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Report: Here comes media reforms bill

A bill to abolish the reach rule, and the two out of three cross media ownership law will be presented to Parliament this week.

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Media reforms bill will be put to Parliament this week, according to reports.

A bill to abolish the reach rule, which prevents mergers between metropolitan and regional free-to-air broadcasters, and the two out of three cross media ownership law will be presented to Parliament today or tomorrow.

The Coalition partyroom has backed the bill, The Australian reports. It is expected to include a clause that requires regional networks to boost production of local news in the event of a change of ownership.

Labor supports the reach rule’s abolition but has not declared its view on the two out of three rule, which stops anyone owning a newspaper, free-to-air licence and radio station in the same market.

The news comes as media bosses including Tim Worner, Hugh Marks and Peter Tonagh descend upon Canberra for the annual mid winter ball. Regional TV bosses Ian Audsley and Andrew Lancaster are expected to meet independent senators who could prove crucial in passing the bill.

Nick Xenophon may also tie his support to increased gambling restrictions.

6 Responses

  1. Sounds good. The current legislation is ridiculously out of date. We don’t have a world that just has tv, newspapers and radio anymore. The internet is a much bigger source of news that newspapers these days and anyone can setup and run a website and pretend they matter.

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