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Television frequency allocation has evolved since the commencement of television in Australia in 1956, and later in New Zealand in 1960. There was no coordination between the national spectrum management authorities in either country to harmonize the channel frequency allocations. Whilst this can be partially explained by geographical and population considerations, the management of the spectrum in both countries is largely the product of the differing economic forces and the respective political responses. NZ was not able to get TV broadcasting going partly because there was still an ongoing rationing of industrial and technical goods in effect up until 1965, an artifact of the 1939 to 1945 War.
Contents
- Historical Development in Australia
- Historical Development in NZ
- FM Stereo Band Allocation Artifacts
- Differences in Terrestrial TV frequencies Digital Analogue
- The important differences
- Important similarities
- Different Audio CODECs in AU and NZ
- What led to the differences
- Australia
- NZ
- Australasian region VHF low band obsolescence issues
- Channel numbering issues
- Frequency allocation table
- AU NZ PAL DTV Allocation
- Current Australian Channel Allocation by StateTerritory as at August 2015
- The Number of Digital Channels in a state
- National Broadcaster Transmission sites
- Commercial Broadcaster Transmission sites
- Current NZ DTV Allocations as of 2016
- References
The demand and planning for television in Australia intensified after the second world war, with the Chifley government first favouring the existing British model (state monopoly) in 1948, and NZ used more or less the same model for the introduction of Television in the 1960s. Private TV Broadcasting did not come to NZ until the 1980s, but there was no spectrum expansion to cope with the new arrangement.
The state monopoly idea in Australia was later to be revised by the Menzies Government to include privately owned and operated commercial services that formed a hybrid between the arrangements found in the UK and the United States. Conversely, New Zealand opted for the British model of a state monopoly when it commenced television services four years later, with a single channel being available until 1975, and private commercial services not being introduced until the late 1970s.
Notable Quirks
Channel 37 is a purposefully unused television channel in countries historically using the System M and System N broadcast television system standards in the general frequency region of (600 MHz to 620 MHz). In Australia and NZ (600 MHz to 620 MHz) is used for digital terrestrial television.
FM Stereo
NZ 700 MHz Auction, Sky DVB2 and the end of VHF for TV use
in use for digital terrestrial television in New Zealand generally only or primarily receives the UHF frequency bands. The future viability of the VHF bands for television purposes is therefore limited so the entire VHF TV band will be abandoned by 2018.
Historical Development in Australia
Australian television broadcasting commenced in 1956 in Melbourne and Sydney to coincide with the 1956 Summer Olympics.
Three stations commenced operations on a ten channel spectrum arrangement: the ABC operating in the VHF low band (VHF Ch 2), and the commercial stations operating in the VHF high band (VHF Ch 7 & 9). At the outset, commercial stations were independently owned, but due to economic forces network affiliations were soon established.
This pattern of television spectrum allocation was replicated in most of the state capital cities over the subsequent decade, with the exception of Hobart (one commercial service on VHF 6) and eventually Darwin (both the ABC and the commercial service were allocated in the VHF high band).
Geographical conditions differed in Melbourne and Sydney. The Melbourne transmission towers were located on the nearby Mount Dandenong, and their elevation and broadcasting power on an otherwise relatively flat terrain meant that the broadcasting signal could be reached for some considerable distance, although there were some areas that experienced reception difficulties due to hills or buildings.
In the Sydney "basin" (formed by the Blue Mountains) the broadcast towers were collocated on the original studio sites, and given the undulating geography of Sydney there were many areas that experienced reception difficulties. The Blue Mountain terrain in the West of Sydney meant that capital city broadcasting did not penetrate into the hinterland of NSW, unlike that of Melbourne. It is possible that the penetration of weak signals into the Victorian hinterlands hastened the demand for the establishment of regional television stations, which commenced in 1961.
The Australian Government restricted regional television broadcasting to one commercial service and a repeater station of the national broadcaster from the capital city ABC station. Regional television stations tended to be allocated to VHF 6, 8 or in some cases 10.
