Indigenous Community Television (ICTV) is an Australian

free-to-view Free-to-view (FTV) is a term used for audiovisual transmissions that are provided free without any form of continual subscription . It differs from free-to-air (FTA) in that the program is encrypted. Free-to-view vs. free-to-air The free-to-vi ...

digital television channel on the Viewer Access Satellite Television service. It broadcasts television programs produced by, and for,

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

in remote communities. The channel is owned by membership-based company Indigenous Community Television Limited. Although ICTV is a community television channel by name and content, it broadcasts using an open-narrowcast licence instead of a standard

community television Community television is a form of mass media in which a television station is owned, operated or programmed by a community group to provide television programs of local interest known as local programming. Community television stations are most c ...

licence.

History

In 2001, ICTV Limited was formed and began broadcasting a part-time segment on Imparja Info Channel, an open-narrowcast community-style channel already broadcasting occasional indigenous content from Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Media (PY Media) and Warlpiri Media Association (PAW Media). The channel operated from Imparja's broadcast facility in

Alice Springs, Northern Territory Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Ali ...

, and was available on the

Optus Aurora Optus Aurora was a free-to-view satellite television platform in Australia, which aimed at providing television and radio services to remote and black spot areas using the Optus C1 and B3 satellites. The service was available in all areas, usin ...

satellite service and via Imparja's analogue terrestrial transmitter network. The segment from ICTV was named 'IRCA in Action' and showcased predominantly local indigenous programs from a range of remote indigenous media organisations, including PAKAM, Ngaanyatjarra Media (NG Media) and organisations such as Bushvision. By 2006, the programming from ICTV grew to encompass the channel 24 hours a day and the satellite channel was renamed to ICTV. Many remote indigenous communities in central and north eastern Australia had analogue terrestrial repeaters for this channel, which utilised community licences and later open-narrowcasting licences. In October 2006, ICTV was formally incorporated as a public company.

ICTV ceases transmission

On 12 July 2007, the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts had implemented changes to the Indigenous Broadcasting Program in support of a new national indigenous TV channel. It was decided that the existing open-narrowcast licence from Imparja would be used to initially carry the channel, which resulted in ICTV ceasing transmission. For 2 years, ICTV Limited had no means of broadcasting content unless it was commissioned by

National Indigenous Television National Indigenous Television (NITV) is an Australian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts programming produced and presented largely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It includes the half-hourly nightly ''NITV News'' ...

, which was at odds with the company. The NITV commissioning model allegedly left out remote community producers due to the nature of how funding was allocated and other mandatory requirements. ICTV Limited launched an online video service
IndigiTube
in April 2009.

The revival of ICTV

After a successful appeal to the Government of Western Australia, ICTV resumed broadcasting part-time on

Westlink Network Westlink, formerly known as Westlink Network, was an Australian free-to-view digital television channel broadcast to regional and remote areas of Western Australia on the Viewer Access Satellite Television service. Funded by the Government of Wes ...

on 13 November 2009. Westlink Network was already carried on the existing Optus Aurora service as an open-narrowcast channel. Programming from ICTV was scheduled every weekend from Friday night to Monday morning. Remote communities with analogue terrestrial repeaters had begun to install equipment to automatically switch the NITV channel to Westlink Network every weekend. On 28 May 2012, the Department for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy awarded ICTV with an open-narrowcast licence to broadcast on the Viewer Access Satellite Television service. The channel commenced trial transmissions on 6 December 2012. On 18 April 2013, ICTV officially relaunched and began broadcasting 24 hours a day on

virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...

number 601 in standard definition

576i 576i is a standard-definition digital video mode, originally used for digitizing analog television in most countries of the world where the utility frequency for electric power distribution is 50 Hz. Because of its close association wit ...

format. A launch party was held at the PAW Media grounds in

Yuendumu, Northern Territory Yuendumu is a town in the Northern Territory of Australia, northwest of Alice Springs on the Tanami Road, within the Central Desert Region local government area. It ranks as one of the larger remote communities in central Australia, and has a ...

to mark the occasion. ICTV commenced broadcasting in Alice Springs on 5 April 2017, after being awarded a digital terrestrial free-to-air licence. The channel resides on virtual channel number 41.

Programming

ICTV broadcasts a diverse range of indigenous programming, usually in the language of its contributors. Regular contributions are made by

Aboriginal Resource and Development Services Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

(ARDS), Pilbara and Kimberley Aboriginal Media (PAKAM), Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Media (PY Media), Warlpiri Media Association (PAW Media) and Ngaanyatjarra Media (NG Media).

References

External links