Licence Area Plan - Bridgetown (Radio) - October 1996

The central concept is the “Licence Area Plan” (LAP), a statutory instrument under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 that plans the allocation of broadcasting services within a defined geographic area using the broadcasting services bands. The LAP is not a licence; it is a prior planning decision that determines the number, categories, and technical parameters of services that may be provided. The plan identifies four categories of service. “National” services are those provided by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation or Special Broadcasting Service and do not require a service licence; the plan lists them as “N/A” for licence number. “Commercial” services are funded by advertising and require a commercial broadcasting licence. “Community” services are not-for-profit and require a community broadcasting licence. “Open narrowcasting” services target specific audiences (such as tourist information or ethnic groups) and do not require a licence under the Act, though they must still comply with technical standards. Another key concept is the “service licence number”, a unique identifier for each licensed service; the plan uses numbers like SL010072 and SL010073 for commercial services and SL010063 for the community service. The “transmitter specification number” (e.g., TS002333) identifies each separate transmitter location and its technical details. The “technical specifications” themselves are set out in attachments and include emission mode (MF-AM for medium frequency amplitude modulation, or VHF-FM for very high frequency frequency modulation), carrier frequency (e.g., 1044 kHz or 96.5 MHz), polarisation, maximum antenna height, and output radiation pattern. For AM transmitters the pattern uses “CMF” (current moment factor measured in volts) with maximum values at zero degrees elevation and directional sectors. For FM transmitters the pattern uses “ERP” (effective radiated power) measured in watts. The “licence area” is defined using Australian Bureau of Statistics collection districts from the 1991 Census. The plan uses the concept of “site tolerance” which allows minor deviations from the nominal transmitter location subject to technical planning guidelines. “General area served” is a descriptive label (Bridgetown, Manjimup, Nannup) but is not a legally precise boundary. The plan also distinguishes between transmitters that serve the same general area (e.g., two national transmitters at Manjimup) but on different frequencies. The determination itself carries the signature of the Authority and a determination date.

The primary persons and entities affected by this Licence Area Plan are the holders of the commercial broadcasting licences SL010072 and SL010073 and the community broadcasting licence SL010063. These licensees obtain the right to operate radio services at the specified frequencies and technical parameters within the Bridgetown area. For commercial operators the licence area covers a population of 14,648, giving them access to a defined advertising market and audience; the community licensee serves a smaller area of 2,017 persons, which may constrain its fundraising capacity and service scope. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Special Broadcasting Service are the likely operators of the five national services, though the plan does not name them; those entities receive spectrum allocations without needing a service licence. The open narrowcasting service at Manjimup (1377 kHz AM) may be operated by a party aiming at a niche audience such as tourist information or a particular language group; the plan does not name the operator. Local residents within the defined licence areas are the intended beneficiaries, gaining access to a variety of radio services. However, residents outside the defined collection districts (e.g., in rural parts of the Shire not included) may not receive a reliable signal or may be excluded from the “licence area” for planning purposes, which could affect eligibility for retransmission or local content obligations. Potential new entrants who wish to provide a radio service in the Bridgetown area are directly affected because the plan exhausts the available spectrum under the Broadcasting Services Act for that region. Unless the plan is varied or a new licence allocation round occurs, no further services of the same categories can be established. The Australian Broadcasting Authority (now ACMA) is affected as the regulator: it must administer the licences, enforce the technical specifications, and consider any future variations. Transmitter site neighbours are affected by the location of facilities, for example at Yornup or Suttons Lookout; site tolerance provisions allow some flexibility but also create uncertainty about exact build locations. The plan also affects sellers of radio advertising time, equipment suppliers, and contractors who rely on the regulatory certainty created by the plan. Finally, the plan indirectly affects competition in the local media market: it guarantees two commercial services and one community service, but prevents a third commercial entrant unless the plan changes, which may reduce competitive pressure on pricing and programming variety.

