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Events


Upcoming events

Communications Policy & Research Forum 2010
15-16 November 2010 - The CPRF is a research-oriented forum open to all viewpoints; a co-operative effort by Australian centres interested in policy and research.  It is also a national meeting-place for the community of policy and research people. 


Earlier seminars & events

The Institute exists to spread knowledge, so the story does not end on the day our events finish.  For most events, we provide a transcript of what each of the speakers said on the day, plus copies of slides where they were used.  For some events, there are also background papers and other materials.  One way to look for those publications is to click the Publications tab on the left, but the easiest is to click on the name of the event from the list below.  That will take you to the list of topics and speakers for the event, showing where there is other material for you to download. 

  • The Year Ahead in Communications 2010
    14-15 May 2010 - Every year, we organise a workshop to offer our sponsors and advisers the best possible insight into issues which will affect them in the next 12 months. It is an agenda-setting event, and the only one of our events held behind closed doors, to preserve candour in business projections.
  • Communications Policy & Research Forum 2009
  • The NBN and TV
    22 October 2009 - This seminar was about what form will television and audiovisual services take in the NBN era? Who will use and fund them, and what policy changes will be needed?
  • Broadcasting and Broadband
    1 October 2009 - This seminar was about the new audiovisual channels, and channels about to launch. The purpose was to help people understand what new services are most likely to succeed, what they mean for existing services, and what policy changes are needed.
  • The digital dividend: reaping the benefits of analogue switchoff
    8 July 2009 - How to make the best use of the spectrum space freed up when TV stations finish their move to digital? This seminar was about the big choices and priorities.
  • The Year Ahead in Communications 2009
    13-14 February 2009 - Every year, we organise a workshop to offer our sponsors and advisers the best possible insight into issues which will affect them in the next 12 months. It is an agenda-setting event, and the only one of our events held behind closed doors, to preserve candour in business projections.
  • ABC and SBS: lessons from the front line
    8 December 2008 - Half day seminar held to share the insights of public broadcasting leaders about how the national broadcasters can make the best contribution to Australian society. Obvious issues included: new or different services in the multi-channel, digital environment; support for innovative services in Australia and its region; how to achieve stable, efficient funding; independence and relations with Parliament and executive government.
  • Communications Policy & Research Forum 2008
    29-30 September 2008 - The CPRF is a research-oriented forum open to all viewpoints; a co-operative effort by Australian centres interested in policy and research.
  • Digital TV conversion: past the tipping point
    18 August 2008 - Over 42 per cent of homes now have digital receivers. The analogue switch-off is likely to start in 2010, ending in 2013. How to finish this, the largest consumer switchover of anything since decimal conversion in 1966? What about the new digital channels and the appeal of HDTV? What of Freeview, TiVo, subscription networks and other platforms? What program innovations will there be?
  • The Year Ahead in Communications 2008
    8-9 February 2008 - Every year, we organise a workshop to offer our sponsors and advisers the best possible insight into issues which will affect them in the next 12 months. It is an agenda-setting event, and the only one of our events held behind closed doors, to preserve candour in business projections.
  • Communications Policy & Research Forum 2007
    24-25 September 2007 - Over 70 researchers and experts in 23 sessions contributed papers and presentations to the Forum which explored broadband, free speech, user-led innovation, online life, telecoms regulation, cultural industries and other areas.
  • Digital Action, Licence A and Licence B
    14 March 2007 - This full day seminar analysed the plans to start dozens of new TV channels. Included narrowcasting, mobile, datacasting, access and competition issues, and the DAP. Speakers commented from a business, regulatory, strategy, technical angle on the next steps in licensing and the future potential.
  • Broadband technologies - afternoon briefing in Melbourne
    2 March 2007 - This briefing for non-engineers was about the various broadband pathways and concepts (e.g. xDSL, FTTx, WiMax, NextG, NGN).
  • The Year Ahead in Communications 2007
    16-17 February 2007 - This was our 2007 event for sponsors, looking at the next twelve months of communications.
  • Broadband technologies - 3hr briefing in Sydney
    8 February 2007 - This briefing for non-engineers was about the various broadband pathways and concepts (e.g. xDSL, FTTx, WiMax, NextG, NGN).
  • Media Ownership and Digital TV Bills: what would they mean and how would they work?
    3 October 2006 - This seminar was not about the policies it was to help people understand the complex package of broadcasting and media Bills currently awaiting discussion by the national Parliament. It focused on the actual words of the Bills. What would they mean in practice? Would they achieve the stated objectives? How would they be implemented by the ACCC, ACMA and the Minister? How would the courts interpret them?
  • Broadband: the next utility
    17 August 2006 - This seminar was about the huge task of providing real (>10Mbps) broadband to households and business. The focus was on the effort of funding, negotiating, building and connecting all the components of networks delivering real broadband.
  • 2006 Communications Policy & Research Forum
    25-26 September 2006 - The Communications Policy & Research Forum 2006 was held at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Interest areas included journalism, digital media, telecommunications, ICT, broadcasting, comms culture, Internet and e-commerce.
