Digital television in Australia commenced on January 1, 2001 and uses the DVB-T standard. High definition, however, wasn't required until August 2003, after which time commercial stations had to broadcast at least 1000 hours of high definition content per year. Digital television (DTV) is a telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures and sound by means of digital signals, in contrast to analogue signals in analogue (traditional) T.V. It uses digital modulation data, which is digitally compressed and requires decoding by a specially designed television set or a... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... This article is about the year 2001. ... DVB-T stands for Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial and it is the DVB European consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television. ... High-definition television (HDTV) means broadcast of television signals with a higher resolution than traditional formats (NTSC, SECAM, PAL) allow. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Most purchasers of large screen LCD and Plasma HD sets usually purchase a HD set top 'box' which currently costs around AUD$250 (around USD$200/GBP£100). Au. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... GBP may be: short for Game Boy Player the ISO currency code for the British Pound Sterling. ...

Availability

In December 2003, the country's first digital-only broadcaster began—Tasmanian Digital Television started as a Network Ten affiliate in Tasmania (Hobart initially, Launceston followed in July 2004—the rest of the state was to follow). The introduction of this channel has caused digital television to have a much larger uptake in Hobart, as opposed to the minimal attention the format has received in the rest of the country. December 2003: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - → Events December 31, 2003 In Taiwan, President Chen Shui-bian signs a law that allows referendums to be held. ... Tasmanian Digital Television (TDT, callsign TDT-11) is a digital television station in Tasmania, Australia. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Emblems: Flora - Tasmanian Blue Gum; Mineral - Crocoite Motto: Ubertas et Fidelitas (Fertility and Faithfulness) Slogan or Nickname: The Apple Isle; Holiday Isle Other Australian states and territories Capital Hobart Government Const. ... View of the Hobart downtown district and Mt Wellington from Constitution Dock Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. ... Launceston City Council, Coat of Arms Launceston is a small city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia, population approximately 103,000, located at the juncture of the North Esk, South Esk, and Tamar rivers. ... 2004 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December See also: July 2004 in sports Deaths in July • 31 David B. Haight • 29 Francis Crick • 29 Nafisa Joseph • 23 Joe Cahill • 23 Mehmood • 23 Illinois Jacquet • 23 Carlos Paredes...

In January 2005, there were a number of datacasting services available only in Sydney, including a program guide (Channel 4), ABC news, sport, and weather items (Channel 41), ChannelNSW Government and Public Information (Channel 45), Australian Christian Channel (Channel 46), MacquarieBank TV (Channel 47), SportsTAB (Channel 48), Expo Home Shopping (Channel 49), and Federal parliamentary broadcasts (Audio only). 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in January • 29 Ephraim Kishon • 25 Philip Johnson • 23 Johnny Carson • 22 Parveen Babi • 20 Jan Nowak-Jeziorański • 17 Virginia Mayo • 17 Zhao Ziyang • 15... Datacasting is the broadcasting of data over a wide area via radio waves. ...

As of April 2006 Australian Capital Cities are well and truly past the experimental stage. Most cities in Australia that have a population of 40,000 or greater have at least one terrestrial DTV channel available (for example, Albany, Western Australia, has had DTV available since May 2005). Emblems: Floral - Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos manglesii); Mammal - Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus); Bird - Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) Motto: none Slogan or Nickname: Wildflower State Other Australian states and territories Capital Perth Government Const. ...

Content

Because each broadcaster operates a complete slice of frequency and can therefore provide HDTV at all times of the day if desired, each commercial broadcaster has at some stage provided a high definition demonstration service. This has typically comprised in-house 15-45 minute loops of purely HD content, sometimes including small clips of shows seen on that network. Network Ten provided a loop January 2001 to December 2002, followed by Channel Nine to June 2004, followed by Seven Network to time of writing (2006) in major capital cities. However in the regional areas demo loops are still used.

While Australian broadcasters are required by law to transmit a quota of their programming in High Definition, some comply by offering a 576p service comprising almost entirely upconverted material. Nine, Ten and their affiliated stations currently offer a 1080i service. Seven and SBS broadcast using the 576p format, while ABC use the 720p format. 576p is the shorthand name for a video mode. ... The Nine Network is an Australian television network, available in major markets across Australia. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 1080i is the shorthand name for a category of video modes. ... The Seven Network is an Australian television network. ... The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is one of two government funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television networks, the other being the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). ... 576p is the shorthand name for a video mode. ... The Australian Broadcasting Corporation or ABC (formerly the Australian Broadcasting Commission) is Australias national non-profit public broadcaster. ... 720p is the shorthand name for a category of HDTV video modes. ...

All cities have HD and standard definition (SD) Digital channels on commercial channels 7, 9 and 10. The ABC (Government Broadcaster) has two Digital channels, plus an upconverted HD version of its first SD service. The specialty 'multicultural' broadcaster SBS has the same arrangement, two digital SD channels and one HD channel which upconverts the primary SD content. Considerable HD content is now broadcast in certain genres, including most morning news and variety shows, some movies and some imports including most US sitcoms and cop shows. The UK drama Hotel Babylon, is also broadcast in HD exclusively in Australia, as of April 2006. It is believed that around 25% of houses are connected to digital. The Seven Network is an Australian television network. ... The Nine Network is an Australian television network, available in major markets across Australia. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Hotel Babylon is a BBC television drama series based on the book of the same name by Imogen Edwards-Jones and Anonymous, first shown in January 2006. ...

Each High Definition channel must be broadcast with a Dolby Digital soundtrack. However content with a Dolby Digital soundtrack is still scarce. Feature films are typically only broadcast with Dolby Digital 5.1 several times a year at present. Dolby Digital logotype Dolby Digital is the marketing name for a series of lossy audio compression technologies by Dolby Laboratories. ...

Commercial stations are not yet permitted to multi-channel broadcast, unless the programming content is the same on multiple channels (for example: HD simulcasts, multiple camera angles, etc.). SBS has a second channel (a world news channel), and ABC launched ABC2 in March 2005, showing mostly arts, cultural and local/regional news and information. Legislation explicitly prohibits multichannels showing anything considered as "entertainment". The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is one of two government funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television networks, the other being the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). ... SBS World News Channel is a television channel available to digital television viewers in Australia. ... The Australian Broadcasting Corporation or ABC (formerly the Australian Broadcasting Commission) is Australias national non-profit public broadcaster. ... This Australian channel is not related to ABC1 in the United Kingdom. ...

Broadcasters need a special license for datacasting. Datacasting is the broadcasting of data over a wide area via radio waves. ...

Analogue Shut off date

The Australian government is requiring that all stations will switch to solely digital broadcasting by 2012, so the current analogue television frequencies can be freed for other uses. The original cut off date for free to air TV was 2008, but was extended due to low uptake of the new digital format. The low uptake is thought to be the lack of incentives to adopt digital TV, other than better picture and sound quality. 2012 (MMXII) will be a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Regulators and organisations

• Digital Broadcasting Australia
• Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)
• Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA)
• Commercial Television Australia (CTVA)
• Community Broadcasting Association of Australia

Broadcasters and DTV Channel operators

• ABC
• The Australian Christian Channel
• Network Ten
• Channel Nine
• Channel NSW: Government and Public Information
• Special Broadcasting Service
• Seven Digital