Executive Summary

In September 2005, the Ministry of Economic Development published a discussion paper on frequency availability and allocation in the VHF-FM broadcasting band. The paper sought the views of industry and other stakeholders on the allocation of available licences and on the technical standards used for engineering further spectrum licences. Following the release of the discussion paper, the Ministry held seminars for stakeholders in Auckland and Wellington to discuss the proposals.

The Ministry received 39 submissions from interest groups such as commercial operators, non-commercial operators, site managers, LPFM operators, spectrum engineers and the Human Rights Commission. Although approximately half of the submissions did not directly address each proposal, each proposal attracted a similar number of comments. In general, there was support for changes that enable the allocation of further licences and for there to be some restriction on the ability of existing commercial licence holders to participate in this allocation, however, this might be expected given that the majority of respondents did not hold full power licences or were non-commercial in nature. Some concern was expressed about the engineering trials and the need to ensure that any changes would not result in interference to existing users. The allocation of further licences was seen to impact on the value of existing commercial licenses and therefore impacts on the renewal process for these rights.

To whom and how any additional licences are to be allocated received mixed responses. In general there was support for local broadcasting, local not for profit broadcasting and access radio. In response to the question of preferred allocation method, there was support for administrative licensing with associated fees, and for allocation by auction with restricted entry.

Few submissions were received from the general public, even though they would be the major beneficiary of any new programmes provided. Clearly, submissions from only a few existing or aspiring licence holders would tend to reinforce their own backgrounds and without a much wider group of respondents it is difficult to determine the weight to place on individual submissions.

All submissions received are available on the Ministry's website. This paper summarises these submissions and outlines the next steps to be taken. The Ministry will take the submissions into account in its preparation of advice on the future of the VHF-FM broadcasting band.