Rule change could destroy broadcasting network

4.00pm - By ADAM GIFFORD

The founder of an Auckland Indian language radio station is crying foul over a change in the radio licensing regime which could force him off the air.

Apna FM broadcasts from its Henderson base under the general user radio licence for low power FM, using supplementary low power transmitters to network its signal across the city.

It also supplies a feed to Sky, for free transmission through Sky decoders.

But under the new licence rules gazetted last month, from October 1 there can be only one low power FM transmitter broadcasting the same signal within a 25km radius.

A 500 microwatt transmitter, the most powerful type allowed under the licence, can broadcast about 5km.

Ministry of Economic Development senior policy analyst Ian Hutchings said Cabinet decided low power FM was for local broadcasters.

"It is intended to be for local entrepreneurs to get on and do it, to put their toe in the broadcasting water," Hutchings said.

"Some people want to use low power FM to create a network emulating high power FM. The Government says this is not on," he said.

Hutchings said the debate was over what constitutes local.

But Apna chief executive Shyam Karan said there was nothing in the old licence saying low power FM was just for amateurs broadcasting out of their bedrooms.

"Apna started under the regulations as they stood, using frequencies which were under-utilised," Karan said.

He said the radio station wanted to provide a particular service to a particular group of people.

The spectrum set aside for low power FM - 88.1 to 88.7 MHz in the lower FM band and 106.7 to 107.7 MHz in the upper FM band - are both guard bands shielding neighbouring users like taxi radios and aeronautical users from interference from high power FM stations.

Karan said users understood it was unregulated because the Ministry of Economic Development didn't have the resources to police it - which means Apna has little recourse against broadcasters deliberately jamming the frequencies it uses.

"Now we find the radio spectrum management unit is saying it will have a bigger role to play in that it is regulating content."

While it will be illegal to create a low power network blanketing metropolitan Auckland, there is nothing to stop a broadcaster sending its signal to a satellite and rebroadcasting the result elsewhere in the country on low power FM transmitters - as long as the transmitters are 25 km apart.

Radio Rhema technical operations manager Andrew Fraser said the Christian broadcaster uses this method to get its signal into small communities that buy their own transmitter.

"We had a chat to the ministry to discuss what issues there were with that frequency, and they came out with a policy which suits the way we use them," Fraser said.

Hitchings said two commercial FM licences covering Auckland will come up for auction later this year, for which broadcasters who want to shift up from low power FM can bid.

But Karan said Apna is unlikely to win one of them if it has to compete with the effective duopoly controlling the Auckland radio market: Canwest and The Radio Network.

"We are prepared to pay for resources. We can pay a fair market value for frequency when it comes up, but we are up against companies who are not looking at market value but reservation value, the cost of shutting off the market to competitors."

He said by taking a particular market-driven approach, the ministry is ignoring social issues relating to spectrum allocation.

The amount of spectrum for low power FM users is further restricted by a rule in the licence saying transmissions on the bands from 88.5 to 88.7 MHz are not permitted within 120km of the Skytower.

This is to protect the signal from Mai FM, which through a quirk in the development of Maori broadcasting was assigned the 88.6MHz slot.