COMMUNICATIONS Minister Stephen Conroy yesterday urged the West Australian Government to continue its support for Perth community television station Access 31 to head off its looming liquidation.

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COMMUNICATIONS Minister Stephen Conroy yesterday urged the West
Australian Government to continue its support for Perth community
television station Access 31 to head off its looming liquidation.

But Access 31 chief executive Andrew Brine said the station could be
saved only by the federal Government taking action to help it start
digital broadcasting.

"We have no access to the digital spectrum, no timetable to get
access, no legislation or policy allowing us to go digital, and no
money made available to help us go digital," Mr Brine said.

"For many years now we have been advising the Government that
unless ... we were to gain access to digital spectrum the models we
had established would no longer be sustainable."

In 2006 the state Government gave Access 31 $900,000, and four weeks
ago the station had turned on a $780,000, digital-ready transmitter,
bought with grants from the Regional Partnerships Program and
Lotterywest, Mr Brine said.

"The (Access 31) board has agreed we can't ask the state Government
for more money until such time as we have a firm commitment of a
digital future from the federal Government," he said. "There's no
point continuing to invest in this service, or any business, if it
doesn't have a future."

Access 31's board filed a solvency declaration with the Australian
Securities and Investments Commission last Thursday, the first step in
its shutdown, and has called a special meeting of members for June 27
to vote on winding up the operation.

Senator Conroy said the Government strongly valued community TV's role
in supporting diversity, localism and providing a voice for
communities.

"I have written to the West Australian Government urging that it
continue to support Access 31," he said.

"The Government is committed to finding a pathway for community TV to
transition from analog to digital, and is actively pursuing a
solution."

Mr Brine, a member of the national Digital Switchover Taskforce, said
he had heard similar sentiments for four years, "yet we're still no
closer".

However, he did not blame Senator Conroy. "We appreciate he has
inherited this situation," MrBrine said. "Something should have been
done years ago by the previous government."

Mr Brine said no creditors would be left owing if Access 31 was wound
up. However, 21 paid staffers would be out of a job, with about 380
station volunteers and hundreds more involved in producing content for
the station also affected.

"I estimate more than 1000 people are involved in producing local
programs for Access 31," Mr Brine said.

"Over nine years we have locked in to the social fabric of the
community here in Perth and it's hard to estimate the impact (closure)
is going to have."

With 42 per cent of households having switched to digital free-to-air
TV, and the take-up rate increasing, community TV stations have long
complained that remaining marooned on the analog signal was eroding
their audience.

"No business can afford to lose (42 per cent) of its customers, and
that is what has happened," said Andrew Carroll, chief executive of
Brisbane's Channel 31. "The former government has induced market
failure. It has given tens of millions of dollars to the free-to-air
and public broadcasters (to go digital) and nothing to the one sector
that can least afford to be forgotten."