6.1 Introduction

With the world-wide move to digital-only transmission of television, and the New Zealand national television broadcasters, both pay and free-to-air, having established themselves as digital broadcasters, it is critical now for regional television broadcasters to plan ahead to DSO.

This section of the discussion paper considers the implications of a fully digital environment on regional television, and asks questions about how regional television and its audiences will be best served post-DSO.

The wider context for these questions is the changing nature of broadcasting which allows broadcasters and others to provide a range of ways for audiences to access programmes. Broadcasting-like content is available on multiple platforms from live streaming or on-demand to computers, or via mobile phones.

For now, however, satellite transmission and terrestrial transmission are the two main digital transmission options for regional television broadcasting. This section seeks your feedback on a number of questions about how these options might best apply to regional television – how feasible are they, how would they work best for all parties concerned, how should the move to digital transmission be best phased-in? In short, how can regional broadcasters and their audiences connect with and utilise digital technology post-DSO?