Historical Development in NZ
In popular culture, there is a TV series "50 Years of New Zealand Television" that covers in Episode 1 some of the early difficulties of getting TV broadcasting started in NZ, but with no coverage at all with respect to Frequency Allocation.
New Zealand for all practical purposes did not get television broadcasting of any kind until around 1960, when a Pay TV system was allowed to operate in Auckland.
The existing documentries on TV development in NZ don't cover Frequency Allocation
FM Stereo Band Allocation Artifacts
The United Kingdom and New Zealand until recently shared an FM broadcasting allocation of 88.0 MHz to 105.0 MHz. Since the early 2000s both nations have full use of the standard FM Stereo region due to reallocation activities related to their separate implementation strategies for digital television.
This smaller FM Band allocation (less than 20 MHz : 88 MHz to 108 MHz -- typical of FM in the rest of the world) can be traced to the 405 line system's VHF allocation block. The UK adopted the 405 line system but NZ did not. The slightly smaller allocation only posed problems for the UK for its densely populated metropolitan regions, but NZ had few problems with the smaller allocation.
NZ's allocation for FM remained smaller as if NZ had adopted the 405 line system. New Zealand considered adopting the 405 line system in the late 1950s to early 1960s but adopted PAL instead. This impacted the frequency allocation block for FM broadcasting making it smaller. New Zealand's FM frequency allocation issue was not fixed until the late 1990s, when the FM band was expanded to the standard full 20 MHz block. As of the mid-2010s NZ totally abandoned its VHF band for UHF channels above 25.
Differences in Terrestrial TV frequencies (Digital & Analogue)
There is a frequency offset for many DTV channels between Australia and NZ, because of historical reasons relating to the introduction of PAL.
The important differences
Australia and New Zealand evolved different TV frequency allocations for historically different reasons
Important similarities
The UHF allocations in the South Pacific are nearly identical
Different Audio CODECs in AU and NZ
What led to the differences
What are the important underlining circumstances that led to the different allocations?
Australia
Channel obsolescence related to DVB-T transition
With the introduction of Digital Television in Australia VHF channels 6-12 and UHF 28-69 will become primary.
Modified channels (2001–2004)
Obsolete channels (2011–2013)
Other impacts
NZ
Channel obsolescence issued related to DVB-T transition
Australasian region VHF low band obsolescence issues
In some parts of the world, like Europe, the VHF TV band is used by other services because UHF has propagation qualities that are better suited for densely populated urban centres and regions. However, NZ has chosen to completely cease all TV broadcasting on VHF by 2018 and use the band for other purposes.
Why VHF will remain in use in Australia for TV broadcasting
Channel numbering issues
Currently neither Australia, New Zealand, Fiji nor Papua New Guinea intend to normalize the numbers in the channel frequency table.
Frequency allocation table
DVB-T channel allocation note
AU & NZ PAL & DTV Allocation
Table notes : Text in italics means these frequencies are not currently used but set aside as a Guardband or for future use.
Current Australian Channel Allocation by State/Territory as at August 2015
The following tables demonstrate the number of frequency allocations in each state and territory of mainland Australia and now the Cocos Islands, Christmas Island and from the Bayu-Undan Gas Project in the Timor Sea.
Australia has completed the shut down of analogue services, and digital frequencies occurring above UHF channel 51 have been progressively reallocated to lower adjacent channels to free up the higher spectrum for other uses.
In October 2014 there were some 3188 digital channels assigned throughout Australia and its external territories; however, the reallocation procedures have seen a decline in the number of assigned channels to 2801 by August 2015.
The Number of Digital Channels in a state
National Broadcaster Transmission sites
The ABC has the highest number of transmission sites: often, but not always, SBS and ABC signals are transmitted from the same masts.
Commercial Broadcaster Transmission sites
Some commercial broadcasters have a call sign that operates over multiple areas, whereas others may only serve a single area. This is due to historical ownership of regional stations. Nevertheless, most regional stations are now affiliated with the major metropolitan networks.
Current NZ DTV Allocations as of 2016
This needs to be converted to a Wikitable to make it more readable.
DTV Channel 25 is being used as a Guardband, but could be used if a channel reallocation be needed.