  • The Coonan paper on media reform: information session
    12 April 2006 - This session shared a range of expert views on how the proposals in the Minister’s current discussion paper would work in practice. It is focused on the ‘preferred options’ in the Minister’s discussion paper called ‘Meeting the Digital Challenge: Reforming Australia’s Media in the Digital Age’.
  • 2006 Sponsors' workshop
    23-24 February 2006 - Every year, we organise a workshop to offer our sponsors & advisers the best possible insight into issues which will affect them in the next 12 months. It is a significant agenda-setting event & the only event of the year which is not open to the public.
  • Digital TV growth and policy
    2 December 2005 - This seminar discussed the likely changes to digital TV business strategy and official policy. It was about how to increase services and audiences for both subscription and free TV. It looked at the policy and regulatory decisions affecting the players.
  • 2005 Communications Research & Strategy Forum
    21-22 November 2005
  • Broadband: demand drivers
    23 August 2005 - What are the needs of services and applications of the market: games, movies, music, education, health, IPTV, video telephony? Or is the strongest demand coming from plain old personal communication and business data? Is the right approach just to build, now we know how much business, govt and community depend on it? How can we accelerate the growth of critical mass for ubiquity and universality? How do we compare, in productivity and strategies with leaders such as Korea, Japan and Singapore? What can we learn from the global leaders, and what strategies are already working here?
  • Reaching stranded consumers: broadband, MDUs & TV delivery
    25 July 2005 - This workshop brought telcos and broadcasters together to look at giving domestic and SME consumers better broadband access. Challenges include local government restrictions, town planning laws, lack of co-operation between utilities, and possibly lack of communications infrastructure development generally. Problem-solving technologies include FTTP, ADSL2+ and wireless broadband. But which is realistic for what markets?
  • 3G content & mobile devices
    3 May 2005 - 3G take-up in 2005 marks a new era in communications, with mobile devices such as phones and PDAs becoming major channels to the consumer. This seminar looked at ways to help the creation of content from all sources, including new enterprises and application developers, and existing media and Internet.
  • Digital rights: management & co-operation
    13 October 2004 - This seminar was about how Australian enterprises can manage rights sensibly and even creatively, in the interests of providers and consumers. The purpose was to find better ways to build out from the media we have now, towards achievable goals. The seminar was not centred on the well-known legal protection and piracy issues, but more on plans for distribution, cataloguing and co-operation.
  • Reviewing the progress of Digital TV
    8 June 2004 - This seminar was triggered by the government reviews of digital TV. The difference between this and our several earlier events about digital TV is that now there has been enough consumer take-up to start making serious projections. This applies to both free-to-air and subscription.
  • Broadband: serious business
    25 November 2003 - The purpose of this seminar was to spread as much knowledge as possible about the progress of broadband, and the prospects for extending it rapidly to the whole business and consumer population.
  • Digital free to air TV: getting serious
    12 August 2003 - The purpose of this seminar was to spread as much knowledge as possible about the progress of DTTB, and the prospects for extending it rapidly to the whole population. After years of effort, we are now at the point where people need to understand that it is real, with benefits for audiences, retailers, and the whole community.
  • Changes to spectrum allocation & communications regulators
    5 December 2002 - The government is likely to make decisions by Christmas 2002, or soon thereafter, about a new spectrum allocation system and merger of regulators. Several players asked us to provide this one opportunity to canvass the issues, and to help all to understand and discuss them.
  • Changing standards for Australian content on TV
    15 March 2002 - This was a workshop on Australian content standards. It revealed many insights from participants in the ABA’s review of the free-to-air TV content standard, including detailed discussions about drama, children’s and documentaries, and broader issues.
  • Interactive TV and datacasting: How to make it happen?
    16 October 2001 - Digital TV and interactive TV (iTV) are both growing, but they are still very small; much smaller than would have been predicted three years ago. This seminar was held to track progress, identify the obstacles, and work out how to build up the new services. It crossed the boundaries between engineers, content developers and TV networks.
  • Australian content in new media
    15 October 2001 - The purpose of this seminar was to share ideas and information about how to fund and stimulate content for new media. We know this is vital to Internet, streaming radio and video, multimedia, interactive TV, datacasting and the digital services starting now. But there seemed to be a vacuum in strategic thinking about this issue. Too many people are locked into ideas developed for film and TV. With an election, and a new government of one party or another coming around the time of this seminar, it was really important to get more forward- thinking ideas into the public arena.
  • Broadband for what? Driving demand
    18 September 2001 - The purpose of the seminar was to share ideas and information about demand drivers for broadband in Australia, and how to manage and deal with a possible glut of capacity over the next few years; including investment issues.
  • Spectrum allocation
    19 March 2001 - The radiofrequency spectrum is now at the centre of communications policy, with all governments looking for the best way to meet competing demands.

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