The plan itself does not create duties and rights in the same way as a licence condition, but it underpins the rights and obligations that follow from the Broadcasting Services Act 1992. The primary right conferred by the plan is the right of the designated licensees to operate broadcasting services at the specified technical parameters within the defined licence areas. For the commercial licensees SL010072 and SL010073, that right includes the ability to broadcast advertising and generate revenue from the 14,648 persons in the licence area. For the community licensee SL010063, the right includes the ability to broadcast on a not-for-profit basis to the 2,017 persons in its smaller licence area. The national services have a right to operate without a licence, but they must still comply with the technical specifications; their obligations are set out in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 and the Special Broadcasting Service Act 1991, not in this plan. The open narrowcasting service has a right to operate without a licence but must adhere to the technical parameters in Attachment 1.9. The key duty imposed by the plan is the duty to comply with the technical specifications. For each transmitter, the licensee must operate at the specified carrier frequency and within the maximum CMF or ERP limits and, where applicable, directional patterns. The plan does not state that these are maximums; the language “Maximum CMF” and “Maximum ERP” clearly indicates that the licensee must not exceed those values. The plan also imposes a duty to locate the transmitter at or within the site tolerance of the nominal site. The site tolerance is not defined in the plan but by reference to “Technical Planning Guidelines”; the licensee must obtain and follow those guidelines. The plan further imposes a duty on the broadcasting authority (now ACMA) to administer the plan and not to allocate licences that conflict with its terms. The plan gives the authority the power to vary the plan under s 26 of the Act, but that power must be exercised consistent with the Act’s objects and procedures. The plan does not grant rights to third parties; listeners do not have a right to receive a service, though the plan’s purpose is to ensure availability. The plan also does not grant property rights in spectrum; the rights are statutory and conditional. The plan creates an expectation that no other service will be licensed that would cause harmful interference to these services, but interference management is governed by the Radiocommunications Act 1992 rather than this plan.

The Licence Area Plan itself does not prescribe penalties or enforcement mechanisms; those are found in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and the Radiocommunications Act 1992. However, because the plan sets technical limits that are binding on licensees and other operators, any breach of those limits (such as exceeding the maximum CMF or ERP, operating on a different frequency, or using an unauthorised transmitter site) is a breach of the licensing conditions or of the Act itself. Under Part 14 of the Broadcasting Services Act, it is an offence to provide a broadcasting service without a licence where one is required; the plan identifies which services require a licence (commercial and community) and which do not. For a commercial or community licensee, operating contrary to the plan’s technical specifications could lead to suspension or revocation of the licence under s 85 of the Act. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has the power to issue remedial directions, impose civil penalties (up to stated amounts per day of contravention), or accept enforceable undertakings. For national or open narrowcasting services, even though no licence is required, the Radiocommunications Act 1992 applies: any transmission that interferes with licensed services or exceeds authorised parameters is an offence under that Act. The plan also references “site tolerance” guidelines; failure to comply with those guidelines could be enforced as a technical breach. The practical enforcement risk is low for an established operator operating within parameters, but a new entrant seeking to contest a licence variation might use the plan as a basis for challenging a competitor’s non-compliance. The plan does not specify any penalty amounts, class of offence, or enforcement priorities. ACMA’s enforcement policy (published separately) typically favours graduated responses from warnings to infringement notices to court proceedings. The cost of enforcement for ACMA is borne by the public, while the cost of compliance is borne by the licensee. Given that this plan is from 1996 and many of its frequencies are likely still in use, the enforcement risk today is primarily historical: if a licensee has continued to operate within the original parameters, no enforcement is likely. But if a licensee seeks to upgrade or change the transmitter site, it must ensure the change is consistent with the plan or apply for a variation.

The Licence Area Plan sits within a broader legislative framework. Its enabling act is the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, particularly Part 3 (Planning of broadcasting services) which empowers the making of licence area plans and sets out objects including promoting the availability of a diverse range of radio services. The plan is also subject to the Broadcasting Services (Technical Planning) Guidelines, which are not reproduced in this instrument but determine matters such as site tolerance and interference calculations. The technical specifications in the plan (frequency, power, antenna height) must also comply with the Radiocommunications Act 1992 and the Radiocommunications (Unacceptable Interference) Determination, which govern electromagnetic spectrum use and harmful interference. Any transmitter construction requires compliance with state and local government planning laws for building and land use; the plan does not override those requirements. The plan interacts with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 and the Special Broadcasting Service Act 1991, which define the obligations of those national broadcasters; the plan allocates frequencies but does not impose programming requirements. The plan may also interact with the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 if licensees engage in anti-competitive conduct through exclusive advertising deals or cross-ownership, though the plan itself does not regulate media ownership. The Broadcasting Services Act contains provisions on ownership and control of commercial broadcasting licences (Part 5), which apply separately to the licensees named in the plan. The plan does not address digital radio; it predates the Digital Radio Broadcasting (DRB) framework established by the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Digital Radio) Act 2007. Therefore, the plan’s AM and FM services are analogue only; any digital switchover would require a new plan or variation. The plan also interacts with the Telecommunications Act 1997 indirectly: if a radio transmitter site shares infrastructure with a telecommunications tower, lease and access rights may be governed by that Act. For the community service, the plan’s licence area definition may interact with the Community Broadcasting Foundation’s funding criteria, which often use licence area population to determine grant eligibility. The plan’s use of 1991 Census data means its population figures are outdated; any variation would likely use more current census data, but the plan itself remains legally valid. Finally, the plan’s interaction with the Australian courts is limited: the plan is a legislative instrument subject to judicial review under the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977, but the source gives no indication of any challenge.

