Appeals Tribunal upholds Today 5 year licence condition but restricts it to Kyle

Administrative Appeals Tribunal confirms 5 year decency provision, but restricts it to Kyle. Holleran says Tribunal accepted many of Austereo’s points, but is disappointed with the 5 year term.

 

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has announced its decision to support the ACMA imposed 5 year decency provision on Today FM, but has restricted it to Kyle Sandilands hosted programs. Austereo’s Rhys Holleran says the Tribunal accepted many of Austereo’s points, but is disappointed the 5 year term has not been reduced.

Rhys Holleran said: “We note today’s decision from the AAT and are pleased that much of what we put forward has been accepted. We have been on the record many  times to say that we did not condone the comments made that led to these events. We still hold the  view that the conditions, particularly the five years in length, are onerous for 2DayFM in Sydney, and  will further consider our position.”

ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman, welcomed the AAT’s decision: “I note the AAT has decided in this case that making compliance with the code a condition of the licence was an ‘appropriate, measured and proportionate regulatory response.'”

Chapman also noted, as did the AAT, that all other programs broadcast by Today FM remain subject to the normal provisions of the commercial radio codes, including the obligation not to broadcast programs that offend generally accepted standards of decency.

The additional licence condition previously imposed by the ACMA elevated the existing decency provision of the codes into a licence condition applying to all programs broadcast by Today FM. That previous licence condition was also proposed to apply for five years.

The ACMA’s imposition of a licence condition followed a finding that Today FM had breached the decency provisions of the codes. That breach arose from on-air remarks made by Sandilands about a female journalist on 22 November 2011 (see ACMA Investigation report 2751).

 

See our earlier story on the licence investigation for more.