Old skool. Get it via the interweb.

Just copy and paste hope it will help!
Looks like it works only here but not sure!

FREE TO AIR TV

Viewer Access Satellite Television service otherwise known as VAST

Finally the wait is over and it has been well worth the wait.

Vast satellite TV is the

High Definition Television Service

That has been needed for people in remote areas black spot areas and poor reception areas.

If you can't get quality TV through a standard TV antenna then VAST is for you.

Australians who can't receive digital TV services from transmission towers in their area will be able to access the full range of digital TV programming from the new digital TV satellite service.

The Viewer Access Satellite Television (VAST) service will be operated by Southern Cross Media and Imparja, and is funded by the Australian Government. It will ensure access to free-to-air TV for viewers in the Remote Central and Eastern Australia licence area, and those in regional and metropolitan areas who are unable to receive their local TV services terrestrially.

This includes standard definition programming broadcast by Southern Cross Media and Imparja, sourced from the Seven, Nine and Ten commercial networks and their new digital channels GO!, 7TWO and ONEHD, as well as all of the ABC and SBS channels, including ABC2, ABC3 and SBS TWO.

The VAST service will also provide high definition channels and a dedicated local news channel in addition to state-based ABC and SBS news services on their respective channels.

The first viewers to have access to VAST will be in the Mildura/Sunraysia region which is the first region to switch to digital only free-to-air television on 30 June 2010.

VAST will cover eastern Australia and operate in northern and southern time zones.

The satellite service for viewers in Western Australia is under negotiation with Prime and WIN Television.

Find out more information about VAST, including technical specifications here

Eligible viewers will be able to activate their access 'smart cards' online by going to www.mysattv.com.au

Bonne soiree en Nouvelle Caledonie!
Jacques

seanhogan said...

Merci Jacques !

Yep that's what I found too... was hoping to find a way to bypass the eligibility....
Can't see the point of it, it's free so why restrict it ?

Will have to source someone who uses it and get a decoder from him !!

(edit, I know you asked about VAST, but anyway...)

I haven't used it for a while, but you used to be able to get free Australian TV from PAS-8 (or PAS-2?), which I think may cover you. It is free (unencrypted) and seemed to be a mish-mash of current news, old tv shows, and some things from each of the commercial stations.

I was receiving it using a DVB-S card in a PC, and it worked fine. I am sure you can get satellite set top boxes that do exactly the same, but direct to the TV. I think even the ones that can decode pay-tv can be used with non encrypted channels, but I would check that first.

I don't know anything about this 'VAST' thing, but for a long time there has been "free" digital tv available across Australia. It was/is called Imparja, and is meant only for areas where you cannot get terrestrial TV broadcasts.

The reason for this, and the reason that it is restricted is.... advertising Someone has to pay for these channels, so they want to make sure that you see their ads and not someone elses. This means that your local Sydney/Melbourne/Elsewhere stations do not want you to watch someone else's channels and not see their ads. I think there were also ads on Imparja, but targetted to rural regions of Australia.

I believe that you have to buy the smart card to get the Imparja service, but after that it is free. You have to prove you can't get regular TV, but there is no way of them knowing where the receiver is then moved to.

Of course, you then need to make sure you have adequate coverage/signal. If you are in New Caledonia, you would need to make sure you have coverage for the right transponders.

I haven't looked at this stuff for years, but somewhere you will find a list of satellites that you can 'see' from there and what you can get. I would not be surprised at all if Australia specifically broadcasts into the Pacific islands, and that it will cover you.

seanhogan said...

Thanks Formula,

I found out that imparja and aurora are being replaced by vast, previous owners just have to upgrade and get a new card;

I already receive austar with a 1.80m dish, was hoping to connect to the free broadcast.

Got an answer from a company called satplus saying the satelite optus might tighten it's beam in 2013.. so now I'm getting worried about my coverage !

Yeah, I guess they could do that, but it would probably just mean that you would need to get a larger dish to get the S/N back. Good luck.

yes felix, "canal sat" but only as far as the east coast I think.(and it's 100$ a month)

heard of a few guys that took their french decoder to oz and it works