The ACMA has produced a final report on the inquiry into the Broadcasting Services Act, the governing broadcast legislation.

The report entitled Contemporary Community Safeguards Report looked into the Broadcasting Services Act to explore and establish the core principles that should guide the content of contemporary broadcasting codes of practice, noting that the converging media environment and technological changes have caused shifts in the way Australians utilise broadcasting services.

The inquiry aimed to ensure that contemporary codes of practice suit a converging media environment and represent the minimum level of regulatory intervention necessary, while still providing appropriate community safeguards. The scope of the inquiry were to examine the matters that should be appropriately addressed in program-related codes of practice developed by Australian broadcasters and where appropriate, consider any related issues that became apparent in the course of the inquiry.

Further information, along with the full report can be found here.

Radio Today

Radio industry research and finding as found within the report appear below:
Commercial radio remains a key source of audio content in Australia. PwC notes that data regularly released by CRA indicates that the weekly cumulative reach of commercial radio increased from 8.5 million in 2003 to 9.5 million in 2012—a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.3 per cent. This rate of growth is below that of Australia’s population over the same period. Furthermore, the average length of time that Australians spent listening to commercial radio on average declined from 19 hours a week in 2003 to under 16 hours a week in 2012.
 
The growth in audio streaming—from sources other than commercial radio services—and trends such as the shift from physical to digital consumption of music and the continuing popularity of pirated audio content, all contribute to an increasingly contested market for audio content. 

Financial impact of the current codes on commercial radio broadcasters
Due to the timing of the research (radio interviews were conducted in June and July 2013), respondents were asked to comment on the commercial radio codes of practice that were in force in March 2013. At the time of the research, these codes did not include the limits on the promotion of betting odds and gambling advertisements in live sports coverage, which were included in revised codes registered in July 2013. The economic analysis sought to identify the full range of potential costs attributable to the commercial radio code requirements, including both compliance costs and opportunity costs.

Key compliance costs
The compliance costs associated with the commercial radio codes of practice include both general costs (that is, costs that relate to the codes in their entirety) and costs that are attributable to individual code requirements.
 
Interview subjects highlighted the following two general compliance costs which are not attributable to any one code requirement but are more broadly associated with complying with the commercial radio codes:

• the need to provide staff with training on the radio code
• the activities undertaken by CRA on behalf of all broadcasters to ensure compliance with the radio code

For specific code requirements, participating network entities identified complaints-handling obligations as imposing the highest compliance costs on their services. The key reasons they nominated included:

• the number of complaints received—seen by participants as being facilitated by the electronic complaints system and the rise in social media
• the obligation to provide a substantive response to all complainants, even when these complaints are from members of the public who did not actually listen to the broadcast material
• the level of effort required to respond to an investigation by the ACMA, given the threat of sanctions involved and the fact that the ACMA can investigate complaints beyond the 30-day limit stipulated by the radio code, which increases the level of effort required to compile supporting evidence

Interviewed radio network entities also felt that these compliance costs have increased over the past five years, driven not only by an increase in the number of complaints but also an increase in investigations by the ACMA. Estimated costs provided by the participating network entities were between 0.5 to 3.4 full-time staff equivalents per network involved in complaints-handling. However, it should be noted that these estimates included staff costs associated with time spent responding to all investigations by the ACMA, and not just those relating to the codes. Furthermore, they only represent the costs incurred by interview subjects.
 
All network entities interviewed said that, if the radio code did not exist, they would still have some form of complaints-handling process but that process would be less costly for them because:

• they would not have to respond to radio code-related investigations from the ACMA
• they would be likely to prioritise their responses to complaints from listeners over non-listeners

After complaints-handling, there was little consensus about the compliance costs associated with other individual code requirements. Some participating network entities identified Australian music requirements. Others identified the costs associated with requirements preventing the broadcast of programs, which are unsuitable having regard to prevailing community standards and attitudes. The requirements relating to accuracy and fairness in news and current affairs programs, as well as obligations about publicising the existence of the codes, were also identified.
 
Key opportunity costs
The majority of survey and interview respondents identified code 3 as imposing the greatest opportunity cost on their operations as a broadcaster. This code requires advertisements to be presented in such a manner that the reasonable listener is able to distinguish them, at the time of the broadcast, from other program material. Participants believed that the requirement prevents them from meeting a latent demand for integrated advertising.
 
Some participating radio network entities identified the Australian music requirements, and the prohibition of programs unsuitable for broadcast, as also imposing opportunity costs on their organisations. They indicated that they identify both these code requirements as restricting the ability of radio broadcasters to deliver content that matches the demand for certain programming from their target audiences.