List of digital television channels in Australia

This is a list of the current channels available on digital terrestrial television in Australia.

The commercial channels available to viewers depend on location and station ownership. The process of aggregation during the late 80s to mid 90s saw regional stations take on affiliations with metropolitan channels for programming, a practice that has continued into digital television with affiliated stations carrying various multichannels from their metropolitan counterparts.

Metropolitan in this list therefore refers to the capitals of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, where stations are owned and operated by the network rather than affiliates.

In areas not covered by terrestrial transmissions, the digital channels are provided by the free-to-view VAST satellite platform. The television channels on this platform are all encoded in H.264 and subject to a MPEG-LA controlled transmission patent licensing tax which is included in the VAST broadcaster cost and varies on viewership figures. The terrestrial transmissions still use H.262 which doesn't incur any addition transmission costs.

Government funded broadcasters

Metropolitan commercial broadcasters

4ME Parent Companies: Prime Media Group / Brand New Media. Seven Network feed for regional Queensland STQ services is sourced from the Prime Media Group.

Nine Entertainment Co. also owns Darwin Digital Television [Ten Affiliate] (Joint Venture) and NBN Television in Northern NSW.

Regional and remote area commercial broadcasters

Prime Media Group (Primary Seven Affiliate)

Prime Media Group also owns Ten West (Regional WA - Joint Venture), Mildura Digital Television [Ten Affiliate] (Joint Venture). Provides Seven Network feed to Southern Cross Tasmanian, Darwin and remote services. Also provides Seven Network feed to STQ regional Queensland services. 4ME is a joint venture with Brand New Media and ishop tv is a joint venture with Brand Developers.

WIN Corporation (Primary Nine Affiliate)

WIN Corporation also owns: Seven Griffith, Ten Griffith, Seven SA (Eastern SA), Ten SA (Eastern SA), Ten West (Regional WA - Joint Venture), Mildura Digital Television [Ten Affiliate] (Joint Venture), Tasmanian Digital Television [Ten Affiliate] (Joint Venture). For complete commercial coverage of the Griffith, NSW, Mildura, VIC, Mt. Gambier, SA and Riverland, SA areas.

NBN Television (Newcastle, Northern NSW, Gold Coast and Darwin Nine Affiliate)

NBN Television is owned by Nine Entertainment Co and is the source of the network feed provided to the Imparja and Southern Cross remote services as well as the Darwin channels.

Imparja Television (Remote Nine Affiliate)

Imparja Television also owns Ten Central (Joint Venture). Nine Network feed is sourced from NBN Television.

Southern Cross Austereo (Primary Ten Affiliate)

Southern Cross Austereo also owns Nine SA (Western SA/Broken Hill), Tasmanian Digital Television [Ten Affiliate] (Joint Venture), Darwin Digital Television [Ten Affiliate] (Joint Venture), Ten Central (Joint Venture). Seven Network feed is sourced from the Prime Media Group and the Nine Network feed is sourced from NBN Television.

Local broadcasters

VAST miscellaneous broadcasters

Discontinued channels

Digital 44 trialed channels

The following channels were only available in Sydney as the Digital 44 suite of channels. Prior to the end of the datacast trial on 30 April 2010.

References