Australia’s free-to-air commercial TV bosses have praised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s promise that the government would support the commercial TV industry and protect its interests against global tech platforms.
In a powerful (and rare) show of unity, the leaders of Seven Nine and Ten, and a who’s who of TV talent presented a compelling
At the Free TV ‘Shaping the Nation’ in Federal Parliament House yesterday, Albanese said that free to air TV broadcasters are a large bastion and essential part of a democracy.
“(You are an) essential part of a cohesive society…that is about social inclusion, not exclusion and warring tribes,” he said.
“So my message to you is simply this: Thank you and that my government has your back. We will not give in to the platforms when the pressure comes… on everything from the Media Bargaining Code to… positioning when people turn on their TVs (and) anti-siphoning laws.”
Albanese espoused the importance of sharing common experiences and a strong, united TV sector for Australian society.
Seven West Media chief executive Jeff Howard welcomed Albanese’s support, saying: “It’s always reassuring when the Prime Minister says, ‘we’ve got your back’. I’m a firm believer in what he says…so we’re looking forward to continuing to do the great work that we do and partnering with the Prime Minister and the rest of the parliament.”
Network 10 president Beverly McGarvey described the Prime Minister’s supportive remarks as “fantastic”, and particularly Albanese’s recognition of the importance of news and sport.
Meanwhile Nine CEO Stanton was cautiously optimistic about Albanese’s promise, pointing out that he had heard similar messages of support before, including at the Midwinter Ball.
“One hopes to take them at their word and that they will make changes now, but you’ve got to understand there is the political side of it as well for them and the global stuff that is going on,” he said. “I think the government is supportive and gets the facts and the power of free to air TV.”
Free TV’s wish list
Free TV, which represents the interests of free-to-air commercial broadcasters, is lobbying the government for five key changes to current legislation and government support.
These include the abolition of the corporate broadcast tax, a charge for the use of public spectrum, which costs the industry collectively $50 million each year.
TV broadcasters also want anti-siphoning laws brought into the 21st century by including ring fencing digital streaming rights with broadcast for big ticket sports events.
They are also looking for the gambling advertising ban to extend to digital platforms and to consider mitigating the impacts of lost revenue when a full TV ban is rolled out.
The industry would like greater support for regional television, as well as a news production offset that provides tax relief to news media production that is similar to the 30 per cent film and tv producers rebate.
Free TV chief executive Bridget Fair told B&T that the industry is having live discussions with the government about all of these issues, but the “top of the list” is abolishing the commercial broadcast tax, which she describes as a “no brainer”.
“Some people say, ‘well shouldn’t you pay for the spectrum?’. Well these digital platforms, big global streamers, are using NBN taxpayer funded infrastructure, totally for free. They don’t have Australian content rules, they don’t have rules about captioning or local news… and half of them don’t even pay tax,” she said. “We are making heaps of Australian content, more than 25,000, hours a year. We are paying taxes. We are employing people, and we are, you know, we’re serving every Australian for free.”
Another top priority is “getting some action on the news bargaining incentive”. The government has promised for months to publish a discussion paper on what a news bargaining incentive framework might look like.
“A lot of money has come out of the industry by Meta walking away from its deals and a lot of journalists have lost their jobs because of that,” Fair said. “So we’ve really got to get that money. Those people are using our content. They’re not paying for it. They’re making a lot of money out of it, and we need to make sure that some money is coming back in to support journalism.”
Also on FTA TV’s to-do list is urging the government to revisit anti-siphoning laws to bring digital streaming rights under the rules.
Fair points out that pay TV companies, such as Foxtel, are still able to acquire “deep” sports rights in the AFL, NRL and other sports codes, but there is a genuine concern that if a large global streamer with deep pockets, such as an Amazon or Netflix, outbid broadcasters for streaming rights, it would a growing proportion of Australians who only access TV content via streaming.
“If one listed sport gets acquired exclusively by a streamer, I think that will jeopardise our entire anti-siphoning framework, and it’s served our country very well for three decades, and we should be looking to preserve it,” she said.
“It’s not about who wins and who loses commercially. It’s really about the public interest. It’s about saying, ‘do we want to live in Australia, where, no matter where you’re from, you can all watch these big moments?’.”
TV chiefs top priorities
B&T asked the leaders of Seven, Nine and Ten what they viewed as the top priorities for the industry to focus on.
Nine’s Stanton believes the most urgent call to action is the news media bargaining incentive and reforms to AI companies scraping news content.
“There’s no doubt that our content has been getting scrapped and used to train their models,” he said. “They’re commercialising it, we’re not getting any money for it, and that is absolutely critical. I also think the news offset is another big opportunity for us.”
Seven’s Howard also noted the importance of the news bargaining incentive and “making sure that the platforms that are taking our content are paying for our content”.
“So when we think further beyond that with artificial intelligence, we need to be ahead of the curve on it, rather than be 10 years behind. Sadly, the industry has been behind on a lot of things over many years,” he said. “[Our view on AI scrapping content to train LLMs] is that it’s basically theft. It’d be like walking into a grocery store and taking the apple and not paying for it.”
Supporting metro and regional news production is at the top of McGarvey’s wish list. She told B&T that TV companies invest a lot in news, which can often be harder to commercialise.
“Having a strong, vibrant, free for everyone news organisation in every business is really critical,” she said.
The power of frenemies
‘Shaping the Nation’ was hosted by Sunrise host Matt Shirvington, A Current Affair presenter Ally Langdon and I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! Host Julia Morris.
Shivo set the tone by saying that the networks are “tripartisan” tonight, and Langdon said they come together as friends.
B&T bumped into several TV stars from across the divide at the event last night, including Masterchef judge Andy Allen, The Block host Scott Cam and Ten’s news anchor Sandra Sully.
All three espoused the power of unity and the importance of Free TV in not only informing and entertaining Australians but also changing lives; for example Allen got his break by winning Masterchef season 4.
Perhaps the best call of the night was when Liberal senator Jane Hume telling the audience that her favourite phrase she has picked up from FTA TV was “I’m a Senator…Get Me Out of Here!’
As we head into TV upfronts season, Howard said to expect more cross-network unity in the future.
“Something that we’ve come to realise over the last few years, is that we’ve competed against each other so aggressively for a very long time, and we still do, but there are other people that are trying to eat our lunch,” he said.
“When we work together, we can be a very powerful industry and achieve a lot of things together.”
