The Rudd Government has confirmed the timetable for switching off free-to-air analogue TV in metro areas - December next year. Thats 22 months away. Regional free to air will be turned off by 2013.
This means that villages that provide a TV signal from a central aerial rather than residents having their own aerial will have to rewire every ILU because digital TV requires higher calibre cabling than previously specified. If you dont rewire you wont have any Channel 2, 7, 9, 10 or SBS reception. The cost to rewire? $400+ per ILU.
There are also two catches to be aware of. The first is that if you delay in rewiring you may get caught as 40,000 apartment buildings have to be done as well by December 2009 and there is not enough qualified technicians to do all this work. The second catch is smart village operators realise they will have to rewire for broadband and new telephone cabling within 5 years so they may as well do it at the same time to save rewiring costs and to start generating real extra income.
At villages.com.au we have done considerable research with the engineering firm Downer UCG on what is required. If you would like an information pack, email us at info@villages.com.au.
