Ten criticises Oz media reform delay

Australian broadcaster Network Ten has hit out at the country’s parliament following further delays to the government’s planned media reforms.

Paul Anderson

The government is attempting to secure parliament’s approval for a bill to abolish the rules prohibiting any broadcaster from reaching more than 75% of the country.

The bill also includes plans to repeal the rule barring any entity from owning a TV channel, radio station and newspaper in the same market, otherwise known as the ‘two out of three’ rule.

Having already endured a lengthy delay, the passing of the bill has been pushed further back after Labor senators called for it to face deep scrutiny in a 10-week inquiry.

The delay has been frustrating Aussie broadcasters, which have also been hoping for reduction or abolition of the annual licence fees paid to the government.

Network Ten has now called on the parliament to pass the bill as a matter of urgency, with CEO Paul Anderson claiming that the current situation favours big tech companies.

“The only way to ensure media diversity in Australia is to have strong, viable local media companies, and the existing rules are a real threat to that. The foreign-owned tech companies have demonstrated that they are not interested in any meaningful investment in local content or local news, so we need our local voices to remain strong,” said Anderson.

“In order to compete, local media companies need to grow, transform and leverage content across multiple platforms, and the current laws – combined with the onerous tax of the world’s highest television licence fees – are arbitrarily stopping us from doing that.

“We are yet to hear any rational argument in favour of keeping the two-out-of-three rule, which only applies to three offline media platforms and doesn’t even recognise the existence of the internet. It is illogical and antiquated and threatens local diversity by constraining Australian media companies in our efforts to grow and compete.”