Australia 'to abandon 2008 switchover target'
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Australia is set to abandon moves to switch off analogue television signals in 2008 after slow take-up of digital television. In a Sunday newspaper interview communications minister Helen Coonan said current digital penetration of just 9% meant the 2008 target was unlikely to be met, and admitted the government would have to do more to prompt take-up.
Coonan told The Sunday Age: "I don't think the penetration's sufficient, but I think what we can do is look at the analogue switch-off in a much broader context. What I want to do with that is roll a whole lot of other things into it so you haven't just got a policy of moving to digital but nothing significant to drive it."
The newspaper said Coonan planned a summit of manufacturers, retailers, broadcasters and consumer groups to agree benchmarks. Coonan would not say what the required level of penetration would be before analogue signals were switched off.
"I don't know what the magic figure is but there needs to be a significant penetration, then you've got issues about what to do for people who are pensioners, low-income people," she said.
Coonan went on to reject calls for a fourth free-to-air television network.
In a victory for channels Seven, Nine and Ten, Coonan said: "Having another replica of that kind of free-to-air model probably isn't warranted in our market. I haven't been persuaded from what's been brought to me yet. I think you need other things but another free-to-air commercial terrestrial model that you get over your television set is not one of them."
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