I wonder how the community stations in Adelaide and Melbourne are going in terms of moving to an online-only model? Here we are in the middle of April and no word on if they have any apps so you can watch community television after the June 30 shutdown. C31 has done almost nothing so far, their website is still looking like a retro 90s relic, and the live streaming picture quality is terrible. C31 and 44 were given undertakings to Paul Fletcher that they are going to vacate the frequency on June 30, 2021 (see letter earlier in this thread). They better get a move on!
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That’s because they won’t. There’s no sustainable online model for them.
He have been hinging on last minute extensions for the last 7 years.
I really hope they manage to survive beyond, but I think everyone internal there and the government know, it’s bound to end when the TV licence is pulled finally.
So could this be it for Community TV?
… not completely … Foxtel has the Aurora community channel and it is streamed …
Next to one watches Aurora. It has so few viewers that Foxtel obviously can’t be bothered including it in the ratings. It would just be another 0.0 channel.
There is plenty of community made video on YouTube. That is where the two community channels should be focusing their efforts, I think. Some content is already on YouTube, but it all should be there.
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60% of Aurora’s programming is infomercials.
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… yep, bit sad really … but then the whole business model of community television is that you have to pay them to put your program on so it tends to lend itself to that …
that’s right, if you are a content creator and you want your programme on Aurora you will have to pay for it!
not just Aurora … all of the community stations operate that way …
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Unless you’re a member partner of which a lot of programming gets on for free that way
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Aurora only wants Australian made content too so no streams of DW or random shows from USA Public Access TV when there’s no other programming to fill like Channel 31 Brisbane used to do.
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Well they rather air paid programming wouldn’t they? It’s a shit service.
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UPDATE 29/5:
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The forced move is due to the 7-day COVID lockdown in Victoria which began today.
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I wonder if Melbourne City Council will stump up the funds to replace the transmitter if they want it extended another 3 years?
The transmitter is well past end of life, the guys up Mt Dandenong struggle to keep it on air, I don’t think they can get spare parts for it any more either, it’s an old piece of crap Harris transmitter.
It certainly wasn’t a happy day (transmitter operations & maintenance wise), when the licence was extended last time, so I doubt it would be this time, especially extending it by 3 years.
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Almost as if a long-term licence extension might have broader economic benefits to the community 
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Just out of interest, what is the usual lifespan of a transmitter? This one would be only about 10-12 years old, since Channel 31 switched on digital?
A year ago C31 said:
What have they done in the past 12 months to achieve this goal?
He said Channel 31 already had a YouTube channel that averaged a million views a month, but it only received about $150 in ad revenue for it.
He said the station would be part of a national community TV streaming service being launched in the next week.
“[But], if that’s all we are come July 1, well that will cost us more money than it will make in any sponsorship and, so, it’s not sustainable long-term, and it will likely mean that we’ll be unable to continue,” he said.