How to watch the Federal Parliament for free on TV on Sunday, 7 September 2018

The Federal Parliament is back in session, and that means a big change to how we watch it.
ABC TV has introduced a new channel for free, starting at 7:00pm.
The channel will be available on demand and via a pay-per-view, and will be a one-hour block of programming, covering every week in the House of Representatives.
The first half of the channel is dedicated to Parliament, and the second half is devoted to the Senate.
But the channel will not be available via streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or iTunes, or through the ABC iView.
The Federal Government says the new service is about bringing more Australians into the system, and it’s the first time a major broadcaster has launched such a service.
“There is a real need for Australians to be able to access the Senate and the House on demand,” Federal Minister for Communications and Media Anthony Albanese said.
“That’s why we’ve taken this approach, to offer an alternative to those other services.”
There will also be a new section on the website dedicated to the ABC in which you can get the latest news and views, as well as a section dedicated to Commonwealth Parliament and the ABC, and a section on government.
It is not yet clear what will be in the channel, but ABC TV says it will be able “provide information on events happening in Australia”.
ABC TV chief executive Andrew Austin said the channel would provide Australians with a “compelling, compelling choice of the current affairs programming, as part of the ABC’s portfolio of international and local news and current affairs, in a timely manner”.
It is also offering the ABC an opportunity to launch a new streaming service.
The ABC said the new streaming platform will allow the channel to offer a broad range of content, including a new weekly live show, a new daily news show, breaking news, the ABC News website and the latest in social media.
ABC iStream is available for about $8.99 a month, and is only available to Australians with an ADSL connection.
There is a separate subscription to ABC TV, which costs $10.99, and includes access to the Federal and Senate television channels, the National Theatre and the State Library.
You can subscribe for just $2.99 per month if you live in a state or territory.
The subscription is available in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
The new streaming services have also been criticised for the way they are managed.
“The Federal Government is trying to force us into becoming the gatekeeper of Australian TV, and we’re very concerned that we’re not doing our jobs,” Victorian MP and member for the Victorian Parliament, Shane Rattenbury, said.
“The ABC and ABC TV have to be the gatekeepers of our news, and not the gate keepers.”
“This new service from the ABC is not the first attempt by the Government to get the ABC to act as the gate keeper for Australian content.”
It is a change from the way most Australian networks operate.
The government is also looking to streamline the way the ABC operates.
The Broadcasting Council of Australia is expected to release a set of guidelines for the future this week.
This will include a requirement that all programs broadcast on the ABC must have a significant proportion of Australian content.
The Government is also taking a fresh look at the way it distributes funding, with a plan to make it easier to get more funding for local content.
Topics:government-and-politics,cabinet,australia