March 9, 2016
The nation’s communication watchdog, the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA), has stepped up its efforts to find the source of ongoing television reception problems in East Gippsland.
Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester has been actively lobbying TV stations and industry representatives to investigate the problem after a number of East Gippsland residents complained of patchy television reception, and in some cases, complete loss of channels.
Mr Chester said ACMA had now deployed technicians to Lakes Entrance and Bairnsdale.
“I’ve raised the concerns of local TV viewers directly with ACMA and broadcasters including ABC, WIN TV, Prime and Southern Cross 10 and I am confident they are now working to find a solution,” Mr Chester said.
“ACMA has advised the underlying problems related to an input feed from the Mt Taylor transmission site, which has affected the signal from Mt Taylor to Lakes Entrance, Orbost and Mallacoota since last September.
“ACMA has now deployed a team of technicians to Lakes Entrance and Bairnsdale to install monitoring equipment and I look forward to receiving more detail once data can be obtained from that monitoring equipment.”
ACMA will provide East Gippsland residents with a fact sheet on the matter in the coming weeks. This will be distributed through Mr Chester’s office.
Mr Chester had also been in contact with WIN Corporation, after residents complained of losing all WIN digital channels when returning their television sets to obtain the new HD lifestyle channels.
“WIN is aware of the problem and has advised that it is not confined to Gippsland,” Mr Chester said.
“WIN is working to rectify this problem and will report back to me in the next few weeks.”
Mr Chester said initial investigations by ACMA found cases of 4G signal overload near some residents who are located within 1km of new 4G mobile phone towers.
In other cases, television antennas had been pointed to the wrong source (Mt Tassie, instead of Mt Taylor).
These issues can be addressed through the assistance of a professional television antenna technician.
