ACMA press release: Listeners in the Ilford and Pyramul townships of New South Wales will be able to access Mudgee commercial radio service 2GEE, following the approval of a variation to the Local Area Plan (LAP) by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

The variation to the LAP for Mudgee radio services allows the extension of the 2GEE commercial radio service to include the townships of Ilford and Pyramul and to move the site of its Kandos/Rylstone translator.



"In making its decision, ACMA took into consideration that neither Pyramul nor Illford currently receive a licensed commercial radio service. ACMA believes the changes will allow people to enjoy the benefits of commercial radio that they did not have before, whilst also limiting the level of signal overspill into any neighbouring licence areas," said Giles Tanner, General Manager, Inputs to Industry Division.

The proposed extended 2GEE licence area will border the Bathurst commercial radio licence area and bring it close to the northern part of the Lithgow commercial radio licence area. However, ACMA has planned the service to ensure there is no signal overspill into urban centres in any of these licence areas.

The extension will add to the existing licence area overlap between 2GEE and the licence area of the remote commercial radio services 4RBZ and 4RBL.

The decision is contained in a variation to the licence area plan for Mudgee radio, released today. The associated documents are available for viewing from the ACMA website or by calling 1300 850 115.

Media Contact: Donald Robertson, ACMA Media Manager, on (02) 9334 7980.


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Backgrounder
ACMA prepares licence area plans under section 26(1) of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the Act).

Licence area plans determine the number and characteristics, including technical specifications, of broadcasting services that are to be available in particular areas of Australia with the use of broadcasting services bands. ACMA may vary licence area plans under section 26(2) of the Act.

In June 1997, the then Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) determined the licence area plan for Mudgee, making capacity available for a S.39 licence (2GEE) in Mudgee on 93.1 MHz with an omni-directional radiation pattern using mixed polarisation and a maximum ERP of 10 kW.

The ABA also made channel capacity available for a FM translator service from Cumber Melon Range broadcasting an omni-directional radiation pattern on 91.7 MHz using mixed polarisation with a maximum ERP of 1 kW. The Cumber Melon translator has never been operated by 2GEE.

In May 2005, the licensee of 2GEE requested a change of site for its FM translator service to Mt Bocoble and that the licence area for 2GEE to be extended to the Mid Western Regional Council boundary.

ACMA assessed that this proposal would effectively double the existing licence area and cause significant signal overlap into surrounding commercial radio licence areas. ACMA instead proposed a reduced licence area extension to ensure there is no signal overspill into the Bathurst and Lithgow commercial radio licence areas and would lessen the overlap with the Remote Commercial Radio North Eastern licence area.