The Viewer Access Satellite Television (VAST) service will be available to all areas except for Western Australia where a deal is in the works with Optus.

From the media release:

Executive Director of the Digital Switchover Taskforce, Andy Townend said the satellite service will be available for the Mildura/Sunraysia region as the first region to switch over to digital-only TV on 30 June 2010.

To access the VAST service, viewers will need to purchase a new satellite set top box with an access ‘smart card’, a satellite dish and cabling.

“Households wanting to get ready for the new satellite service should contact a qualified antenna installer to express their interest so they can start making arrangements immediately, including the installation of a satellite dish,” Mr Townend said.

Altec UEC will be the initial supplier and distributor of satellite set top boxes. The supplier will be informing antenna installers and satellite equipment suppliers in Mildura/Sunraysia about the availability of the new satellite service from today.

Households in the Mildura/Sunraysia region already using the existing Aurora satellite service will be able to convert to the new service using their existing dish as soon as the new set top boxes are available.

Do you live in the middle of nowhere and want access to television like everybody else? Tell us in the comments.

As we battle with international time-zones, we have some suddenly curtailed news, one thing to watch this week, some updates to things we’ve covered in the last week or two and some hilarious reality gossip.

• RSS feed
• iTunes
• or listen to 213 in your browser

Send us all your winter olympiad thoughts by sending us email or send us an SMS on 0458 288 837 (0458 CUTTER). And don’t forget to invite all your Facebook friends to become Boxcutters fans.

Archer is an animated series on FX in the US. Fox 8 announced it will air on March 7 in Australia so we take a little look.

We talk about Chuck vs the *shudder* “shippers”.

In the news we discuss The Biggest Loser fans gone silly, David Leckie on record and Senator Conroy skis his way into the networks’ hearts.

There’s a Ray Watch, some TV Clichés .

• RSS feed
• iTunes
• or listen to 212 in your browser

Have a read of the LA Times blog piece about Chuck and the ‘shippers. Also, here’s the interview with Chuck’s co-creators.

You can read all about David Leckie’s rants and Senator Conroy’s fondness for skiing and networking thanks to the Daily Telegraph.

Let us know if you have any information about ‘shippers or other holidays Sentaor Conroy’s taken that might affect our viewing by sending us email. Alternatively, send us an SMS on 0458 288 837 (0458 CUTTER)

• RSS feed
• iTunes
• or listen to 211 in your browser

Contact us by sending us email or send us an SMS on 0458 288 837 (0458 CUTTER)

Here are some things we mentioned during the show:

Gorge Yourself

It’s like Hulu but we can see it in Australia. But for how long?

Take a look at TV Gorge.

Thanks to Lovely Loyal Listener Lyndal for letting us know about that one.

If You Watch One Thing

• Brett and Nelly: Australian Story, ?Samuel?s Story? – ABC1 – 8pm Mon, 8 Feb – Repeated: 12:30 Sat, 13 Feb
• Josh: Elvis Costello with Bill Clinton – 11:25PM, 11 Feb 2010, ABC1

Questions for the Communications Minister’s Office

Firstly, have a look at the media release sent out by the Stephen Conroy’s office.

After reading that media release I had the following questions:

1. How does a 33%-50% rebate ensure continued Australian content on television? Isn’t that what local content regulation is for?
2. Where does the money from licenses normally go? Who is going to be missing out over the next two years?
3. Is this just the government buttering up the networks prior to the upcoming election? The television networks, while a little less well-off than in past years, are hardly in danger of collapse. We can infer from what the networks tell us that a little bit of proper management and some elbow grease could get them out of this slump. So how can the government justify such a huge discount?

This was the reply from the Minister’s office:

The rebates recognise the importance of Australian content on TV and the increased pressures facing commercial TV.

The licence fees are a tax which goes into general revenue.

As stated in the media release, the rebates build on the Government’s funding increase for the ABC and SBS in the 2009-10 Budget to fund Australian content on the national broadcasters.

As also noted in the media release, one of the factors considered by the Government in providing the rebate to commercial TV broadcasters, was the costs they will incur in rolling out new digital multichannels and extending the coverage of those channels across Australia.