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WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced
and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest does not have
any official legal status. Other sources should be consulted to determine
the subsequent official status of the Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Contact Officer and Copyright Details
Datacasting Charge (Imposition) Bill 1998
Date Introduced: 8 April 1998
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Communications, the Information Economy and the Arts
Commencement: Royal Assent
To impose charges on the providers of datacasting services.
This Bill is a revenue measure associated with the Television Broadcasting
Service (Digital Conversion) Bill 1998 (Digital Conversion Bill),
which amends the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 to provide for
the introduction of digital television.
Datacasting services are those involving the transmission of a digital
signal (which could be in the form of data, text, image or sound) and
which utilise the spare capacity of the spectrum allocated to the ABC,
SBS and commercial television broadcasters for the conversion to digital
television.
The charge is being imposed to prevent the television broadcasters using
their free spectrum to compete unfairly against service providers who
were required to pay for spectrum use.
It is an objective of the Digital Conversion Bill that the national
(ABC, SBS) and commercial television broadcasters be permitted to use
any spare digital transmission capacity to provide datacasting services
[proposed new sections 5(2)(l) and 17(2)(l) of the Broadcasting
Services Act 1992]. Proposed new section 48 of the Broadcasting
Services Act 1992 provides that a datacasting charge is due and payable
in accordance with a written determination by the Australian Broadcasting
Authority (ABA). The ABA also makes determinations with regard to the
standards to be observed by datacasters.
Note that datacasting services do not include commercial radio services,
subscription broadcasting or narrowcasting services, and open narrowcasting
services. The national and commercial broadcasters are prohibited from
transmitting these services under clauses 10 and 33 of the Digital Conversion
Bill.
Readers should consult the Digest of the Television Broadcasting Service
(Digital Conversion) Bill 1998 for more detailed information on the
digital television issue and the role of the ABA.
Clause 6 imposes a charge on the national and commercial television
broadcasters if they use their transmitters to transmit datacasting services.
Clause 7 provides that the amount of the charge is in accordance
with a written determination of the Australian Communications Authority
(ACA). The determination is a disallowable instrument.
Note that under proposed new section 50 of the Broadcasting
Services Act 1992 the ACA is first required to report to the Minister
on the competitive neutrality principles it employs in developing its
proposals for datacasting charges. This report must be tabled.
Kim Jackson
20 April 1998
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
This paper has been prepared for general distribution to Senators and
Members of the Australian Parliament. While great care is taken to ensure
that the paper is accurate and balanced, the paper is written using information
publicly available at the time of production. The views expressed are
those of the author and should not be attributed to the Information and
Research Services (IRS). Advice on legislation or legal policy issues
contained in this paper is provided for use in parliamentary debate and
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or Australian government document.
IRS staff are available to discuss the paper's contents with Senators
and Members
and their staff but not with members of the public.
ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 1998
Except to the extent of the uses permitted under the Copyright Act
1968, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, including information storage and retrieval
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other than by Members of the Australian Parliament in the course of their
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Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library, 1998.
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