A new Media Bill will be presented to the Australian Parliament next week. The most likely date for it to be introduced into the Senate is Wednesday 19 March, if Communications Minster Alston can secure the support of various independent Senators.
The bill is set to transform the media landscape in Australia if it is passed and is likely to draw much of its inspiration from a similar piece of Legislation in the UK.
Regulation of the broadcasting environment has been a preoccupation with
governments since the invention of radio over a hundred years ago. When radio
broadcasting technology was first invented, radio was merged with the dominant
telecommunications media of the day, the telegraph and the electric telephone,
and was regulated in Australia by the Postmaster General (PMG).
The products of that early regulatory regime included the (in hindsight) very
silly policy of ‘sealed sets,’ and the good idea to create parallel
commercial and government sectors of radio broadcasting that has made Australia
one of the most progressive broadcasting environments in the world. The
convergence of technology and the regulatory regime in those early days of
Australian broadcasting had some positives and negatives, but was probably right
for its time.
After the introduction of television in the 1950s, the broadcasting regulatory
regime was changed to reflect the divergence of media and media content,
resulting in the creation of content regulators like the Broadcasting Tribunal
(now the ABA) and leaving technical matters, such as the management of spectrum,
to the PMG and later bodies (now the Australian Communications Authority). It
may have been right for its time, but is now well behind the eight-ball when
faced with the challenges of new technologies like the internet, mobile phones
and digitisation.
In the new bill the Australian government is attempting to face the communications challenges before it and is proposing a major revamp of regulatory legislation. Much
will hinge on the acceptance of the new legislation by key independent Senators
(who were interviewed here on radioinfo last week).
Parallel to the necessary issues of convergence and digitisation that must be faced by any serious communications legislation in the new millenium, changes will also advantage or disadvantage various vested interests in the media landscape, locking them out of expansion opportunities or opening up new avenues for growth into new broadcast areas. There has been heavy lobbying on this issue in the Australian context, with some media proprietors favouring no restriction on cross-media ownership of radio, TV and newspapers. The government is open to this view in capital cities, but is tentative about allowing the possible consolidation of all media outlets in regional areas. Independants are expected to oppose total consolidation of ownership in regional areas.
In the UK, they are ahead of Australia in tackling these issues and the UK
Communications Bill is said to be the model for the Australian government’s
present legislation. So radioinfo this week has analysed the UK Communications
Bill and has this summary. In a related story (see next item) radioinfo also reports last year’s debate
in the UK House of Lords about the Bill.
The crux of the bill, which will create a ‘Super-Regulator’ called OfCom, is to
re-combine the regulatory regime that covers content and transmission across all
electronic media. While Newspaper mergers are regulated by the new bill, other aspects of newspaper controls are not included in the legislation – an
anomaly in these days when newsprint is as scarce a resource as radiofrequency
spectrum and digitisation can bring consumers newspapers in many electronic
forms.
The UK’s Ofcom will be able to regulate licencing, modes of transmission,
ownership, content and telephony.
Part 1 of the Bill deals with administrative functions for setting up OfCom , including the transferral of various duties and powers from previous Acts and defining the powers and functions of OfCom.
One interesting aspect of Part 1 of interest to trainers and educators includes the fact that OfCom is required to promote media literacy – “to bring about, or to encourage others to bring about: a better public
understanding of the nature and characteristics of material published
by means of the electronic media; a better public
awareness and understanding of the processes by which such material
is selected; a better public awareness of the available systems [to] control what is received…”
The new regulator is also specifically required to promote training – “It shall be the duty of OFCOM to take all such steps as they consider appropriate for promoting the development of opportunities for the training and retraining of persons
(a) for employment by persons providing television and radio services;
and (b) for work in connection with the provision of such services otherwise
than as an employee.
OfCom is also required to carry out research to determine what the public want from the communications system. This has been a common component of media regulation in the UK for many years, but is not as strong in Australia.
Part 2 of the Bill covers Electronic communications networks, services and the radiofrequency spectrum. It provides for control and charging of suppliers of communications infrastructure including the nation’s telephone networks and digital multiplexes.
OfCom will also have control of the telephone numbering system, directory services, teletext (which is big in the UK, unlike Australia) and digital services such as program guides (what we would define as datacasting in Australia).
OfCom will have the power to enforce its regulations and costings through fines and sanctions and to direct broadcasters what to put on air in emergencies. It will also be able to auction licences and frequency spectrum.
