Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 12—Culture and recreation 517
The commercial and national broadcasters will
use the DVB-T standard in providing their digital
television services. They will also be required to
simulcast their signal using the analog service for
the first eight years. Provision also has been made
for datacasting services to use the broadcasting
services bands from the same date.
The ABA continues to monitor international
developments in Digital Radio Broadcasting.
While the European Eureka 147 system remains
the only proven terrestrial system, recent
demonstrations in the United States indicate
continuing progress in the development of the
in-band on-channel (IBOC) technology. At the
same time Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), an
international consortium, is continuing work
towards a standard for digital broadcasting in the
frequency bands below 30 MHz.
The ABA is empowered to:
conduct research into community attitudes on
programming matters;
develop program standards relating to
broadcasting in Australia;
assist broadcasting service providers
(licensees) develop codes of practice;
monitor compliance with licence conditions;
and
investigate complaints about services.
The ABA monitors the suitability of licensees to
ensure compliance with the ownership and
control provisions of the Act. Licences for
commercial television broadcasting services are
subject to five year terms, compulsory standards
on Australian content and children’s television,
and a condition that the licensee be a suitable
person. Ownership and control limitations also
apply. Under these conditions, no person may be
in a position to control more than one
commercial television licence in a market or
control licences with a combined audience reach
of more than 75% of the Australian population.
Foreign control of commercial television licences
is also restricted. Commercial licences may be
transferred at will, subject only to notification
requirements under the ownership and control
rules. Commercial radio broadcasting licences are
subject to less restrictive ownership provisions.
Community radio and television, subscription
radio broadcasting services and all categories of
narrowcasting services are not subject to
ownership limits.
In 1999–2000, the ABA allocated six commercial
radio licences—three by the price-based
allocation system, two for services not using the
broadcasting services bands, and one solus
market licence to an existing commercial
broadcaster. The ABA also allocated 35 permanent
community broadcasting licences, 231 temporary
community broadcasting licences and
13 subscription television licences. The ABA also
issued 46 test licences for digital terrestrial
television broadcasting, and planned 78 new
transmitters for national television services. There
were no commercial television licences issued.
Radio and television services—summary of
operations
At 30 June 1997, there were 261 private
broadcasters in radio services and 48 private
broadcasters in television services. Private radio
broadcasters employed 5,064 persons, while
private television broadcasters employed
8,873 persons. Most of the income of private
broadcasters in 1996–97 was derived from the
sale of airtime. Private radio broadcasters had an
operating profit before tax of $92.6m while
private television broadcasters had an operating
loss of $324.0m. Regarding the latter, while
free-to-air broadcasters made a pre-tax profit of
$734.3m, this was more than offset by the loss of
$1,058.4m by pay television businesses.
In addition to private broadcasters, there are
two public broadcasters of radio and television
services. They employed a total of 5,248 persons
at the end of June 1997. Their income totalled
$775.6m in 1996–97, with expenses totalling
$772.1m. The section Radio and television
services of Chapter 21, Service industries
provides more information including a summary
of operations for 1996–97.
Training in the arts
Training in the arts in Australia covers a broad
range of resources. Formal training is available
through courses in Technical and Further
Education institutions, universities and private
institutions. A number of on-the-job training
programs are also available in the arts, and many
organisations offer in-house training programs for
their staff. The last decade has seen the
development in some States of multi-disciplinary
tertiary institutions providing training in the arts.
A number of national specialised education
institutions have been established to provide
training in cultural fields. For example, the
Australian Film, Television and Radio School is