No action was taken on the plan except for spectrum related issues for over the air broadcasters.

Free to air broadcasters are highly unlikely to bid.

Should over-the air broadcasters be required to transmit digital signals?

Free to air broadcasters in the UK, taken as a whole, should provide:

Building the agile organisation for a major free to air broadcaster to enhance their capabilities to navigate the digital future.

SBS is one of five free main to air broadcasters in Australia.

In the Sydney area, Free To Air Broadcasters are also made available.

Promotion, marketing and distribution seem to be the prime motivators for over the air broadcasters in entering into carriage agreements with distributors.

This will change over time as it has in all the markets reviewed, making distributor carriage of over the air broadcasters critical to the broadcasters’ business plans.

Even with a well-established satellite and cable infrastructure, it is amazing to note the success of the over the air broadcaster ORF.

Served a distinguished career as an on air broadcaster in radio and television in Augusta, Georgia, including winning an Emmy nomination.

The new initiatives announced in the Media Plan are designed to break that logjam while still preserving a stable non-competitive environment for conventional over the air broadcasters.

In France, France Télévisions were the free to air broadcasters while Eurosport were the subscription broadcasters.

• CRTC provided a digital licensing framework for conventional over the air broadcasters in June of 2002 and for pay and specialty services in 2006.

Finally, the market place remains stable with no new traditional over the air broadcaster licenses until the end of the transition period and then subject to government rather than regulator decision:

For the second consecutive season in the United Kingdom, the BBC were the free to air broadcasters while Sky Sports were the subscription broadcasters.

Over the air broadcasters have the right to refuse distributor carriage, and every three years the must carry situation is reviewed by the FCC, cable and satellite (where applicable).

The decision will even have ramifications throughout Europe, with football authorities who bring in bumper pay cheques when England play qualifiers in their countries limited to selling the rights to free to air broadcasters.

As noted earlier, for such channels, as well as for distributors, there is an emphasis on the marketplace that is not necessarily found in the licensing requirements for over the air broadcasters.

In the United Kingdom, ITV were the free to air broadcasters for the third consecutive season while ESPN took over the subscription broadcaster package Setanta Sports held.

But what it can also do is open up the possibility of multi-channelling which gives free to air broadcasters the chance to put up alternative channels aimed at specific audiences and so challenge the pay TV licences.

Convergence between markets In turning to the impact of regulation on convergence between markets, the primary obstacles arise from media ownership rules and measures aimed at protecting the free to air broadcasters from competition.

Meanwhile, the competitive business environment for some broadcasters, notably free over the air broadcasters, had become very much tougher, threatening their long-term ability to continue to fulfill the many important social, cultural and economic roles which the public valued.

Australia is an emerging distribution market and in many eyes is considered an anachronism because of the late entry of subscription services and the prominent role over the air broadcasters still play for viewing time by Australians.

Cricket, though, has chosen something different — and if it were forced to sell the Ashes only to a free to air broadcaster, it would suffer a drop in income resulting in less cash to spread around the game.