Govt sets switchover date for regional Queensland

The Australian government has announced a switchover date for regional Queensland has launched free to air digital TV services by satellite to viewers in remote and regional Western Australia via the government-funded View Access Satellite Television (VAST) service. Some 506,000 households in regional Queensland will switch to digital only free-to-air television on 6 December this year. Furthermore, free-to-air digital TV channels are now available by satellite for viewers in regional and remote areas of Western Australia who cannot receive terrestrial digital TV. An agreement between the government and broadcasters Win and Prime Television (under joint venture WA Satco) will provide the VAST service to Western Australia. Under the first stage of the agreement, satellite viewers will be able to receive the standard definition commercial channels from Win, GWN and Ten and from 30 July, the VAST service will provide all nine standard definition and high definition commercial channels, including the digital-only channels. From October 2012, the government will provide a subsidy for approximately 32,000 households in Western Australia that currently rely on 'self help' towers for their TV to convert to the VAST satellite service. Communications minister Stephen Conroy said 79 percent of households across Australia are now digital ready, according to the latest figures from the Digital Tracker survey for the first quarter of 2011.