcomes submissions from industry, stakeholders, the community and interested members of the public in relation to any of the questions posed throughout this paper. Details on making submissions are provided in Appendix B.
[1] Broadcasting Services Act 1992, Sections 41A and 41B.
[2] Broadcasting Services Act 1992, Schedule 2 Clause 7(1)(m); as an example this means that, until the switchover to digital television, Channel Seven must provide a duplicate broadcast of the analog Seven Network channel in digital.
[3] http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/media/speeches/2009/071.
[4] Broadcasting Services Act 1992, Subsections 122 (7) and (8) and the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, Schedule 4, Clause 38 (4) and (4A); with the exception of programs broadcast on a digital multichannel that were previously shown with captions on an analog television channel or its digital simulcast.
[5] Broadcasting Services Act 1992, Schedule 4, Clause 60C.
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