The federal government media reforms are set to be deliberated as early as this week in the federal cabinet, as Communications Minister Stephen Conroy races to implement certain changes.
The media law reforms came from two independent reviews into media ownership - the Independent Media Inquiry report (often referred to as the "Finklestein Report" due the leadership of former QC Ray Finklestein) and the Convergence Review Final Report.
On 30 November 2012, the government announced a package of measures as part of its initial response to the Convergence Review to enable television broadcasters to continue to invest in and broadcast Australian content.
Minister Conroy is looking to push a change in media-ownership rules. Currently the rules cover a "two out of three" outlook; i.e. individuals or companies can only own a controlling interest in no more than two traditional media platforms - print, radio, and free-to-air TV. Minister Conroy is aiming to expand that to a "two of four" outlook, by including Pay TV in the mix, seemingly in response to murmurs within the industry that News Ltd could look to acquire Network 10.
Other recommendations in the package include a code of ethics for journalists, a tort of privacy and increased Australian content rules.
The media ownership aspect is backed by the ACCC, with the chairman saying that "following our decision today to oppose Seven Group getting hold of 50 per cent of Fox Sports, that same logic would apply even more strongly to News seeking to acquire a free-to-air station.”
Responses to this have been mixed at best, with Senator Nick Xenophon saying that "Any government that wants to change media laws (in an election year) has more than a death wish," and senior politicians such as Wayne Swan and Bob Carr questioning the wisdom on taking on such a large media company such as News Ltd. in an election year.
What does that mean for us?
What we as advertisers need to watch is any issues that could arise from this, as well as opportunities gained and lost. For us, media convergence is a massive positive - deals that can span different media are obvious helps when talking sponsorships, agency deals, and individual advertiser deals. But should these laws push through, we could lose potential options and have to make sure that businesses we deal with do not skirt the edges of the new media reforms.
The other huge thing that is missing form these reports is that of digital ownership. While a small mention of the extension of media regulation to cover online news sites with a minimum of 15,000 hits a year has been watered down. Digital media laws have been slow to catch up to the changing pace of the digital landscape (ownership and copyright being glaring examples), and it seems that once again the government has put digital media in the "too-hard basket" in regards to regulation and laws.
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