Of course they’ve objected - it just underscores the protectionism that the commercial radio industry tries to push. Allowing the two AM stations to convert to FM opens up opportunities to compete against the incumbent FM stations, and that is clearly undesirable for the present occupants.
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And it’s the sort of thing ACMA should be pushing back against. But it’s weak as water.
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The ACMA operates the protection racket.
I’ve never seen a better example of a regulator captured by the industry it’s supposed to regulate. It’s a national embarrassment.
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Given the ACMA found the proper frequencies for it, Perth’s growth by now surely justifies auctioning a new FM frequency.
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A post was merged into an existing topic: Future of radio
With the three ABC AM stations moving to the FM band are there are any more FM channels available? What was originally considered for 6PR and 6iX moving to FM? Maybe one of these can and should be auctioned off as a commercial FM license.
Yes especially in regards to incumbent FM commecial channels. They cry poor when there is a suggestion of opening up a new FM commercial license to a new entrant which will create unsustainable competition (i.e. FM is losing money) but yell unfair when an existing commercial radio station wants to move to FM which will not affect competition (i.e. FM is minting money after all, no).
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Wonder what they’d say if someone suggested that they switch off their FM transmissions too and go DAB+ and streaming only- after all it’s supposed to be an equally good solution, right? 
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the other FMs have just fended off 6IX/6PR getting an FM licence, so I can’t imagine they will ever “allow” another commercial FM licence to be offered up. And ACMA will only follow what the industry pushes.
But by preventing an existing commercial operator (on AM and DAB+) to occupy one of the FM channels they then allow the possibility of a new commercial operator on FM, and that would be in addition to the existing AM incumbents.
Which may well be what they originally intended, choke up the existing FM channels with the existing ABC and commercial stations on AM to prevent any future FM stations. I guess the ACMA was played out by the FM commercial interests as the original plan effectively sent the message that Perth does not need a new commerical FM station after all (i.e. it didn’t leave space for it).
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Off the top of my head, the 6IX proposal I think required reusing the frequencies that are used for their FM translators, but I’m pretty sure the 6PR frequency was possible with just changes to community/narrowcasters.
I think there’s got to be one or the other - if the argument is a free ride to AM stations when they had to pay big money for licenses, then the solution is a paid FM license. If they don’t want more competition, let the AM commercial stations convert.
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Just because 6IX/6PR are blocked from FM now, I don’t think that creates scope for an additional commercial licence on FM as a “plan B”. The existing FM operators will fight anything like that, as they already have with the thought of 6IX and/or 6PR converting.
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I think though if the ACMA had the balls to propose a price based allocation of a new FM licences the current operators would have less grounds to oppose it using an “unfair” argument. I mean this has happened multiple times since the 90s, albeit not in the last 20+ years.
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Not like it used to. ARN paid $78 million for 96FM 11 years ago. the whole company (7 metro FM’s, a heap of regionals etc) is worth less than double that.
Funny then that K&J are on a contract (potentially) worth more than the whole company.
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Yeah funny is one word for it 
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Not exactly. ARN’s market capitalisation is only around $140M but market capitalisation isn’t the same as the company valuation. Market capitalisation is just the current value of the shares in the market, but doesn’t include all assets, debts, cashflow etc. It’s often a fair indicator though. In theory though the FM licences could be worth more than the market capitalisation.
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That’s actually exactly what it means. The value of the company is assets - liabilities + goodwill (which is technically an asset anyway). Market cap is what investors are willing to pay on the open market which in theory considers all these things.
I appreciate though that the licences are just a single part of that, and can be worth more than the market cap if the company has borrowings (which they do).
However, the fluctuations in the share price are primary linked to the expectations of future earnings, which substantially determine the value of the licence given that the licence is an intangible asset that only gains value from the ability (or perceived ability) to generate revenue. All broadcast companies have lost value in the past decade, all off the back of declining earnings. Many have even written down the value of their licences in their books. So my point remains.
The market capitalisation of ARN is being dragged down not only by debt but also by the impact of liabilities like the K&J contract, and also their current (and potential future) drag on earnings. An FM licence minus these encumbrances is likely worth substantially more than indicated by ARN’s market capitalisation. My point also stands.
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Let’s face it when there are changes to a LAP & they involve ABC or Community Radio Stations of course commercial operators like ARN & NOVA are going to object they want to protect their own self Interests.
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Of course they are, but this is where the regulator should step in and make a call based on public interest.
Is it in the best interests of the Perth radio listening public to have all commercial radio stations, as well as the ABC services, available on FM rather than AM? I’d argue the answer is absolutely yes. The regulator can determine that and make it happen, but due to it being the more difficult path to go down, they’ve opted not to.
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