End of the analog era for regional Victoria

22 Jun 2011

Digital switchover took another great step forward on 5 May 2011, as regional Victoria turned off its analog TV broadcasts for the last time.

The 5 May was a momentous day for the transmitter site at Mt Major, situated midway between Shepparton and Benalla, in regional Victoria. At precisely 9am, the station's analog transmitters—which have broadcast a range of television channels to the Goulburn Valley since 1963—were turned off for the last time.

Broadcast Australia Team Leader for Field Services for the Shepparton District, Michael Hayward, explained that in total, analog signals across 46 sites in regional Victoria and southern NSW were turned off as part of the ongoing nationwide digital switchover. "Regional Victoria is the largest switchover to date," he said. "The levels of planning have been phenomenal to ensure the analog switch-off was a seamless experience on the day."

Digital duplicates

The Mt Major site is among the company's larger sites to have its analog signals turned off. "It is a high-powered site—featuring 20kW transmitters—and is what we call a B-Class site, due to the population it serves," said Michael. "The broadcast from Mt Major alone reaches over 100,000 people—as far east as the Great Dividing Range, north into NSW, west to Echuca and south to Seymour."

The analog channels that were turned off include the ABC, SBS, Prime and Southern Cross. Digital versions of these channels have been progressively brought online from 2002 onwards at all sites across the region in order to ensure no viewers are left without their favourite programs.

The road ahead

In the event, the switch-off was almost an anticlimax. "Although it only took a matter of seconds to turn off the power to each service, it was then necessary to spend several hours to ensure the now-redundant equipment was left in a safe state," said Michael. "Thankfully, nothing went wrong on the day, and we can attribute this to the hard work put in by a great number of people in the preceding months."

Of course, the analog switch-off is only half the story. The company still faces the challenge of removing the redundant equipment from these sites, and in time—as the government sells off the analog spectrum for non-broadcast services—it may be necessary to 'restack' some the digital services in many areas across the country.

The next switchover is scheduled for regional Queensland in December 2011. "We are confident that our systematic methodology—including the detailed instructions and contingency plans we prepared ahead of time—will ensure we achieve the same great result in Queensland later in the year," said Michael.

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