Poor television reception continues to be the biggest problem in the Paterson electorate, federal MP Bob Baldwin says.
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He has urged Regional Broadcasters Australia to lodge plans for new television towers and upgrades to existing facilities in Paterson, during a debate in federal Parliament about changes to broadcasting law regarding analogue TV service.
Analogue service in Paterson was switched off in November, 2012, and a re-stack of channels on the digital spectrum began.
But many Paterson residents still have sub-standard service for free-to-air channels.
Unlike analogue television reception which gradually appears fuzzier if the service is interrupted, digital reception cuts in and out completely if disturbed.
Mr Baldwin said that the region’s broadcasters had told him that if the problem could not be solved by re-arranging clashing digital TV frequencies, the only other solution would be to build three new towers and upgrade the transmitter at Vacy.
The Vacy facility, which only transmits ABC and SBS, would be upgraded to broadcast commercial television stations.
The new towers would be built at Peppers Mountain, Wallaroo Forest and Bulahdelah.
Mr Baldwin said he understood that RBA would lodge a proposal to the government on March 4.
“I implore RBA to submit their proposal as soon as possible to ensure that we can get the construction underway and the upgrades done before next summer,” he said.
Mr Baldwin told federal parliament last week that poor television reception was the number one issue in his electorate.
“Thousands of my constituents currently suffer poor quality digital television signals that regularly drop out, and more often than normal on hot summer days,” he said.
“Every time the nation gets together to watch a major sporting event, I can almost rely on the digital signal to drop out each and every time.
“My phone rings off the hook for days.
“It matters because my sports-mad constituents want nothing more than to watch NSW win the State of Origin or Jamie Whincup take on the mountain, but the signal has dropped out on each of these occasions.”