This is a list of the current channels available on digital terrestrial television in Australia. The commercial channels available to viewers depend on location and station ownership. The process of aggregation during the late 80s to mid 90s saw regional stations take on affiliations with metropolitan channels for programming, a practice that has continued into digital television with affiliated stations carrying various multichannels from their metropolitan counterparts. Metropolitan in this list therefore refers to the capitals of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, where stations are owned and operated by the network rather than affiliates. In areas not covered by terrestrial transmissions, the digital channels are provided by the free-to-view VAST satellite platform. The television channels on this platform are all encoded in H.264 and subject to a MPEG-LA controlled transmission patent licensing tax which is included in the VAST broadcaster cost and varies on viewership figures. The terrestrial transmissions still use H.262, which doesn't incur any additional transmission costs, but select channels are broadcast terrestrially in H.264. (en)