Implementing digital television in Australia

TY Australia (TXA) is a joint venture company owned by Australia's three metropolitan commercial television networks. TXA owns and operates two broadcasting towers in Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth, and three in Melbourne and Brisbane. These towers are used to broadcast the analog and digital services of the Seven, Nine, and Ten commercial television networks and the digital service of the national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC), in each city. Standby facilities, or alternate transmitters, for the national Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) analog service in Sydney and for SBS digital television services in each mainland capital city are being installed at TXA transmission sites. Many, commercial and community FM radio services broadcast from the TXA towers, as do telecommunications services offered by mobile telephone service providers and other telecommunications services. This paper outlines the philosophy and architecture of the transmission systems deployed by TXA. It also looks at why the company chose digital transmitters supplied by two manufacturers for the main transmission sites, and discusses the levels of redundancy to be built into the TXA digital television transmission network.