It was a big end to the year for media regulation and policy. In the penultimate sitting week of Parliament, the Government tabled a Bill dealing with both prominence and anti-siphoning. In short, a prominence framework would be created by way of a new Part 9E of the Broadcasting Services Act, assisting in the visibility on smart TVs of Australian broadcast and BVOD free-to-air TV services. In conjunction, existing arrangements for the anti-siphoning sports list would be replaced with an expanded scheme that includes streaming platforms, not just pay TV.
Then, in a speech to the Public Interest Journalism Initiative (PIJI) industry roundtable on Tuesday, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland officially released ACMA’s advice to government on the new Media Diversity Measurement Framework along with the Department’s consultation paper on the government’s News MAP program. The Minister also announced additional funding of $6 million to AAP and $800,000 to PIJI.
We’ll come back with more detail on the Bill, the Media Diversity Measurement Framework, and the News MAP program in the new year. In the meantime, the Bill has been referred to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee with submissions due on 22 January, while comments on News MAP are due to the Department by 22 February.
Derek Wilding, CMT Co-Director