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COMMERCIAL RADIO INQUIRY RESOURCE LINKS

A resource page with links to the hearing details, Commercial Radio Codes of Practice, relevant legislation, terms of reference and news releases regarding the commercial radio inquiry.

DECEMBER 1999

GWN analog to digital conversion in remote Western Australia (9 December)

The ABA believes it is undesirable for any free-to-air television broadcaster to be able to choose a means of transmission that requires a large investment by views and that does not allow viewers to access other services licensed to serve their area.

Go to the ABA report: download as RTF (164k/38p), view as PDF (135k/38p).

ABA decides on adult verification systems for users who wish to access R-rated Internet content hosted in Australia (8 December)

The ABA has decided on minimum system requirements for restricted access systems for Internet content. An ABA declaration setting out the system requirements was tabled in Parliament yesterday.

New community radio licence for Mareeba, Queensland (8 December)

The ABA has allocated a community radio licence for the Mareeba area of Queensland.

NOVEMBER 1999

New community radio licence for Cessnock/Maitland (30 November)

The ABA has allocated a community radio licence for the Cessnock/Maitland area of New South Wales.

ABA allocates Pay TV licences to Seven Cable Television (30 November)

The ABA has allocated four subscription television pay TV broadcasting licences to Seven Cable Television Pty Ltd (SCT).

ABA disappointed by publication of extracts from draft closing submission (25 November 1999)

The ABA is disappointed that selected extracts from the draft closing submission by Julian Burnside QC, counsel assisting the ABA in its 2UE hearing, were published in today’s Sydney Morning Herald.

Applicants bid $522,000 for new open narrowcasting licences (24 November)

The ABA has announced the highest bidders for new open narrowcasting licences offered at today’s licence allocation exercises.

New community radio licence for Wondai (24 November)

The ABA has allocated a community radio licence for the Wondai area of Queensland.

New community radio licence for Lightening Ridge (24 November)

The AuBA has allocated a community radio licence for the Lightning Ridge area of New South Wales.

New community radio licence for Rockhampton (24 November)

The ABA has allocated a community radio licence for Rockhampton, Queensland.

New community radio licence for Borroloola (24 November)

The ABA has allocated a community radio licence for the Borroloola area of the Northern Territory.

New community radio licence for Dalby (24 November)

The ABA has allocated a community radio licence for the Dalby area of Queensland.

ABA to auction transmitter licences for open narrowcasting services in NSW (23 November)

Tomorrow, 24 November 1999, the ABA will conduct auction-style licence allocation exercises for eighteen transmitter licences to provide open narrowcasting services in Canberra, Newcastle, Wollongong and other regional centres in south east New South Wales.

ABA Expands Commercial Radio Inquiry to include 3AW Melbourne (23 November)

The ABA has extended the terms of reference for its commercial radio inquiry to include 3AW Melbourne.

New community radio licence for Taree (22 November)

The ABA has allocated a new community radio licence for Taree, New South Wales.

New community radio licence for Port Macquarie (22 November)

The ABA has allocated a new community radio licence for Port Macquarie, New South Wales.

New community radio licence for Newcastle (22 November)

The ABA has allocated a new community radio licence for Newcastle, New South Wales.

ABA decides not to allocate licence in Narrabri (22 November)

The ABA has decided not to allocate a community radio broadcasting licence in Narrabri at this time.

Review of time share policy for temporary community broadcasting licences (19 November)

The ABA is reviewing the time share arrangements for temporary community broadcasting licences.

New commercial radio licence for Port Lincoln, South Australia (19 November)

The ABA has allocated a second commercial radio licence to Lanson Investments Pty Ltd, licensee of 5CC, Port Lincoln.

ABA Deputy Chairman elected vice chairman of UNESCO's Communications Commission 5 (17 November)

Mr Gareth Grainger, Deputy Chairman of the ABA, has been unanimously elected Vice Chairman of Commission 5 on Communications, Information and Informatics at UNESCO’s 30th General Conference in Paris.

ABA expands terms of reference for 2UE hearing (16 November)

The ABA has extended the terms of reference for its public hearing regarding 2UE, John Laws and Alan Jones.

Major ABA study into the impact of Australian content rules (12 November)

The ABA today announced that it will conduct a major study of the wider cultural and industry impact of the rules for Australian content on commercial television. The study will be in partnership with the Australian Key Centre for Cultural and Media Policy and supported by a grant from the Australian Research Council.

