Overview of planning under the Broadcasting Services Act
The Broadcasting Services Act moved the focus on service planning by the regulator to one based on establishment of a strategic framework of frequency assignments and licence and technical specifications for services throughout the country, leaving the detailed implementation of the specifications for transmitting facilities to individual licensees.
Under the Broadcasting Services Act, the ABA was first required to determine through a public consultation process, the Planning Priorities; that is, the priority in which various services and areas of Australia would be planned. The Planning Priorities were determined by the ABA in September 1993. This was followed by determination of the Frequency Allotment Plan (FAP), which identifies the channel capacity that is to be planned for broadcasting services. The FAP, while it outlines the number of services that are to be planned in each area, does not contain specific frequencies. The FAP was first determined in August 1994 and is varied from time to time. The third and final stage of the planning process is the determination of Licence Area Plans. Licence area plans specify the number and characteristics, including technical specifications, of broadcasting services to be made available in each area of Australia.
ACMA was created on 1 July 2005. Amongst other things ACMA has responsibility for functions previously undertaken by the ABA and the ACA. This includes administration of the Broadcasting Services Act and the Radiocommunications Act.
Technical specifications and licence area plans (LAPs)
In developing licence area plans (LAPs) and digital radio channel plans (DRCPs), the approach taken by ACMA is to establish technical specifications for transmitters in a way that provides a performance envelope within which the transmitter and its associated transmitting antenna or radiating system must operate.
In determining the technical specifications for each service in the LAP or DRCP, the frequency planning is highly dependent upon the physical location of the transmitter and the height of its antenna. The location of the transmitter relative to the licence area to be served determines the radiated power required in various directions, commonly referred to as the radiation pattern. However, the requirement to reuse channels in other areas means there is an upper limit on the radiated power that might be permitted in certain directions in order to provide a substantially interference free service for other users of the same or adjacent channels in neighbouring licence areas.
The LAP or DRCP specifies the nominal location of the transmitting site and provides the performance envelope within which transmitters must operate; licensees, in implementing their transmitting facilities to meet these specifications, are also required to take account of the mandatory requirements of the TPGs.
Schedule Overview of planning under the Broadcast - Broadcasting Services (Technical Planning) Guidelines 2007 - Overview of planning under the Broadcasting Services Act | Zoe
The technical specifications for digital television services specified in Digital Channel Plans (DCPs) are broadly based on the analog television specifications from the relevant LAP.
Compliance with technical specifications of a licence and the TPGs
The licensee, having established the transmission facilities, must be able to provide evidence of appropriate engineering and interference analysis having been conducted and be able to demonstrate that the operating transmitting arrangements comply with the technical specifications in the LAP and with the TPGs. Such evidence, provided it appears prima facie to meet this requirement, will be accepted at face value but will remain a matter of record in the event of the transmitter’s operating specifications subsequently being found non‑compliant.
ACMA, in discharging their responsibilities, may at any time, and without notice, conduct or commission spot checks of operating services to confirm compliance with licence specifications. In the event that problems are discovered, ACMA will bring the matter to the attention of the licensee and provide the licensee with an opportunity to provide relevant material indicating all reasonable steps have been taken to comply and to ensure continued compliance with the licence specifications. The licensee will be required to take appropriate action to restore the service to compliance. These arrangements assume licensees will take all reasonable steps to comply and that non‑compliance is more likely to be the result of technical equipment failure or misalignment, rather than blatant disregard for the specifications.
ACMA will take appropriate action under the relevant Acts in the event of blatant or reckless disregard for the specifications.
Variations to technical specifications
ACMA cannot make substantive changes to existing specifications in a LAP, DCP or DRCP except by way of production of a new LAP, DCP or DRCP, or formal variation of the existing LAP, DCP or DRCP. In many cases, the change is more likely to be initiated by a licensee seeking a variation to the transmitter licence (such as a frequency change or power increase).
Production of, or variation to, a LAP requires wide public consultation in accordance with section 27 of the Act. This will include consultation with all potentially affected parties.
Production of a DCP requires consultation in accordance with section 10 of the Commercial Television Conversion (CTC) Scheme or section 10 of the National Television Conversion (NTC) Scheme. In varying a DCP under section 14 of the CTC Scheme or section 13 of the NTC Scheme, ACMA must decide whether it is appropriate to invite comments on the variation.
Production of, or a variation to, a DRCP requires public consultation in accordance with subsection 44A (7) of the Radiocommunications Act.
Broadcasting licensees and datacasting licensees should note that commercial disagreement on the cost of access to a site (especially where there is no alternative) would not, of itself, be regarded as a sound basis for seeking a LAP, DCP or DRCP variation. ACMA has provided wide opportunity for potential licensees to explore and propose alternative sites during the LAP, DCP or DRCP public consultation process. Consistent with broadcast planning objectives, and the desire to use established sites for both economic and environmental reasons, ACMA has endeavoured to avoid creating situations that force the use of a particular site and hence may potentially escalate the entry price. However, in some situations there may be no alternative and the cost of use of the site has to be accepted as a price of entry and operation of the service.
Transmitter operation away from the nominal location
The TPGs provide some flexibility for licensees wishing to use an alternative transmitter site to the nominal location specified in the LAP, DCP or DRCP.
The TPGs contain the criteria ACMA will use when considering whether to approve an alternative site. The criteria are designed to ensure, amongst other things, that use of the alternative site will not cause interference to licensed radiocommunication services, or to existing or planned broadcasting services shown in the LAP, DCP or DRCP. The licensee must continue to comply with the other technical specifications contained in the LAP, DCP or DRCP, as well as all applicable requirements of the TPGs.
Notwithstanding this new relative freedom, ACMA must know precisely where transmitters are located and their characteristics so that they can be taken into account in planning and interference analysis. Hence, before transmissions at any alternative site can commence an appropriate transmitter licence (which will specify the exact site and primary radiation parameters) must be obtained.
The procedure to be followed by a broadcasting licensee or datacasting licensee seeking to locate a transmitter at an alternative site is further explained below, under Change of Transmitter Site Procedure.
Planning and development approvals from other Authorities
In addition to the requirements of the LAP, DCP or DRCP technical specifications and the TPGs, licensees are reminded of their responsibility to obtain all necessary approvals for site planning and environmental matters from the relevant Federal, State/Territory and local government authorities. Licensees must also comply with ACMA regulatory arrangements for human exposure to Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR), which are applicable to broadcasting transmitters. Further information on ACMA’s EMR regulatory arrangements can be obtained from the ACMA website (www.acma.gov.au).