PRESS RELEASE:

11th HOUR REPRIEVE POSSIBLE FOR C44 ADELAIDE – C31 MELBOURNE LEFT IN THE COLD

Community Television station C31 Melbourne and Geelong has learned of an offer extended to its sister station Channel 44 Adelaide, that looks set to renew their free-to-air licence for another 12-months. C31 management have made attempts to seek a similar offer from the Minister for Communications but have not been successful. We are now of the understanding that this offer will not be extended to the Melbourne station and we will be switched off free-to-air on Tuesday, June 30th, 2020.

We are of course very pleased to learn of the news that our counterparts in Adelaide may be getting another year of broadcast. However, it begs the question, if an extension is possible for one station, why not both?

This arbitrary decision to exclude C31 from a licence extension lacks justification and will come as a significant shock to the many diverse Melbourne communities and volunteers that produce local content, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of individuals that tune in.

C31 General Manager Shane Dunlop states, “This decision to provide an offer of 12-months to just one Community TV station begs the question as to whether any of the reasons put forward by Minister Paul Fletcher as to why more time could not be granted to the sector as a whole have any merit. The valuable spectrum in Melbourne will go unused for many years to come and at a great cost to the vibrant and diverse Victorian community whom C31 has had a twenty-five-year history of servicing.”

“With 7 days remaining until our broadcast comes to a close, we ask one more time for Minister Fletcher to consider our case and to provide C31 Melbourne with the same 12-month extension he is considering providing to C44 Adelaide.”

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