ABA invites applications for a new community radio licence for Bega (8 November)

The ABA has invited applications for a new community radio broadcasting licence for Bega, New South Wales.

ABA broadcasting planning seminar (8 November)

The 1999 ABA Broadcasting Planning Seminar, "2001 - A Digital Odyssey" will be held at the Hyatt Hotel, Canberra on 8 and 9 November.

ABA invites applications for a new community radio licence for Cooma (3 November)

The ABA has invited applications for a new community radio licence for Cooma, New South Wales.

ABA invites applications for a new community radio licence for Grafton (2 November)

The ABA has invited applications for a community radio licence for Grafton, New South Wales.

ABA invites applications for two new community radio licences for Wollongong (2 November)

The ABA has invited applications for two new community radio licences in the Wollongong area of New South Wales.

ABA allocates Pay TV licences to TPG TV Pty Ltd (2 November)

The ABA has allocated nine subscription television broadcasting licences to TPG TV Pty Ltd (TPG).

ABA releases regulatory policy for datacasting trial (2 November)

The ABA has released the regulatory policy for the conduct of test transmissions of digital datacasting services. The datacasting trial will enable aspirant datacasters to test the technical feasibility of their services in four markets – Brisbane, Canberra, Newcastle and Sydney.

Download the regulatory policy as a RTF file or view as a PDF file.

OCTOBER 1999

Broadcasting, co-regulation and the public good (29 October)

"National parliaments and industry bodies must work together on schemes of self-regulation and co-regulation for the Internet which sit within a broader framework of international cooperation," said Mr Gareth Grainger, Deputy Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Authority today.

Consultation Paper on 'Restricted Access Systems' (October 27)

The ABA invites comment on draft specifications/ criteria for a 'restricted access system' - an online age verification device.

ABA to vary Children's Television Standards for Sydney 2000 Olympic Games (27 October)

The ABA is inviting public comment on its proposal to vary the Children’s Television Standards (CTS) to allow extensive coverage of the 2000 Olympic Games by the Seven Network.

Download the Variation as a RTF file (67k/5p) or view as a PDF (24k/5p).

ABA registers revised commercial radio codes of practice (26 October)

The ABA has registered revised Commercial Radio Codes of Practice which cover new Australian music, language, complaints handling and compliance with the codes.

Download the code as a Rich Text File (RTF) (116k/24p), or view as a whole document in Portable Document Format (PDF) (53k/24p).

New radio services for Kingaroy (25 October)

The ABA has made channels available for five new radio services in the Queensland radio market of Kingaroy.

ABA invites applications for two new community radio licences in the Bendigo region, Central Victoria (22 October)

The ABA will readvertise tomorrow, 23 October, the availability of two new community radio broadcasting licences to serve the Bendigo region.

New community radio licence for the Lake Macquarie area, NSW (21 October)

The ABA has allocated a community radio licence for the Lake Macquarie area in NSW.

Investigations into program matters (20 October )

There were 136 breaches of codes of practice, licence conditions or the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 by broadcasters in 1998-99, according to the Australian Broadcasting Authority’s Annual Report tabled in Parliament this week.

Further directions in 2UE hearing (13 October)

On 12 October 1999, the ABA held a second hearing conference to make directions in relation to its upcoming hearing re: 2UE, John Laws and Alan Jones.

New community radio licence for Bundaberg (12 October)

The ABA has allocated a new community radio licence to serve Bundaberg, Queensland.

ABA finds no breaches of Act in news services agreements (11 October)

The ABA has found that Prime Television Limited is not in a position to exercise control of the commercial radio stations 1CBR and 2ROC Canberra and 2KKO and 2XXX Newcastle through the provision of news services to those stations.

ABA releases digital TV channel plans for Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart and Melbourne (11 October )

The ABA has released four more digital television channel plans. The plans, for the Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart and Melbourne television markets, set out the channels the commercial and national broadcasters will use for their digital transmissions from 1 January 2001.

ABA invites applications for open narrowcasting licences (8 October)

The ABA has invited applications for 24 new open narrowcasting radio services to serve the Australian Capital Territory and regional areas of New South Wales.

New community radio licence for Emerald, Queensland (6 October)

The ABA has allocated a community radio licence for Emerald, Queensland.

ABA comment on Consolidated Press Holdings announcement (1 October)

The ABA notes the announcement made by Consolidated Press Holdings (CPH) to the Australian Stock Exchange that CPH have acquired FXF Management and have appointed new directors to the board of FXF Management.