The source document is the original determination dated 5 November 1996. No amendments are recorded within this instrument. The Licence Area Plan for Bridgetown (Radio) may have been varied one or more times since 1996, but the source does not show any such amendments. Under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (which succeeded the Australian Broadcasting Authority) can amend a licence area plan by making a new determination under s 26. Amendment history, if any, would be found on the Federal Register of Legislation or ACMA’s website. Typical reasons for amendment include changes in population distribution, the need to add a new service, or technical changes such as frequency reallocation. Because the source is the original version, any subsequent variation (such as the addition of new commercial services or the conversion to digital) would not be reflected here. The plan’s continued legal force depends on whether it has been superseded by a later plan. The plan covers only radio services; if a subsequent plan for Bridgetown combined radio and television, that would likely replace this one. The absence of amendment history in the source means the reader must assume this is the version as made; however, for current compliance, the user should verify that this plan is still in force by checking the current ACMA register of licence area plans. The plan is over 25 years old, and many similar plans have been updated. The frequencies and transmitter sites may still be in use, but the administrative structure (e.g., the replacement of ABA with ACMA) does not affect the plan’s validity because ACMA inherits the ABA’s powers. The plan may have been implicitly amended if the licence numbers have been reallocated or if the technical specifications have been varied by separate instruments (e.g., a transmitter licence under the Radiocommunications Act). The source does not list any amending instruments in a table, so the amendment history is silent. A prudent practitioner should treat this as a historical baseline and seek current amendments from the official register.

The source document contains no reference to any litigation. There is no listing of cases, tribunal decisions, or court judgments that involve this Licence Area Plan. It appears that the plan has not been the subject of reported challenges or judicial interpretation. This is unsurprising for a small regional radio plan. Challenges to licence area plans are rare; they would typically involve a dispute over the allocation of spectrum, the definition of a licence area, or a claim that the plan contravenes the Broadcasting Services Act. If such litigation occurred, it would likely be before the Federal Court of Australia or the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). The absence of recorded litigation may indicate that the plan was accepted by all affected parties, or that any disputes were settled administratively without a formal proceeding. It is also possible that the plan was never the subject of a published decision because the parties sought judicial review but the matter was resolved by consent. The plan’s legal effect is therefore untested. For a practitioner, this means there is no authoritative judicial gloss on how the plan operates. However, the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 has been subject to extensive litigation in other contexts, and principles from those cases would apply by analogy. For example, in cases about other licence area plans (such as for Sydney or Melbourne), courts have considered the scope of the Authority’s planning discretion and the requirement to consider the public interest. Those cases might influence the interpretation of this plan. But without specific citations, the litigation history is a blank. The user should not assume that the plan is immune from challenge; any aggrieved person with standing (e.g., a licensees whose interests were affected by a variation) could still seek review. The plan is also subject to the common law rights of natural justice in its making. The practical takeaway: the plan has likely operated without controversy for over two decades, which gives it a de facto stability, but it is not legally fortified by precedent.

