Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying before my remarks were interrupted previously, Australians love their sport. The government understands this and understands that not all Australians can afford, or want, to opt into subscription television services. The government also understands that digital TV is transforming the choices Australians have to watch sport, news and entertainment. Digital TV has completely altered the way the media landscape looks, compared with when the Broadcasting Services Act was introduced.

This bill seeks to preserve the existing arrangement whereby subscription television broadcasters are prevented from acquiring the rights to events on the antisiphoning list before free-to-air television broadcasters have had the opportunity to acquire those rights. The bill will introduce a two-tier antisiphoning list. Tier A events will be required to be shown live on a free-to-air broadcaster's main channel. Tier A events include: the Olympic Games, including the opening and closing ceremonies; the Melbourne Cup; the AFL and NRL grand finals; the Rugby World Cup final; each test, one day, and Twenty20 cricket match involving Australia held in Australia; FIFA World Cup soccer matches involving Australia; the Bathurst 1000; and the Australian Open men's and women's tennis final, among others.

Tier B events will be required to be shown live or with a maximum delay of four hours. Tier B events can also be premiered on free-to-air digital television multichannels. This will provide greater flexibility for the coverage of important events, while also helping to drive the take-up of digital television. Australians actually want to watch the sport on the antisiphoning list. The antisiphoning list should not be used to purchase the rights to sport just to horde them or to prevent competitors from getting access.

The bill will introduce coverage and must-offer obligations on free-to-air broadcasters. This will ensure that broadcasters actually televise the listed events to which they have rights, or offer on those rights if they do not intend to show the event. The government also recognises that new media, like internet TV, has changed the way the media landscape operates. The bill amends the BSA to extend the operation of the Anti-siphoning Scheme to new media providers. This will future proof the Anti-siphoning Scheme and ensure that listed events are not siphoned off exclusively to content service providers, such as internet protocol television providers.

Deals between broadcasters and sporting bodies are complex and take significant time to negotiate, and the Australian public will not accept the uncertainty of whether a major sporting event will or will not be televised. Consequently, the bill will lengthen the automatic delisting period from 12 weeks to 26 weeks. It will also allow the minister, by legislative instrument, to extend this period to 52 weeks for AFL and NRL premierships. This means that listed events will be removed from the list at a date further out from the event, and will allow sporting bodies ample time to negotiate with pay television broadcasters, and secure a reasonable commercial outcome, in situations where free-to-air broadcasters are not interested in acquiring the rights to these events. The bill amends the BSA to provide the Australian Communications and Media Authority with the necessary power to monitor and enforce the Anti-siphoning Scheme. The bill also amends the BSA to permit the minister to designate certain conditions in relation to the events of the Australian Football League, the AFL, and the National Rugby League, NRL, premiership covered by the Anti-siphoning Scheme. These means will allow the minister to protect certain matches for free-to-air television under the Anti-siphoning Scheme.

The bill will regulate the 2017 AFL seasons and beyond. However, the 2012 to 2016 AFL premiership seasons will not be directly regulated under the new scheme as the AFL's new broadcast rights agreement for this period provides substantial and significant outcomes for AFL fans on free-to-air television, including shorter delay times, four matches per round, continued provision of matches on Friday and Saturday nights, and the protection of coverage of Western Australian and South Australian teams in their home states.

The NRL will be regulated under the new scheme. The bill provides for the making of the relevant legislative instruments not later than 1 January 2013 to provide time for the NRL to progress its rights negotiations for the 2013 season and beyond and deliver a quality outcome for NRL fans. The bill will also enable the minister to exempt events from the acquisition and conferral restrictions in circumstances where the rights to the whole event are not made available by the rights holder, or where a free-to-air broadcaster has no intention of acquiring the rights to the whole event. This will ensure that subscription broadcasters and content service providers are not unreasonably locked out from obtaining rights.

The bill's quota group mechanism provides a means of effectively regulating the round-by-round matches of the AFL and NRL premierships under the Anti-siphoning Scheme. In its current form, the mechanism would allow subscription broadcasters to acquire any round-by-round matches of the AFL or NRL, provided this acquisition did not prevent free-to-air broadcasters from acquiring the rights to four weekly AFL matches and three weekly NRL matches.

