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March 18th, 2013 
Peter Nolan 
Seven chairman Kerry Stokes says the NBN will be too expensive for its regional Queensland network.
Source: AAP
THE national broadband network (NBN) will hurt regional broadcasters, and TV stations should get free access to the network, Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes says.
Seven’s regional Queensland network will not be able to afford the NBN when it replaces existing infrastructure, Mr Stokes told a joint Senate committee hearing on proposed media reforms on Monday.
The regional TV business currently uses its own transmitters and cables to connect its various newsrooms, he said.
“Once we go to NBN that’s a whole different ball game,” Mr Stokes told the committee.
“We have to actually pay NBN to use their facilities, and their facilities are much more expensive than our transmitters.”
Arrangements are yet to be finalised on how television networks will use the NBN, and Mr Stokes said his company wants free access.
“Our submissions to them is that free TV should be free on the NBN, just as it is on the airwaves,” he said.
“That is still a matter that hasn’t been resolved.”
A spokesman for NBN Co said the government-owned enterprise held meetings and briefings outlining opportunities the network offered to free-to-air (FTA), subscription TV and other content providers.
However, no arrangement had been struck with FTA TV operators, the spokesman said in a statement on Monday.
He said there would be challenges in delivering the next generation of TV services using traditional broadcast methods due to a lack of spare bandwidth.
The next generation of TV sets would be four times the resolution of current high-definition sets.
“The only real, efficient way to deliver these very-high-bandwidth services will be over a fibre optic network such as the NBN.”
Meanwhile, support for the NBN increased during the past four months, according to the latest Essential Poll.
Support for the NBN rose to 73 per cent this month, with opposition at 19 per cent, compared with 69 per cent and 20 per cent in November 2012.
Net support for the NBN increased to 54 per cent from 49 per cent.
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