[SatNews] Skybridge will be very busy in Southern Australia (SA) this year as they have been awarded an exclusive contract by the Federal Government to supply satellite hardware and installation services for eligible households to access the new Viewer Access Satellite Television (VAST) service. The Digital Switchover Satellite Subsidy Scheme (DSSSS) will provide to those in the Spencer Gulf (SA). Spencer Gulf will be the first region nation-wide to receive the DSSSS as part of the Regional SA switchover this December.

This news arrives with the recent announcement that Skybridge will be delivering the Digital Switchover Household Assistance Scheme services to eligible households in Regional South Australia and Broken Hill.

The DSSSS is a Federal Government initiative designed for those viewers in communities reliant on community run self-help transmission towers, who will now need to access the new satellite service because of the closure of these self help sites. Eligible households will be able to access the full range of digital TV programming from the (VAST) service.

Glen Makin founder and CEO of Skybridge said “We are very pleased to have been selected by the Federal Government to bring yet another vital service to the bush. The Digital Switchover Satellite Subsidy Scheme is a very important development for broadcasting in this country and we are extremely proud to be chosen to deliver the VAST service to regional and remote Australians ensuring they receive television services virtually identical to metropolitan centers.”

The government has announced that approximately 130,000 households nation-wide in over 600 communities, in mostly regional and remote areas, may be eligible for the subsidy prior to the switchover in 2013.