Digital Forty Four was a Sydney-only trial datacasting service that was licensed by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (now the Australian Communications and Media Authority) beginning on 17 March 2004 for an initial two-year run until 31 December 2006. The license was extended on several occasions past 2006, however on 29 January 2010 it was announced that Broadcast Australia's datacasting licence for Digital Forty Four would not be extended past 30 April 2010. At midnight on 30 April 2010, all services from Digital Forty Four ceased broadcasting.
The services provided at various times during its six years of operation have included a television guide for free-to-air television, a community service channel providing information on road, weather and surf conditions, with live broadcasts every fifteen minutes, the Australian Christian Channel, Expo shopping channel, NITV, Teachers TV information channel and live broadcasts of the meetings of the Australian Parliament, with audio-video coverage of the House of Representatives and Senate.
Channels Under conditions associated with the datacasting licence, channels on the Digital Forty Four service had to be either text based or narrowcast services. Entertainment programming was not allowed on the service, however some programming on the Australian Christian Channel was shown in a reduced screen format with text content around it, as that satisfied the datacast requirement.
+ Channel lineup prior to trial end DVB name LCN Launch date Discontinued date NotesChannel 44200830 April 2010Video program guide for free-to-air and D44 channels.NITV4027 October 200830 April 2010Existing subscription channel added to D44 service. Remains available on subscription satellite and cable television. Available free-to-air on LCN 34 via SBS since 12 December 2012.ABC News, Sport and Weather4117 March 200430 April 2010Text only.D44 Homepage4217 March 200430 April 2010Television Sydney44March 201030 April 2010Existing digital community television channel added to D44 service.Teachers TV453 November 200830 April 2010Australian Christian Channel46200430 April 2010Existing subscription channel added to D44 service. Remains available on subscription satellite and cable television.Federal Parliament House of Representatives4717 March 200430 April 2010Live video/audio feed of House of Representatives sessions.Federal Parliament Senate4817 March 200430 April 2010Live video/audio feed of Senate sessions.Expo49200630 April 2010Existing shopping channel added to D44 service. Still available on Foxtel subscription television.
Former Channels As it was a long term trial, many channels that started on the service did not continue until the cessation of broadcasts.
DVB name LCN Launch date Discontinued date NotesChannel NSW4517 March 20041 July 2009Community channel broadcasting real time traffic, coast watch information and government announcements owned by the Government of New South Wales. Channel space replaced by Teachers TV.Macquarie Digital4712 October 200411 June 2007Broadcast financial information. Owned by Macquarie Group.SportsTAB4817 March 20041 January 2005Broadcast sports betting odds.House of RepresentativesMain Committee40317 March 20043 November 2008Live video/audio feed of House of Representatives Main Committee sessions. House of Representatives Committee Room 140417 March 20043 November 2008Live video/audio feed of House of Representatives Room 1 sessions. House of Representatives Committee Room 240517 March 20043 November 2008Live video/audio feed of House of Representatives Room 2 sessions. House of Representatives Committee Room 340617 March 20043 November 2008Live video/audio feed of House of Representatives Room 3 sessions. House of Representatives Committee Room 440717 March 20043 November 2008Live video/audio feed of House of Representatives Room 4 sessions.
Legacy
The ACMA decided in closing the service that it was unlikely that datacast services would come to auction in the near future, and decided continuing the trial was unnecessary for that reason. NITV, which gained coverage on the service, considered the closure of the service a blow to its chances of gaining permanent spectrum for the service, and put the long term viability of the service into question.
Most of the other channels on Digital Forty Four are available unencrypted on satellite or via online streaming.
See also Datacasting Television broadcasting in Australia
References