Multichannel content rule in new Media reforms

The Federal Government has announced its proposed media reforms following the Convergence Review and the Finkelstein Report.

Federal Communications Minister Senator Conroy said  the reforms seek to ensure no further reduction in media diversity. He said the government is ensuring Australian broadcasters invest in and show Australian content.

Amongst the changes are:

• The current 50% rebate on broadcasting licence fees becomes permanent on the condition the channels increase their Australian content by 1,490 hours by 2015.
• An Australian multichannel content requirement for broadcasters is being introduced.
• No decision on the ‘reach rule’, which currently regulates commercial networks cannot broadcast to more than 75% of the population. A parliamentary committee will be formed to investigate the 75% reach rule.
• A new independent ”public interest media advocate” to be given statutory powers to judge whether mergers and acquisitions of media companies meet the diversity test.
• News organisations to be deemed ‘significant’ at around 60,000 paid subscribers.
• ABC and SBS charters to be updated to take into account their online and digital content.

This post updates.

 

INDUSTRY GROUPS Response (ADG / AWG / MEAA / SPAA):

The Australian screen production industry was united in its condemnation of the Minister for Communication’s announcement today that the Government will be introducing a bill that will water down the presence of Australian content on Australian television screens.

“The Minister is pulling a swifty on the Australian community,” said Equity Director Sue McCreadie. “The Minister claims he will be mandating additional hours of Australian content on the commercial multi-channels. He is doing nothing of the sort. The new rules will let commercial broadcasters screen less Australian content because they are set at half the amount the networks currently screen and can be filled with dusty old repeats.”

The Minister for Communications Senator Conroy announced that the Government will bring forward a Bill – in addition to other media reforms – making permanent the 50 per cent reduction in the licence fees paid by commercial television broadcasters, conditional on the broadcast of an additional 1490 hours of Australian content by 2015.

“These measures are worthless,” said Australian Directors Guild Executive Director, Kingston Anderson. “For close to $150 million the free to air networks will be able to sit on their hands and screen more and more cheap overseas content. This is no quid pro quo. This is selling Australian audiences out to fatten up the bottom lines of the commercial broadcasters in an election year.”

The Convergence Review Committee produced its final report in early 2011 and recommended a 50 per cent increase in drama, documentary and children’s subquotas as well as developing a plan for a new uniform content scheme to support increased levels of Australian content on all content service providers.

Anderson said: “If this is the sum total of the Government’s response to the Convergence review then this is, to put it frankly, a disgrace. The Convergence Review Committee put two years’ worth of careful considered thought into developing a roadmap for the future of the content industry. The government’s response is visionless.”

The Australian screen production industry recently launched the ‘Australian Screens. Australian Stories’ campaign which it hopes will persuade Parliamentarians to oppose Senator Stephen Conroy’s sweeping regressive changes to local content sub-quotas for Australian TV drama, children’s and documentary programming. The ‘Australian Screens. Australian Stories’ campaign organisers are urging citizens to sign a petition and mail postcards which appeal to their local members of parliament to protect their access to quality Australian screen stories: http://www.communityrun.org/petitions/keeping-australian-stories-on-tv-is-vital-keeping-conroy-to-his-word-is-the-battle

Australian Writers’ Guild Executive Director Jacqueline Elaine said “Over 5000 people have signed a petition in just over two weeks. This demonstrates that there is widespread public concern with Minister Conroy’s actions. It is clear that he has bowed to broadcaster pressure rather than serve the public interest.”

The ‘Australian Screens. Australian Stories’ campaign is lead by the Australian Directors Guild, Australian Writers’ Guild, Media Entertainment and Artists Alliance and the Screen Producers Association of Australia.

 

FOXTEL Response:

Foxtel Chief Executive Richard Freudenstein commented on today’s announcement by Senator Conroy about proposed changes to media regulation and, in particular, to the introduction of a public interest test for media merger and acquisitions.

“Foxtel regrets the decision by the Government to introduce cumbersome and unnecessary media specific regulation that will hinder investment in the media sector.

“Under the proposed regime a transaction in the media space could be subject to review by up to four different regulators (the ACCC, ACMA, FIRB and now the Public Interest Media Advocate). This will add delay and complexity to any transaction and may discourage legitimate transactions from occurring at all.