Several points in the plan could trap an unwary reader. First, the technical specification for commercial service SL010073 in Attachment 1.8 lists the carrier frequency as 1269 kHz and the emission mode as “MF-AM” but the general area served is “Bridgetown (WA)” and the table in Schedule One places it under “Category of Service: Commercial” with a note that the technical specifications are in Attachment 1.8. However, the transmitter specification number TS10002152 and the specification details show that it is an AM service, not FM. Anyone reading the schedule quickly might assume it is FM because earlier attachments use FM for Nannup, but it is not. The plan’s own headings sometimes use “FM Radio” in the attachment title for AM services? No, Attachment 1.8 is titled “TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION - AM Radio” but the detail says “MF-AM”. This is correct; there is no FM here. The potential trap is confusion between the general area served (Bridgetown) and the actual transmitter site (Yornup). Yornup is a locality not in Bridgetown town; the licence area for the commercial service includes Bridgetown-Greenbushes Shire and surrounding collection districts, but the transmitter is elsewhere. That matters for signal reception predictions. Second, the licence area for community radio is far smaller (2,017 persons) than the commercial area (14,648 persons). This may create a regulatory disparity: the community licensee must serve a narrower geography but is prohibited from serving the broader area without varying the plan. The plan does not explain why the community area is limited to five collection districts; it may reflect the community service’s narrower target audience. A third gotcha is that the plan uses 1991 Census data; population numbers are now outdated. If a licensee wants to claim that its licence area population is still 14,648 or 2,017 for regulatory purposes, that claim is based on a census over 30 years old. ACMA may accept updated figures, but the plan itself is frozen in time. Fourth, the site tolerance is defined by reference to “Technical Planning Guidelines” that are not attached. The exact allowable deviation from the nominal grid coordinates is unknown without those guidelines. This creates uncertainty for transmitter construction. Fifth, the plan lists one open narrowcasting service but does not specify who may operate it. Because open narrowcasting does not require a licence, any person who meets the general conditions could potentially use that frequency, but the plan seems to allocate it to a single transmitter specification. The plan does not prevent multiple operators on the same frequency if they share time or use different encoding, but that is unusual. Sixth, the plan does not address digital radio or the possibility of multiple services on the same channel. Seventh, there is a discrepancy in the transmitter specification number for the Manjimup open narrowcasting service: it is TS10002153 in Attachment 1.9, but in Schedule One the number is TS002153 (missing a digit). This may be a typographical error; the attachment number is more detailed. Eighth, the commercial service SL010072 uses frequency 900 kHz, which is a standard AM frequency; there might be adjacent channel interference issues not addressed. Ninth, the plan imposes directional radiation patterns for some Manjimup national transmitters; a licensee who builds an omnidirectional antenna may violate the plan. Tenth, the plan does not include any sunset or review clause; it remains in force indefinitely unless varied.

Compliance with this Licence Area Plan requires a multi-step approach. The primary obligation is for the operators of the listed services to ensure that their transmissions match the technical specifications. For the commercial licensees SL010072 and SL010073, the transmitter must be located at the nominal site (Yornup, AMG coordinates 50 424000 6231400) within the site tolerance defined in the Technical Planning Guidelines. The carrier frequency must be exactly 900 kHz for SL010072 and 1269 kHz for SL010073. The output radiation pattern must be omnidirectional with a maximum CMF of 450 V at zero elevation; the licensee must not exceed that value at any angle. The notes prohibit exceeding that CMF at all elevations, so vertical radiation must also be controlled. For the community licensee SL010063, the transmitter must be at Suttons Lookout Bridgetown (50 420700 6241100) with a frequency of 96.5 MHz, polarisation mixed, maximum antenna height 40 m, and ERP not exceeding 10 W omnidirectional. For national services, the operator (ABC or SBS) must comply with the respective specifications: for the Bridgetown national service at 1044 kHz, omnidirectional CMF limit 310 V; for the two Manjimup national services at 738 kHz (directional with sectors) and 1152 kHz (directional), the CMF must not exceed the sector limits; and for the two Nannup national services at 98.1 and 98.9 MHz, ERP limit 10 W omnidirectional with antenna height 25 m. The open narrowcasting service at Manjimup (1377 kHz) must comply with omnidirectional CMF limit 450 V. To comply, operators should conduct regular field measurements to confirm CMF or ERP levels and antenna radiation patterns. They should maintain transmitter logs and calibration records. If any of the technical parameters (frequency, power, site, antenna) need to be changed, the operator must apply to ACMA for a variation of the plan under s 26 of the Broadcasting Services Act. Operating outside the plan without variation is a breach. For new entrants, compliance is essentially impossible unless they acquire one of the existing licensed services or apply for a new licence that requires a plan variation. The plan also affects compliance with other regulatory requirements: for example, the Broadcasting Services Act requires community broadcasters to meet subscription or sponsorship limits and to submit annual returns, but those are separate from the plan. The plan does not require the licensee to actually serve the entire licence area; it only specifies where the signal should be available. However, if a licensee’s signal does not reach the outer collection districts, that is not a breach of the plan unless the technical specifications cause it. A prudent compliance officer should also verify that the transmitter site has all necessary local government approvals and that the radiofrequency emission complies with ARPANSA standards for human exposure. The plan does not impose a compliance reporting cycle, but ACMA may conduct random audits or investigate complaints of interference. Operators should keep a copy of the plan and all attachments at the transmitter site and head office. Finally, given the plan’s age, operators should check with ACMA whether any replacement plan or variation has since been made; operating under a superseded plan is non-compliant.