Part 3 of the Bill, the part of most interest to broadcasters, covers radio and television. It gives OfCom a say over satellite and terrestrial radio and TV services and digital broadcasts across all channels and networks, including the BBC.
For radio specifically, the bill regulates “radio licensable content services; additional radio services; radio multiplex services; digital sound programme services; digital additional sound services,” across all platforms, for local and national services.
It controls the duration of licence periods, simulcast services, digital sound broadcasts (DAB), and Access Radio (what we could call community radio).
The provisions in this part of the Bill cover the regulatory regime, the “public service remit” of broadcasters, networking, plus “must-offer obligations” and quotas. OfCom is also able to define service areas and to regulate competition between licenced providers.
In the section on Program and fairness standards OfCom is able to authorise standards and codes. It can regulate:
“It shall be the duty of OFCOM to set, and from time to time to review and
revise, such standards for the content of programmes to be included in
television and radio services as appear to them best calculated to secure the
standards objectives.
The standards objectives are—
(a) that persons under the age of eighteen are protected;
(b) that material likely to encourage or to incite the commission of crime or
to lead to disorder is not included in television and radio services;
(c) that news included in television and radio services is presented with
due impartiality and that the impartiality requirements of section 308
are complied with;
(d) that news included in television and radio services is reported with due
accuracy;
(e) that the proper degree of responsibility is exercised with respect to the
content of programmes which are religious programmes;
(f) that generally accepted standards are applied to the contents of
television and radio services so as to provide adequate protection for
members of the public from the inclusion in such services of offensive
and harmful material;
(g) that the inclusion of unsuitable advertising in television and radio
services is prevented;
(h) that the unsuitable sponsorship of programmes included in television
and radio services is prevented;
(i) that there is no undue discrimination between advertisers who seek to
have advertisements included in television and radio services; and
(j) that there is no use of techniques which exploit the possibility of
conveying a message to viewers or listeners, or of otherwise
influencing their minds, without their being aware, or fully aware, of
what has occurred.
This section of the Bill also gives the regulator the power to proscribe unacceptable foreign television and radio services; to regulate party political broadcasts and to monitor programs.
Media Ownership and control are also defined in this part of the Bill, giving OfCom the power to restrict or disqualify licence holders.
As an example of cross media ownership provisions here are some selected examples of the schedule of exclusions that would be faced by owners of one media wanting to buy into another:
A person is not to hold a licence to provide a [TV] Channel 3 service if—
(a) he runs a national newspaper which for the time being has a national
market share of 20 per cent. or more; or
(b) he runs national newspapers which for the time being together have
a national market share of 20 per cent. or more…
A person who is—
(a) the proprietor of a national newspaper which for the time being has
a national market share of 20 per cent. or more, or
(b) the proprietor of national newspapers which for the time being
together have a national market share of 20 per cent. or more,
is not to be a participant with more than a 20 per cent. interest in a body
corporate which is the holder of a licence to provide a [TV] Channel 3 service.
For radio, A person is not to hold more than one national radio multiplex licence at the
same time.
A person is not to hold any two local radio multiplex licences at the same
time where the coverage area of one of the licensed services overlaps with
the coverage area of the other in a way that means that the potential
audience for one of them is or includes at least half the potential audience of
the other.
Part 4 of the Bill covers TV licencing and licence fees an element of broadcasting which was eliminated from the Australian broadcasting landscape in the 1970s. In the UK, the TV licence fee is used to fund the BBC (amongst other things) and so guarantees the BBC an indexed source of revenue as the population grows and licence fees increase. This used to be the case in Australia before the abolition of broadcast licence fees, but is not any more, resulting in regular funding battles between the ABC and government.
Part 5 of the Bill deals with competition in communications markets and crosses over with other acts, including the Enterprise Act and Competition Law. Decisions made under this section of the Bill must also receive the consent of Parliament and will have a public consultation component.
Relating to newspaper mergers the Bill says: “The need for, to the extent that it is reasonable and practicable, a plurality of views in newspapers in each market for newspapers in the
United Kingdom or a part of the United Kingdom is specified in this section.” Part 6 of teh Bill is a range of miscellaneous provisions.
The UK Communications Bill is very complex, but so is the media landscape in which we find ourselves today. The UK government has resisted the temptation to ‘do nothing’ hoping that it will then be clear of blame for making a mistake, but has also not just ‘caved in’ to vested interests and accepted their lobbying position without question. The Bill could well be a good starting point for Australia.
(Thanks to the British Consulate-General’s Sydney Information Office for access to research information for this article)