ACMA has released a consultation paper on the proposed ‘local presence licence condition’ for regional commercial radio earlier than expected after the regulator’s board meeting in regional Victoria today. Joan Warner’s thoughts on the licence condition are detailed in our related story.

The proposed licence condition requires licensees to maintain “existing levels of local presence” in their licence areas in “certain circumstances.” Commercial broadcasters fear these ‘trigger’ circumstances could even include the death of a family member and the passing on of the business to the next generation.

The proposed condition is part of the new obligations being imposed on regional commercial radio licensees as part of the negotiations to get the new media laws passed through parliament as part of the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Media Ownership) Act 2006. ACMA is required to have in place a ‘local presence licence condition’ from proclamation of Schedule 2 of the Act.

While many media groups are hoping for the new act to be proclaimed by next week, the reality is that the behind the scenes preparation for the changes within ACMA and the Department of Communications are likely to delay proclamation beyond that date.

radioinfo has been told by several regional backbenchers, who were at first in favour of the hastily negotiated provisions, that they are now feeling heat from their local radio stations and may be convinced a change of heart is necessary to “ensure there is no inequity” in the new rules.

Regional commercial stations are hoping the public comment process will water down the provision enough to make it less onerous on them, but some hard line backbenchers are still maintaining that the proposed rules are necessary to stop local radio stations closing newsrooms and cutting off access for politicians to be heard on local commercial radio news bulletins.

The proposed condition requires a licensee affected by a trigger event to maintain the “existing level of local presence.” It defines existing level of local presence in terms of the staffing levels and production facilities that existed in the licence area in the three-month period before the trigger event. ACMA says the proposed condition “provides some flexibility for broadcasters in the way that they comply with the local presence requirement.”

The new media legislation encourages mergers to bring Australian media companies to critical mass so they can survive in the new borderless world of converged media, yet the trigger event local presence provisions are likely to mean regional radio stations will be left out of new media deals, something which is either good for localism or bad for business, depending on your point of view.

A trigger event is a transfer of a licence, formation of a new registrable media group (which includes a commercial radio broadcasting licence) or change of controller of a registrable media group (which includes a commercial radio broadcasting licence).

The proposed condition requires all regional commercial radio licensees to keep records of their existing levels of local presence on an ongoing basis, with reporting obligations for licenses affected by a trigger event.

From the proclamation date, licensees affected by a trigger event must also comply with minimum service standards for local news and information specified in the Act. For example, affected licensees will need to broadcast at least 12.5 minutes of local news for a minimum of five days a week.

The major features in detail of the proposed local presence condition are:

• the existing level of local presence is defined by reference to staffing levels and production facilities in the three month period before the trigger event

• a compliance regime comprising initial and annual reports for trigger event-affected licensees

• record-keeping obligations for all regional commercial radio licensees (each must keep records of its existing level of local presence on an ongoing basis – retaining these for a period of six months or, if a trigger event occurs, seven years).

• reporting obligations for licenses affected by a trigger event, within three months of the trigger event and annually.

ACMA is sending a copy of the proposed condition to all regional commercial radio licensees for comment by 14 March 2007. A copy of the full provisions of the licence condition are also available by clicking the link below.