On 22 March 2012, on the recommendation of the Selection of Bills Committee, the Senate referred the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Anti-siphoning) Bill 2012 to the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 4 May 2012. As a member of the committee I had the opportunity to hear evidence at the public hearing into this bill from numerous stakeholders, including the Australian Football League, Foxtel, FreeTV Australia, ABC, ACMA and DBCDE. I would like to quote the ABC's submission which highlights the importance of this bill:

The ABC strongly supports the policy principles underlying the Bill, which seeks 'to ensure that opportunities for free-to-air television coverage of anti-siphoning events are maximised'... The free availability of significant sporting events remains a key public interest objective. In a period of significant structural change in the media industry globally, government intervention to support this objective remains relevant given that most new and emerging media platforms are likely to be subscription based. Shared experience of significant sporting events contributes strongly to a sense of national and cultural identity. Audience numbers demonstrate the continued popularity of sports coverage in the Australian Community.

In regards to the need for antisiphoning legislation to cover emerging technologies I would like to quote the report:

Given the burgeoning use of new media the committee believes it is appropriate for the anti-siphoning regime to take account of content service providers. The committee is also aware that the rapidly evolving media landscape will likely impact on the new anti-siphoning regime and its application to new media platforms. The proposed statutory review of the anti-siphoning scheme is an appropriate process during which the relevance and effectiveness of the regime in this regard can be assessed.

This bill is the result of a lot of hard work by the government and by Minister Conroy's office and department, in consultation with a wide variety of stakeholders. This government has a commitment to keep the sport that Australians want to watch on our TV screens, free for all Australians to watch. With 70 per cent of Australians being unable to afford or choosing not to pay to watch sport on television, the antisiphoning list is vital to ensure all Australians are able to watch key sporting events. It is in the public interest to ensure significant sporting events are available free to air, as they have always been. It is what the Australian people want. It is what the government promised. I commend this bill to the Senate.

Alan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to make a few remarks about the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Anti-siphoning) Bill 2012. I was chairman of the Senate communications committee for a long time—for about eight years, in fact—and antisiphoning was always an issue because it meant that to some degree the public was not getting access to televised sporting events, which of course to Australians is important because Australians love their support: we are sports loving nation—Aussie rules, rugby, tennis, swimming, horseracing, cricket. Anything at all that is competitive, Australians like to watch on TV. But, because of the antisiphoning legislation there were sometimes restrictions which meant that people could not watch the sports they wanted to on free-to-air television if they had been purchased by pay TV companies, whose coverage was limited.

This bill proposes to repeal the current antisiphoning and antihoarding provisions in the Broadcasting Services Act and to introduce new antisiphoning measures. Of course, the world has changed and the world of broadcasting from the time when these provisions were first put in place, because now we have digital television. That has brought with it, through narrower spectrum, the opportunity for multichanneling. Television stations now often have three or four channels. That, of course, means that they are looking for content and the opportunity to broadcast sport to fill that content and to attract an audience is very, very important in that context. Siphoning refers to the practice employed by pay TV broadcasters, such as Foxtel and Austar, in which they adopt or siphon off some sporting events that have traditionally been broadcast on free-to-air television. This means that Australians who do not subscribe to pay TV are sometimes prevented from being able to see such important programs. As antisiphoning legislation currently stands, pay TV licensees are prohibited from acquiring rights to television listed events on pay TV until rights have first been acquired by the ABC, SBS or one of the commercial broadcasters. The antisiphoning listed events are determined by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and are on what is known as the antisiphoning list. These events must be available to free-to-air television for viewing by the public and provision is also made for an event to be delisted on the chance that no free-to-air broadcaster displays an interest in acquiring the broadcasting rights.

Australians love their sport. Antisiphoning laws and protections permit sport to be aired on free-to-air broadcasting and have been around for some time. There has been quite a lot of public and industry discussion about the need to reform the antisiphoning regime in view of new technological developments, as well as the need to provide equity to the community, and this bill goes some way to ensuring that all Australians will have the expectation of being able to view the great sporting events which are going on. The bill allows free-to-air broadcasters to make greater use of their digital multichannels, which means that the bill is up to date with contemporary technology. It is a sensible move which will increase the programming flexibility of broadcasters without impacting on the ability of Australians to access free-to-air sports.

The bill also increases the period before an event where, if free-to-air broadcasters have not purchased the rights to an event and it is therefore not being broadcast on free-to-air TV, the event is automatically delisted from 12 to 26 weeks. This will enable pay TV providers to better assess, prepare for and manage their purchase of rights to such events and sports bodies to better negotiate and engage with broadcasters for the sale of broadcasting rights. In a similar light, the bill introduces a must-offer provision which requires free-to-air broadcasters that hold the broadcast rights to an event, but which cannot or do not cover the event, to offer those rights to other free-to-air broadcasters within 120 days of the event for $1 to prevent hoarding of rights by free-to-air broadcasters. Hoarding of rights was one of the big issues which needed to be addressed by this legislation and it has been, through these provisions. That is a public benefit.

