If you look at the time it was posted around about the same time.
Havent seen too much other coverage yet.
Perhaps when it becomes law it will get a final dose of coverage
This shows that the reform package is at the assent stage now:
Once that changes to âActâ then it is law
A historic moment with no media coverage (as far as I can tell)
Today officially marks the passing of the media reforms with the royal assent having gone through.
The media reforms are now an ACT and are law⌠as of today!
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Rod Sims again prejudging media consolidation scenarios. I think he needs to wait until the ACCC investigates a proposed transaction, rather than his recent habit of deciding which whiteboard deals he has concocted will pass.
Is there anything wrong with outlining to the industry what the ACCC will be looking at/what their logic & concerns are?
Knowing how the ACCC are going to look at a proposal would save time & money by allowing companies to put up an initial proposal which is much more likely to be acceptable, a saving for both the companies & taxpayers (who pay for the ACCC).
No. But Sims specifically names companies that he wouldnât allow to merge with other specific companies. That is prejudging.
Another recent change to legislation for broadcasters is the introduction of the new Commercial Broadcasting (Tax) Act 2017.
An Act to impose a tax relating to transmitter licences that are associated with commercial broadcasting licences, and for related purposes
Some interesting tables in the Act like this one
One question I have concerning the media reforms passed in October, what constitutes a âtrigger eventâ that will put in place the new local content requirements?
Presumably a change of ownership would be one of the main trigger events.
Would there be ano others that donât constitute change in ownership? Otherwise many regions could be stuck without the changes a couple years down the track.
REPORT ON THE INQUIRY INTO THE AUSTRALIAN FILM AND TELEVISION INDUSTRY
Media statement from Screen Producers Australia
Today, our CEO, Matthew Deaner, welcomed the House Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts Report on the inquiry into the Australian film and television industry.
âThis report is a significant contribution to the debate around the future of our industry. The report made many recommendations which, if implemented, would support small to medium-sized Australian production businesses, which drive our industry, to deliver more quality Australian content to Australian and international audiences. I call on the Government to use this report to inform the outcomes of its own review.â Mr Deaner said.
The Report made 13 recommendations relating to modernising and harmonising the producer, PDV and location offsets; local content obligations on SVOD services, the ABC and SBS; reform of the childrenâs quotas and a contestable fund for childrenâs content; a regional emphasis for Screen Australia funding; more and better co-production agreements with our Asian neighbours; introducing flexibility to the Foreign Actor Certification Scheme; closing the New Zealand content loophole; and a greater emphasis on mental health and wellbeing in the industry.
âSPA provided the Committee with a forward-thinking, positive policy agenda focussed on increased trade, which has largely been adopted by the Committee. Our industryâs policy settings on tax, local content quotas, Screen Australia and co-production treaties have served us well and got us to where we are now. But if we are to grow the industry and compete better in the global marketplace, we need to better equip our small to medium-sized production businesses. The Committee has delivered a report that sets out an updated policy framework which will empower Australian production businesses to compete internationally for ideas, finance and talent, including long-overdue, sensible and sober reform of the Foreign Actor Certification Scheme, which will benefit the entire industry.â
âOne concern I have with the recommendations is the proposed reduction in tax offset for feature films from 40 to 30 per cent. There are many existing challenges for our talented film makers in todayâs competitive global landscape and to put things simply, this proposal will mean great Australian feature films will struggle to get made. SPA has made this clear in our submission to the Government in the Australian and Childrenâs Content Review and we will continue to advocate for features films not be marginalised in any policy reforms and ensure great Australian productions like Lion, The Sapphires, The Dressmaker and Sweet Country be able to be made and shown to audiences both home and abroad.â
âI am delighted to see the Committee has recommended SVOD services, that generated significant revenue from our market, contribute something to the local industry â up to 10 per cent of revenue earned. Following Europe and Canada, I am convinced it is a just a matter of time for Australia to catch up.â
âWe know the commercial broadcasters want their obligations to Australian children abolished. The Committee has conducted some valuable thinking around addressing Australian childrenâs content. The Committee has made sensible recommendations to reform both demand and supply-side policies to ensure continuing supply of a variety of quality Australian content across multiple platforms. SPA will continue to advocate to #savekidstv.â
âI commend the Committee Chair, Luke Howarth, for his enthusiasm for our industry. Over the course of this year, Luke has been dedicated in his commitment to identifying problems in the industry and developing options to address these problems. He has led a Committee that has consulted with industry in good faith and has delivered a suite of sensible recommendations for reform. I also want to thank the Deputy Chair, Tim Watts for his contribution to the report, particularly relating to increasing trade with Asian countries, and Committee members David Littleproud and Susan Templeman.â
Report on the inquiry into the Australian film and television industry.
