Community television has been serving Australian audiences for 25 years but the Morrison Government wants to boot Channel 44 Adelaide and Channel 31 Melbourne and Geelong off-air from 30 June 2020.
The Liberal Minister for Communications and the Arts, Paul Fletcher MP, is refusing to renew or extend their broadcast licences beyond the end of the month.
Through the COVID-19 crisis Adelaides C44 has provided a valuable community service connecting isolated people through broadcasting in addition to the local content and voices it normally empowers.
Instead of vibrant community services that have fostered talent the likes of Rove McManus, Peter Hellier, Hamish and Andy, Merrick Watts and Tim Ross, Nazeem Hussain, Shona Devlin, Corinne Grant, Tom Ballard, Waleed Aly and more, there will be blank screens.
Australia has one of the most concentrated media markets in the world and Community TV provides much needed diversity and local content.
At a time when at a time when newsrooms are closing, Community TV supports local news and provides a training ground for emerging journalists and screen practitioners, including in partnership with universities.
At a time when social cohesion, national culture and identity should be fostered, Community TV provides a platform for local multicultural, sporting and arts events, as well as small business.
At a time when social distancing makes participation in religious services difficult, Community TV provides accessibility, particularly to elderly citizens without internet access.
The Liberal Government came up with the idea of forcing Community TV off-air to an online-only mode of delivery back in 2014.
Since then the sector has been operating under huge uncertainty and most stations havent survived: Sydney, Brisbane and Perth dont even have Community TV any more.
Now the impact of COVID-19 means the idea of moving audiences and sponsors to an online-only model is simply impossible.
Community TV should remain on-air. C44 and C31 serve a wide and diverse audience and they dont cost the government anything to run.
Community TV is part of the broadcasting mix in Australia and spectrum is a valuable public resource that should not go unused when C44 and C31 could make such good use of it.
The Minister provided COVID-19 relief for other sectors of the media and he should give Community TV a fair go too.
Killing Community TV is wasteful and wilful destruction. Labor calls on the Morrison Government to keep Community TV on-air.
Authorised by Paul Erickson, ALP, Canberra.