Can’t see anyone else want this. If an operation that relays Ten content with no added content outside (some?) advertising and no staff other than the board members that still can’t break even then there is no hope.
Who wants a licence to lose money?
Q: How many people will lose their jobs as a result of this closure?
A: None.
Great to hear this! Not that many people would be employed by WIN or 7 in the area anyway or any being dedicated to MDT exclusively.
Q: Doesn’t MDT have a legal obligation to keep broadcasting?
A: No, we are handing back the licence.
Clear cut I think. The government or ACMA won’t be doing anything.
I think the most people can hope for is the council or the state government setting up a VAST fed self-help transmitter (if 10, CDT and ACMA allow it I’d assume).
Do we actually have any members in Mildura at the moment?
David Knox on TVT has asked in the comments of the above article for anyone from Mildura to reach out to him for a story he’s doing.
Can’t see council stepping In as the costs would be far too great Yatpool is a main broadcast facility & the transmitters at Ouyen, Robinvale & Walpeup are owned & maintained by RBA Holdings, Remember it’s the ratepayers that would have to pay to maintain these transmitters & as for state government they don’t even know where Mildura Is.
The transmitters are already maintained regardless as they are maintained by WIN and Seven (and possibly ABC and SBS if they share the same facilities). Playout is also done from MediaHub with WIN’s other channels.
That’s that then. Seems the Fed Govt is looking to the market to decide themselves.
The only hope is if the local council as 2265NMHZ above suggests steps in with a self-help rebroadcasting CDT. It need not be the current full power service of MDT, just a translator service that only services the Mildura township so as to lessen the cost.
No way will TEN or SCA step in or the CDT joint venture (SCA+Imaparja) station itself which is another possibility no-one else has suggested. It would be a futile exercise in flushing money down the toilet.
In any case, the ACMA should allow people in the Midura region be able to apply for a permanent residential VAST service that screens CDT only and blanks out IMP and QQQ. Otherwise, the only work-around is to permanently install a VAST dish and decoder and apply for the VAST Travellers permit and renew every 6 months via the automated call centre. And better still, you can hook up a VAST decoder to a Foxtel dish and if one were to exist at your premises as both FOXTEL and VAST share the same satellite(s) at the same point in the sky.
I think they should at least test the market first - if as we expect there is no interest then shelve the licence.
Probably not, but that doesn’t mean that the regulator shouldn’t make attempts to see if there is someone who is interested.
I don’t believe they can - it would probably require all three commercial services to stop broadcasting in the licence area first.
Would mean that they would have to build a new transmitter, or negotiate with WIN and Seven for access to the existing facilities.
Personally, I couldn’t see a problem with any or all residences in regional Australia having access to VAST. Yes there would be resistance from the incumbent stations. I feel that VAST won’t have a major impact as the majority would turn to their local stations for news etc.
Accessibility issues can be raised here, given the area it would need to cover or even quality issues., One good example of areas closer to regions that should be able to access is Bulahdelah about 100km north of Newcastle. In one of the service stations there, they screen VAST in one of the service stations customer dining areas, which means access to VAST shouldn’t be a problem for Mildura given its significantly closer to the regular VAST services,
I’m of the view that by handing the licence back Seven and WIN are no longer providing a ‘full suite’ of networks and as such should no longer be entitled to any protection from VAST applications.
Whether or not the legislation would agree or has even provisioned for this scenario might be another thing altogether though.
What’s stopping 10 from acquiring the license and broadcasting 10 Melbourne.
$$$$$… They’ll just lose money on that too.
No advantage to them showing Melbourne ads in Mildura, over 500 kms away.
Adelaide is closer 
10 would have to start producing local news for it under trigger/new owner legislation. Same as what happened to 7 when they acquired Mildura through Prime7 merger.
Even more outgoing costs for a station that loses bucket loads of cash already.
I wonder if there are any angles to apply for an exemption?
But Mildura is on Melbourne’s timezone, which would mean if they got Adelaide, they would be half an hour behind the other stations. Also, not sure if Adelaide news would be popular.
What does the channel currently produce in terms of local news? And what would a broadcaster have to produce.
And if not 10, then what about Southern Cross being the main 10 Regional Affiliate in ACT, NSW and VIC. Being in Canberra I notice that the 10 local news updates are low cost, minimal segments.
Surely, the 10 Mildura can be integrated to their other operations with a similar low cost local news segment.
SCA would have zero interest, and they can’t be forced to operate a station in Mildura. This is all part of larger play by the regional operators to force some Govt subsidy, legislative changes and or a bit of both. This being a test case for other markets no doubt.
It doesn’t. Even with no local programming, there is no money to be made with a third-rate channel to a market of the equivalent of a handful of people.
Noting too that the station still lost money under a Nine affiliation.