Under the bill we will also see the introduction of a tier system for antisiphoning, while new category A and category B quota groups will enable different conditions to be applied to different events. Tier A includes iconic events such as the Melbourne Cup, the Australian Open finals—the West Australian Football League final would, I suppose, have to be up there with those—and the AFL and the NRL final series, and must be broadcast live or with as short a delay as possible. Tier B events must be broadcast within four hours of play commencing and may be broadcast on digital multichannels. Quota groups are rounds of AFL and NRL matches where a minimum number of matches—a quota—must be shown on free-to-air television. This therefore provides flexibility for certain listed events to bypass certain antisiphoning provisions. The quota is four for AFL matches and three for NRL matches, meaning pay TV may acquire the rights for the remaining matches. This system will also enable the minister to determine which is the best Friday night match which must therefore be shown on free-to-air TV around the country or the state concerned, and will enable matches involving local teams to be shown in their state market.

The listing of particular events is a matter of ministerial discretion and adds to the sense of some stakeholders that the system is overly complex and provides too much ministerial discretion, but this legislation should change that somewhat. The changes that are encompassed in this bill have been a long time coming. The government first announced the changes to the scheme in November 2010—almost two years ago. Since then these changes have been subject to much consideration, commentary and examination, including a Senate inquiry. The Senate inquiry made several recommendations, some of which the government picked up and some of which it did not, but nevertheless this new bill is a step forward and means that more Australians will be able to watch major sporting events on free-to-air television. That is to be applauded as a definite gain for the Australian public.

Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Anti-siphoning) Bill 2012. I would like to thank all the contributors to this debate—particularly those who spoke this evening, Senators Bilyk and Eggleston.

The Australian government is committed to ensuring that iconic and nationally significant events are made available to Australian audiences on free-to-air TV. This bill will deliver a more effective antisiphoning scheme and increase the coverage and quality of major free-to-air television events. A significant reform will be the introduction of a two-tier antisiphoning system that Senator Eggleston just spoke about. The bill will establish two tiers, tier A and tier B. Nationally iconic events such as the Melbourne Cup and the Ashes cricket will be on tier A. Free-to-air broadcasters for the rights to these events will show them live on their main channel, reflecting their importance and their popularity. Regionally iconic and nationally significant events such as State of Origin rugby league and the Australian Masters golf will be on tier B. Broadcasters may televise these tier B events live or on limited delay on their main channel or a digital multichannel. This will give broadcasters greater scheduling flexibility and help drive the digital television take-up.

The bill requires free-to-air broadcasters to televise listed events to which they hold rights or offer the rights to another broadcaster if they do not plan to televise. This will maximise the opportunity for Australian audiences to see antisiphoning events on free-to-air television. The bill will also extend the operation of the antisiphoning scheme to new media providers, future proofing the scheme and ensuring that major events are not siphoned off exclusively to online media such as internet protocol TV. The bill lengthens the automatic delisting period from 12 to 26 weeks, giving sports bodies more time to negotiate with subscription television broadcasters for rights to events that free-to-air broadcasters do not intend to buy.

New reporting obligations will also be introduced to ensure the new scheme is effectively overseen and administered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority with a review of the new scheme to commence before 31 December 2014. Through the development of this bill the government has recognised the significance of Australia's two largest domestic football competitions: the National Rugby League and the Australian Football League. The new scheme will enable the minister to specify a set number of NRL and AFL matches per round that should be available to free-to-air broadcasters.

In light of the issues raised through the Senate committee inquiry into the bill, the government will move a small number of amendments to this bill. Those amendments will, firstly, refine the notification provisions to streamline their operations and avoid a potential double notification requirement on free-to-air broadcasters. Secondly, it will remove redundant wording in the definition of 'live' in the bill along with the minister's discretion to modify telecast requirements for tier B events. Thirdly, it will narrow the definition of 'program supplier' to avoid the application of the scheme's rules to entities to which it was not intended to apply. Fourthly, it will modify the acquisition rules to prevent the rights to antisiphoning events being made available to subscription broadcasters where free-to-air broadcasters acquire rights that are less than the whole.

The final amendment will strengthen the acquisition and conferral rules that apply to round by round matches of the AFL and the NRL to provide a more balanced outcome for all broadcasters while ensuring free-to-air broadcasters continue to be able to acquire key matches for these iconic national competitions. I recommend that senators support this bill.

Debate interrupted.