Free-to-air 24/7 broadcasting High Definition on Channel 350 and Standard Definition on Channel 351.
Snowy Mountains Television has been broadcasting for over 20 years to the Jindabyne Valley.
Originally the station was known as SMTV Channel 5 Jindabyne when it was broadcasting on the analogue spectrum.
Would anyone know what analogue channel SMTV used? Given that 102.7 MHz has been occupied by the TAB for over 10 years at least, I doubt whether they used VHF5 (101-108). 5A, perhaps? Hotlink this to the TV History thread if you wish.
Cheers for that. I thought it used UHF; it would have been silly to waste VHF spectrum on such a flea-powered service. Perhaps it appeared on Channel 5 on TV sets in certain accommodation in the town?
It might have been just an arbitrary number. Adelaide’s original community TV station used to be called ACE Channel 6 or something like that, I think literally just because it was the 6th channel but it was on UHF 31. Maybe SMTV was the fifth channel in the Snowy Mountains?
I doubt it was there before SBS, though it could still be the ‘fifth’ channel if Channel 0 was used. Probably arbitrary as you say.
It’s an interesting example of a non- subscription narrowcast television service- essentially the visual equivalent of an LPON radio station. The only other licences of this type that I know of are the indigenous (ex BRACS) tv services in northern Australia.
On a related note, does anyone know what happened to LINC TV in Lismore? It used UHF 69 and broadcast some of its programming online when this was in its infancy.
Northern Access Television, one of the member groups of what is now C31 in Melbourne, is turning 30 next year.
I remember watching a very sketchy test broadcast sometime in the early 1990s. Their signal only covered a handful of suburbs around the Preston area and I was outside that area and probably on the wrong side of a hill which affected my reception.
in 2006, LINC TV (UHF-68) made an inquiry into the possibility of a regional network carrying their broadcasts on digital television in an attempt to stay on air. Sadly, they never renewed their contract for digital broadcasting or could find a regional network to carry them. it closed in 2012.
C31 Melbourne are bringing back the Antenna Awards for the station’s twenty-fifth anniversary later this year. The last ceremony was in 2014, and previously ran from 2004-2010.
