Nick Minchin may succeed in delaying Stephen Conroy’s Telstra break-up Bill. But he is painting the Coalition into a corner on Telstra and it’s not going to end well.
Stephen Conroy 
Community TV is on its death bed, when will Conroy step in?
Digital television is screwing community television stations like Channel 31, since they are stuck broadcasting in analogue and not yet allocated any space on the digital network. Emma Rugg explains.
Dunkley dust up: ALP destabilised by Shorten-Conroy split
A fresh factional war has broken out inside the Victorian ALP after Federal MP Bill Shorten and Senator Stephen Conroy came close to backing rival preselection candidates at a fiery meeting last night.
Conroy’s internet filter dread
Senator Stephen Conroy must soon set aside the joys of taking the axe to Telstra — satisfying though that must be — and return to a topic he surely dreads: internet censorship.
Bartholomeusz: Will Conroy kill free TV?
The National Broadband Network could see a range of competitors to free-to-air TV emerge, as internet TV and video become more accessible and profitable. But whose interests will the Broadband Minister be protecting? asks Stephen Bartholomeusz.
Telstra split: good or bad idea?
Online reaction to Telstra’s not-quite-forced “structural separation” is split. Telstra shareholders are angry. Everyone else is quietly jubilant — especially Telstra’s key competitors.
Telstra decision is just good policy
There’s an element of politics in Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s decision to break Telstra up. But it’s also good policy that finally corrects the huge mistake Bob Hawke and Kim Beazley made.
The Media Monitors' Top 20: King Kyle out-ranks Rudd
Kyle Sandilands rated 50% more mentions than the PM on the people’s medium this week, further confirming commercial TV’s place as a politics-free zone.
Kohler: Government bludgeons Telstra into submission
It didn’t have to be like this, says Alan Kohler. The government has laid down a condition for issuing spectrum: it won’t be sold to Telstra if it’s an integrated telco at the time. But legislation to ensure this happens is overkill.
Rudd rips off Telstra’s ma and pa shareholders
“Rudd wants the political kudos of appearing to promote more competition while remaining disinclined to paying tens of billions of dollars’ compensation to his targeted victims: Telstra shareholders”. Unconstitutional, says Peter Swan
How Telstra split opens up Foxtel ownership
The announcement that Telstra must separate its retail and wholesale division — including a sell-off of its 50% Foxtel stake — should make Consolidated Media a prime takeover target. Let the media mogul battle begin.
Conroy orders Telstra to do the splits
The government has again smashed Telstra’s monopolistic agenda with a raw display of executive power — announcing its intention to force the company to separate its wholesale and retail arms.
Telstra has to morph into a different kind of beast
The Rudd government’s legislation is the stark choice being offered Telstra: split your wholesale and retail operations or you don’t get any more wireless spectrum.
Telstra to be split up
Stephen Conroy has today announced the government will require Telstra to structurally separate its wholesale and retail arms to increase telecommunications competition. Full text here. Telstra shares have dropped sharply in response.
ACMA iTunes and the failure of net filtering
The underlying Australian internet censorship process is unworkable, and always will be. Opponents of the filter are busy proving it, with complaints about iTunes selling MA15+ films without requiring age verification.
The serious risk of cyber-grooming. Or not.
A new report from broadband minister Senator Conroy has declared “cyber-grooming and sexual solicitation are potentially the most serious cyber-safety risks.” Expect more tabloid-style stories to blur the facts and exaggerate that “potential” risk.
They’re building data pipes under the ocean: why no media coverage?
Over the weekend, a new undersea fibre-optic data link from Guam to Sydney was fired up, which will increase Australia’s international data capacity by almost 50%. Not that anyone seems to care.
Conroy’s anti-siphoning review set to king hit subscription TV
All the risks in the anti-siphoning review lie with the subscription television sector, or, as Stephen Conroy’s Department has taken to calling it in a minor but noticeable change of usage, the “pay television sector’.
Internet filtering: speed won’t be the issue
With word that Conroy’s internet filter doesn’t affect ISPs’ speed, the debate will now centre around whether internet filtering actually “works” or not.
Australia’s Digital Economy: discuss it, but not here
Stephen Conroy’s “final” report on Australia’s digital economy merely demonstrates how much work their 2.0 Taskforce have ahead to bring the government into the 21st century.
Why is free-to-air TV still hogging sports coverage?
The Federal Government’s anti-siphoning list amounts to direct, government-approved theft from sports bodies, writes Bernard Keane. When is that going to change?
Gaming classification farce meets Conroy’s net filter
Unless Communications Minister Conroy’s proposed Internet filtering mechanism has some smarts, a whole bunch of innovative activity will be lost with the smattering of virtual sex clubs.
ACMA’s blacklist stuff up response: “so sue us”
ACMA has told a Senate Estimates hearing that owners of websites mistakenly or maliciously added to its web filtering blacklist will have to sue it or seek redress from the Commonwealth Ombudsman.
Community television shafted by the government
All C31 Melbourne is asking for is a level playing field; to have parity with the other television broadcasters, writes Greg Dee.
I’ll compile your secret black list, Minister Conroy
If you want the country moulded by an invisible hand, Stephen, and I notice you do, then I’m the guy, writes Anson Cameron.