“By focusing on print, television and radio the Government has completely missed the point of the digital age; there has been an explosion of new sources of news, information and entertainment through the internet which render this new regulation redundant before it is even introduced.

“To include Foxtel in media specific ownership laws is absurd given that we enhance diversity of voice by bringing 11 different news services to Australian audiences and we exercise editorial control over none of them.

“Foxtel is of the view that existing competition law is more than adequate to meet legitimate concerns about media concentration. This was borne out by the announcement by the ACCC that it would not have permitted Seven West Media to acquire Consolidated Media Holdings.

“At the same time as the Government is proposing legislation that will make investment harder for the whole sector it is giving financial support to the commercial free to air broadcasters which are already among the most protected businesses in the country. In return it has imposed Australian content requirements that come at no cost to the free to air networks as they are able to use repeats of previously shown Australian programs to cover the new obligations.  This will do nothing to support Australian story telling.”

TEN Response:

Ten Network Holdings’ incoming Chief Executive Officer, Hamish McLennan, has welcomed some elements of the Government’s response to the Convergence Review and Finkelstein Inquiry, as announced today by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy.

“We are pleased the Government has moved forward with a permanent reduction in the licence fees paid by commercial television broadcasters and changes to the local content regime,” Mr McLennan said.

“But the decision to send the reach rule issue to a parliamentary committee and for Senator Conroy to ask that committee to conduct an inquiry in just one day is ill-conceived and does not follow appropriate due process.

“We are alarmed that this inquiry is being rushed and that the Government thinks it can be done and dusted in just one day. What is the hurry? People living in regional Australia deserve better and should be asking why this is being pushed through with such haste.

“The fate of the reach rule is critically important in terms of media diversity and local news services in regional Australia. This is an issue of national significance. It needs to be properly debated. It cannot and should not be dismissed with a quick and dirty one-day inquiry,” Mr McLennan said.

“The only possible outcome of ditching the 75% reach rule – in isolation – will be a reduction in media diversity and a further reduction in news services in regional Australia.

“Ten Network’s view of media reform has been consistent: any changes should only be done as part of a thorough consideration of the future of all of the existing rules. Pulling one major policy lever by rushing a change through parliament without looking at the bigger picture is not good media policy. The removal of the reach rule needs to be part of a sensible, comprehensive media ownership reform package, not an ad hoc change,” he said.

Mr McLennan added that Ten Network did not support the Government’s proposed public interest test.

“A public interest test, as outlined by the Government, is unworkable and un-necessary,” he said.

“It would introduce a high degree of subjectivity to the media regulatory environment. It would create uncertainty. It would create confusion in relation to other regulatory regimes. It would increase the administrative burden on the media industry. The public interest tests introduced overseas, such as in the UK, have proven to be complicated and impractical.”

SEVEN Response:

Seven West Media welcomes the Government’s announcement that it will proceed with the package announced in November 2012 to implement licence fee reduction and Australian content changes which we believe are critical reforms for the future of commercial television.

Seven West Media is extremely disappointed that the Government has announced its intention to introduce a public interest test for media mergers. The Government says it is in favour of media diversity but putting these kind of arbitrary, uncertain and subjective rules in place will only make it more difficult to attract new investment. A public interest test works against diversity not for it. There has never been more diversity in the media than now.

Australians currently enjoy a diversity of sources of opinion and fact greater than at any previous time through access to traditional print and broadcast media, subscription television, online publications, blogs and social media. This fundamental change in the media sector has been completely ignored in the changes announced by Minister Conroy.

We also strongly oppose the proposal to introduce regulatory oversight of the print media sector. This is an unprecedented restriction that is wholly inconsistent with the notion of a free press. What Senator Conroy is proposing is in effect government regulation of the media, backed by the threat of removal of the media exemptions under the Privacy Act. Loss of those exemptions would make it virtually impossible for media organisations and their investigative journalists to operate.

It is clear that there has not been sufficient public engagement on the implications of the changes to the 75% reach rule. The issues around how best to ensure delivery of quality regional and local content are complex and it is appropriate that they are properly considered by a committee separately from other parts of the media package. The interests of individual media groups in securing a deal should not be placed above the interests of regional viewers in ongoing provision of quality local content. We do however feel that now that they have been raised, these issues and the interests of regional Australians warrant a more considered process than a hastily convened one day inquiry.

Source: ABC, The Age