Optus Aurora was a

free-to-view Free-to-view (FTV) is a term used for audiovisual transmissions that are provided free without any form of continual subscription. It differs from free-to-air (FTA) in that the program is encrypted. Free-to-view vs. free-to-air The free-to-vie ...

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

platform in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, which aimed at providing

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

services to remote and black spot areas using the

Optus C1 This is a list of the satellites operated by Optus, an Australian telecommunications company. The satellite communications facility is located at Belrose on Sydney's Northern Beaches. Optus' satellites are divided into 4 classes A, B, C and D. As ...

and B3 satellites. The service was available in all areas, using a standard

satellite dish A satellite dish is a dish-shaped type of parabolic antenna designed to receive or transmit information by radio waves to or from a communication satellite. The term most commonly means a dish which receives direct-broadcast satellite televisio ...

and

set top box A set-top box (STB), also known as a cable box, receiver, or simply box, and historically television decoder or a converter, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV tuner input and displays output to a television set, tur ...

, however commercial stations carried on the platform were restricted to their respective coverage areas. Aurora replaced the analogue Homestead and Community Broadcast Satellite Service (HACBSS) in late 1998. HACBSS, carried on the Optus B1 satellite, was originally launched in the 1980s, and was in many areas the first means of receiving television signals. The

Viewer Access Satellite Television The Viewer Access Satellite Television service, or VAST, is a satellite television platform in Australia, providing digital television and radio services to remote and rural areas, as well as viewers in terrestrial black spots. The service uses ...

(VAST) was launched in 2010, as a replacement for Optus Aurora, and now provides a full range of digital channels. Aurora ceased transmission in December 2013, with the last Aurora uplink taking place during February 2014.

Services

Television

The remote area broadcast services carried on the platform comprised the major terrestrial networks available in the service's two main coverage areas - remote and regional

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, and remote central and eastern Australia. ABC TV and SBS was available in all areas with the use of a

smartcard A smart card (SC), chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card), is a card used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) chip. Many smart cards include a ...

, however commercial stations were only available to viewers in their respective coverage areas – GWN and WIN WA to regional

, and

Imparja Television Imparja Television (IMP) is an independent Australian television station servicing over , across six states and territories: Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania. It is based in Alice Spri ...

and Southern Cross Central to remote viewers in central and eastern Australia. The multichannels of the broadcasters were not available on the service. Indigenous broadcaster

National Indigenous Television National Indigenous Television (NITV) is an Australian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts programming produced and presented largely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It includes the six-day-a-week ''NITV News Updat ...

(NITV) and WA government service Westlink Network were also available on Aurora, in addition to some wagering channels from Sky Racing.

Radio

A number of remote commercial and indigenous stations broadcast on Aurora, as did a few in-store radio services. Most of the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

's radio networks were carried on the platform.

SBS Radio SBS Radio is an Australian radio network owned by the Special Broadcasting Service directed towards newly arrived immigrants in Australia. It originally began as two stations based in Melbourne and Sydney, set up to provide pre-recorded informa ...

's national network was carried for five time zones. SBS Radio 1, SBS Radio 2 and

ABC DiG Double J is an Australian digital radio station owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. A sister station of the youth-oriented Triple J, it was founded in 2002 as Dig Music and aims to appeal to an older audience with a more refined ...

was not carried by Aurora, but they were available on FTA

Ku-Band The Ku band () is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies from 12 to 18 gigahertz (GHz). The symbol is short for "K-under" (originally ), because it is the lower part of the original NATO K band ...

on Optus D1. The Australian government's

Community Broadcasting Foundation The Community Broadcasting Foundation (CBF) is an independent non-profit funding organisation based in Melbourne, Australia, Melbourne. The CBF receives funds from the Australian Government to distribute through grant programs to support the mainte ...

broadcast a number of services on the platform including the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

, National Indigenous Radio Service, Vision Australia Radio and the Community Radio Network.

Coles Supermarkets Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty. Ltd., doing business as Coles, is an Australian supermarket, retail and consumer services chain, headquartered in Melbourne as part of Coles Group. Founded in 1914 in the suburb of Collingwood, Victoria, Colli ...

Officeworks Officeworks is a chain of Australian office supplies stores operated under parent company Wesfarmers. The company was established in 1994 by Coles Myer. Its head office is located in Chadstone, Melbourne. The store concept adopted by Officewor ...

and

Kmart Australia Kmart Australia Limited ( , doing business as Kmart, Kmart Australia, Kmart New Zealand and Kmart Australia and New Zealand and stylised as ''Kmart'') is an Australian chain of retail department stores owned by the Kmart Group division of Wesfar ...

also used the Aurora service to broadcast their in-store radio to different locations in Australia.

References

External links

* Optus Satellite television 1998 establishments in Australia 2014 disestablishments in Australia {{Australia-tv-stub

Services

Television

Radio

See also

References

External links