Did it work? Evaluating the cost and benefits of the transition to digital TV in Australia

Digital TV switchover in Australia was completed on 10 December 2013. This article evaluates the country’s transition to digital TV, focusing especially on the financial costs and revenues for central government. It begins by setting digital switchover in Australia into international context, summarizing the goals and the process and identifying similarities and differences with the roll-outs in other countries. It then analyses in detail the spending programmes the federal government implemented to support the transition and the revenue raised by selling vacated spectrum, providing the first public assessment of the net impact for government. This analysis finds that the whole policy so far has resulted in a net cost to government of A$333 million in 2014–2015 prices. This is a striking conclusion, given the substantial net benefit that was so confidently anticipated during early digital TV policy development in the 1990s, but it needs qualification and explanation. Finally, the article draws some lessons for future ex ante analyses of spectrum clearance and other communications infrastructure projects.