[LINK] National Broadband Network on 4 Corners this Monday

[George Bray]

The National Broadband Network
Reporter: Stephen Long
Broadcast: 11/04/2011

"A game changer for Australia" or "fundamentally a huge backwards step"?

With billions of taxpayers dollars on the line, Four Corners explores
the debate over the ultra fast information superhighway - the National
Broadband Network.

When the NBN is complete, homes, factories and offices across the
nation will have access to communications capable of revolutionising
the way we live, with the Government promising an "ever expanding
universe of infinite possibilities".

And while the technology may be cutting edge, the economic debate is
an old one - who should provide and pay for a service? Taxpayers or
private enterprise? Reporter Stephen Long navigates his way through
the arguments, exploring the business case and the technological
requirements for our 'wired' future. Is it nation building? Will it be
the 21st century equivalent to building the national railway network,
or simply an overpriced public monopoly stifling competition?

And how did we get this supersized, super expensive model? Stephen
Long explains how the Labor Party's 2007 election promise of a
"pathway to the future" turned into a high stakes game of 'chicken'
with Telstra and how this billion dollar brinkmanship resulted in
today's NBN.
But as politicians and telco operators continue to argue over the
economics, the NBN is rolling out across the countryside. Four Corners
takes you to the towns where the network is already operating. And
talks to those who believe the NBN could unleash extraordinary
possibilities: breathing life into regional Australia; dismissing the
tyranny of distance with the click of a mouse; where business would no
longer be limited by geography, patients spared exhausting travel to
faraway doctors and students gain access to teachers anywhere in the
country.

And if you don't know your gigabytes from your megabits, the program
will give you a guide to the NBN, explaining how the technology works
and what it will mean for you.

And don't miss the Four Corners website where the program has joined
forces with ABC's Online Investigative Unit to produce a special
feature on the NBN.

Four Corners, presented by Kerry O'Brien, goes to air on Monday 11th
of April at 8.30pm on ABC 1. It is replayed on Tuesday 12th of April
at 11.35 pm. You can also see the program on ABCNews24 at 8.00pm each
Saturday, on ABC iview or at Video On Demand.

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2011/s3184746.htm