Oz government flags media reforms

The Australian government has signalled its willingness to scrap rules preventing Australian commercial TV networks from reaching more than 75% of the population.

The government also hinted it will repeal the rule which currently stops media companies from owning a TV channel, radio station and newspaper in the same city.

Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull hinted at a relaxation of those regulations in an interview with Foxtel’s Sky News on Sunday, while stressing the government has yet to decide on these issues.

Turnbull, who has been meeting with media chiefs, questioned the 75% reach limitation and the rule that precludes companies owning print, TV and radio in the same market, asking: “Shouldn’t that just be a matter for the [competition watchdog] ACCC?”

The Nine Entertainment Co and Ten Network Holdings are pressing for an end to the regional reach and two-out-of-three rules.

Turnbull said: “We are certainly looking at [those rules] very carefully. The view put to me by many people in the industry is: ‘Why in an age where the internet has become the super platform, why do we need to have platforms-specific ownership rules dealing with newspapers and radio and television, because that is an increasingly smaller part of the media landscape?’

“And so the argument goes to say, ‘look diversity is no longer an issue, competition is greater than it ever has been, and that’s undoubtedly true. Why not just leave it, media merger and ownership issues to the ACCC, to the standard monopoly rules that apply?’

“My view is that the arrival of the internet and the additional diversity and avenues for competition that it brings, really says we should have less regulation and more freedom. So we are committed to a lot less regulation right across the board, including in the telecom and media sectors that I’m responsible for.”

The previous Australian government included relaxation of the ‘reach rule’ in a raft of reforms that were eventually delayed and put on the back burner last March. The new legislation would have cleared the way for a proposed A$4bn merger between Southern Cross Media and Nine Network, but Network Ten, which was opposed to the deal, protested that the changes were being made too quickly.