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Thread: Channel 31 (Melbourne) Gets A Stay of Execution

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    Default Channel 31 (Melbourne) Gets A Stay of Execution

    Community television station Channel 31 has just received notice from the Federal Minister for the Arts, Senator Mitch Fifield, that its free-to-air broadcast licences have been extended by six months.

    Channel 31 – now known as C31 – was scheduled to go off air on December 31 after a 2014 government decision was made to close the self-funded network and bring 22 years of community television to an end.

    C31 announced the reprieve on its Facebook page and Twitter account on Tuesday morning.

    “We just received notice from @SenatorFifield that CTV broadcast licences have been extended by 6 months. More info to follow.”

    The decision to close the station was made to free up broadcast-spectrum space to sell to commercial, free-to-air channels or subscription TV providers. Speaking to Broadsheet last month, executive producer at C31, Shane Dunlop, said the 2014 reasons for taking community stations off-air “are no longer valid, and the technical reality of what will happen to the space we occupy on the spectrum is it will lie dormant for years”.

    When C31 does stop broadcasting it plans to become a non-for-profit production company with an online presence.

    The channel had planned to wrap up with a 144-hour live broadcast marathon featuring current and past Channel 31 alumni. No word yet on whether, with a new, six-month-long lease on life, the event will go ahead.


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    I'd love to know the reasoning behind this (oh yeah, money... selling off the spectrum)
    Probably one of the last channels with content worth watching.

    So does that mean NITV will go also?

    Oh well, more space for re runs of MASH and Informercials
    Last edited by ol' boy; 15-12-16 at 03:16 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by oceanboy View Post
    So does that mean NITV will go also?
    NITV is broadcast by SBS, nothing to do with C31 (but I see your point).

    SBS is after all the 'Special" Broadcasting Service... which has some excellent programming I might add.

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    Does this mean that the guts has fallen out of the market (for TV Licenses) and we wont see the absolutely obscene amounts of money being offered to hold one as was the case when the FM radio licenses were put on the market?
    Obviously there are no takers slavering at the table so the sale is put on hold for the time being.
    Time will prove my theory correct if the license is extended again, either for a fixed time or just let continue 'until further notice?'
    I stand unequivicably behind everything I say , I just dont ever remember saying it !!

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    Quote Originally Posted by gordon_s1942 View Post
    Does this mean that the guts has fallen out of the market (for TV Licenses) and we wont see the absolutely obscene amounts of money being offered to hold one as was the case when the FM radio licenses were put on the market?
    No, pretty much the opposite.

    There is much more money to be made by the government selling off the TV spectrum to Telco companies, which is where most of it has already gone.

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