Regional Digital Radio a step closer

The Broadcast Legislation Amendment (Digital Radio) Bill 2015, has passed the House of Reps and the Senate has agreed to a third reading speech.  That means as the Bill  is considered non-controversial and further passage is now a formality.

With the news, the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA has welcomed the broadcasting legislation changes with Chief Executive Officer Jon Bisset saying: “We congratulate Minister Fifield on guiding these amendments through Parliament, which will encourage a more timely extension of digital radio into regional Australia. These changes support digital radio as the future facing broadcasting platform and a vital element in Australia’s media environment.”

“The Minister has taken the lead in pushing these reforms and we look forward to working with him on digitisation issues as Australia transitions to a digital future.”

The Bill reforms the digital radio regulatory framework to allow the roll-out of digital radio in regional markets. Key outcomes include ratifying the Digital radio planning committee for regional Australia, removing the digital radio moratorium period, moving authority for issuing ‘start day’ processes from the Minister to the ACMA, and removing the datacasting sub category for digital radio.