0/5

Turnbull backs “Fair go” sports events on Free to Air

Communication nnister says major sports events should remain accessible to all Australian, via Free to Air networks.

2015-03-17_0052

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has hit back at criticism of media reforms by News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch.

He defended his decision to not include the anti-siphoning list amongst his proposals, claiming major sports events should remain accessible to all Australians.

On Monday Murdoch tweeted, “Aust! Turnbull’s plans to scrap certain rules suit buddies at Nine. Can’t oppose dumping all regs but not this. Nice to see how MT plays.”

But Malcolm Turnbull has since told Fairfax, “The policy question for government is simply whether we want to continue with a free-to-air television system where ordinary Australians, who may not be able afford a Foxtel subscription, can nonetheless watch their favourite sport on free to air TV?”

“This is a very Australian arrangement. In many countries, pay TV has been able to secure the rights to major sporting codes thus requiring sports fans to pay for a subscription.

“Our arrangements, which are very long-standing and are amended from time to time, strike a balance between egalitarianism and our sense of a fair go on the one hand and strict economic rationalism on the other.”

He also talked down the prospect of Pay TV subscribers being slugged with higher fees as part of retransmission fees to Free to Air broadcasters.

“It would only mean that pay TV companies would have to seek permission from the free-to-air networks in order to rebroadcast their signal, just as, in fact, a free to air broadcaster would need to seek permission from Foxtel to rebroadcast one of its channels,” he said.

“The idea that the free to airs would demand a fee for such retransmission is hypothetical and in my view most unlikely.”

9 Responses

  1. The Anti-Siphoning list is anti-competitive. If it were any other business the ACCC would be investigating it.

    Why don’t they sell rights for FTA and sell rights for STV. Separate them out. Everyone is a winner!

  2. Murdoch just didn’t get what he wants, which is a reduction in the number of AFL and NRL games covered. Turnbull is playing to Wentworth, which is anti-Murdoch.

    The anti-syphoning rules don’t guarantee that events are on FTA. Many events like the US Open Tennis aren’t picked up by FTA so go to cable. And it doesn’t cover the ABC or SBS (so it’s not about viewers) it only protects what Seven, Nine and Ten want. What it does do is allow Nine and Seven to pick whatever AFL and NRL games they want to show, leaving Pay TV to bid for only the rest. This drives down what Seven and Nine pay and reduces the AFL and NRL’s income and hence what players get.

    The A-league isn’t on the list because Seven, Nine and Ten don’t want it. But the FFA has reduced its revenue from cable to put games on SBS to grow the sport.

    1. Small note to say it does include the nationals. The STV licence condition restricts them from acquiring rights to listed events unless either a national broadcaster has acquired the rights, or, a commercial TV service (reaching at least 50% of the pop) has acquired the rights.

      Not that the ABC or SBS are out there in the market for rights very much though.

    2. The list itself is fascinating, and well worth reading (and shaking your head over…)

      For instance, the AFL is on the list – except the whole 2014 AFL season (except the grand final) was exempted. The NRL is on the list – except all the currently-scheduled rounds of the 2015 season are exempted. Despite how I phrased it earlier, the US Open Tennis quarters/semis/finals are on the list – except they’re currently exempted until 2016. The Aus Open & Masters golf are on the list – except they’ve been exempted. The ICC One-Day Cricket Internationals are on the list – except they’ve been exempted…

  3. The current anti siphoning laws also restrict big events to air on main channels – free to air is free to air – let them at least air big events like NRL and AFL Grand finals as well as the games – on HD channels in HD without having to also air on the main channel in SD – as live and blurry on SD main channels is ridiculous in this day and age.

  4. If Foxtel want exclusive acess to all the premium sport, they should make all their sport channels available on their basic tier instead of being on a premium tier. If the pricing of the basic tier is raised to cover the switch, then that will be to their detriment.
    And as for retransmission of FTA signals, am sure they would all mostly give permission for Foxtel to do so, in return for free carriage on both cable and satellite.

  5. Last year, Australian FTA residents had the access to bigger events like Sochi Winter Games and Glasgow 2014 on Ten and the FIFA on SBS. That came after Channel 9’s backlash of the Vancouver 2010 when they screened a little portion of the sports on delay.

  6. Why should ordinary Australians get free access to sports programming like F1, netball and the US open, but ordinary Australians have to pay for access to the best drama programming such as Game of Thrones, Orange is the new Black?

    1. You might be surprised how few events from your list are actually on the anti-siphoning list…
      F1: One race out of 20 (the Aus GP)
      Netball: Only Aus/NZ internationals, & championship semi/finals if we’re involved (i.e. max ~5 / 6 games)
      US Open: Golf, or tennis? Doesn’t matter, neither are on the list for 2015/16

Leave a Reply