List of recommendations
Tax incentives for screen production
Recommendation 1
The committee recommends that the Australian Government makes the following changes to the producer offset:
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Introduce a single offset level of 30 per cent for all types of qualifying production, which includes film and television. This will remove the distinction between theatrical and non-theatrical features.
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Remove the 65 hour cap on television series accessing the offset.
Recommendation 2
The committee recommends that the Australian Government makes the following changes to the location and post, digital and visual effects (PDV) offsets:
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Increase the location offset to an internationally competitive level of 30 per cent. This will eliminate the need for top-up grants and provide more financial certainty to overseas production companies considering Australia as a destination.
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Decouple the location and PDV offsets so that both can potentially be claimed for the same production.
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Provide in the legislation that productions commissioned for any content platform will be eligible for the location and PDV offsets if qualifying Australian production expenditure (QAPE) requirements are met.
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Reduce the minimum QAPE threshold for the location offset to $5 million specifically for pilot features.
Australian content quotas
Recommendation 3
The committee recommends that any future reforms to Australiaâs content quota system ensure that commercial and subscription television companies continue to invest in and broadcast Australian programs for general audiences at current levels. In addition, the new quota system should provide that subscription video on demand services invest a percentage of the revenues they earn in Australia, for example 10 per cent, in new Australian content.
Recommendation 4
The committee recommends that the childrenâs content sub-quotas be reformed in light of current viewing trends but continue to ensure access to a variety of quality Australian content for children, particularly live- action drama, across all platforms.
Recommendation 5
The committee recommends that the Australian Government reviews the hours-based quota for first release childrenâs screen content and considers replacing some or all of this quota obligation with a contestable fund to support the creation of quality Australian childrenâs programs into the future.
Recommendation 6
The committee recommends that first-release be redefined to mean first broadcast anywhere in the world.
Recommendation 7
The committee recommends that the charter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation be amended to require a minimum hours- based quota for first release childrenâs screen content. This reflects the ABCâs strong commitment to childrenâs television and community feedback indicating that the ABC has become the primary provider of Australian programming for children.
Recommendation 8
The committee recommends that the Special Broadcasting Service Corporation charter be amended to require additional multicultural programming to be sourced domestically so that a minimum of 50 per cent Australian content is shown across all of its channels. This must also include a commitment to more content from regional areas.
Other issues in Australiaâs screen industry
Recommendation 9
The committee recommends that 10 per cent of Screen Australiaâs funding be earmarked for productions outside of Australiaâs two major capitals. The rules governing this regional funding allocation should stipulate that the production:
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must conduct its principal photography in a town, small city or area that lies beyond metropolitan Sydney or Melbourne; and
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does not need to meet significant Australian content rules but must satisfy the same QAPE threshold requirements as the producer offset and must employ a majority of Australians.
Screen Australia must also provide a regional breakdown in its annual report of the productions it has funded.
Recommendation 10
The committee recommends that the Interactive Games Fund be reinstated.
Recommendation 11
The committee recommends that the Australian Government expands the current co-production program by negotiating agreements with additional Asian countries.
Recommendation 12
The committee recommends that the Australian Government amend the Foreign Actor Certification Scheme to remove the obligation for union consultation.
Recommendation 13
The committee recommends that the Minister for Small Business discuss mental health and other occupational health and safety issues with small businesses in Australiaâs entertainment industry and consult on ways to address these concerns into the future.
I think that regional television stations should not be able to vary the schedule and drop programs from the station they are affiliated with for infomercials unless, they provide at least half the amount of time they give infomercials to local news in the same market⌠Perhaps capping it at 5 hours for local news or 10 hours for
other locally produced entertainment such as locally chat shows in the same vein as The Morning Show.
Noodle updates should be not counted in locally produced content.
If the ACMA adopted such a policy, then Prime7 couldnât drop channel 7 programming in Newcastle, Canberra and Wollongong unless they provide them with local news bulletins or other local content.
At present, Prime7 screens an extra 21 hours of infomercials overnight throughout the week over that provided by Channel 7. This would reduce Prime7âs ability to blanket cover markets with infomercials without giving something back.
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Prime and WIN put in effort (particularly the former) into their markets.
But SCA donât, although they do in SCTV (Seven affiliate markets), especially Tasmania, probably because of the local ID / dominance / local news there.
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Prime axed local news in Newcastle, Canberra and Wollongong in 2001, and Telecasters Australia axed local news in the northern NSW in the mid 1990s. Prime are the biggest offenders of airing additional infomercials over their metropolitan affiliates, which is why I singled them out in my example. The fact they have been able to screen 4 and half to 6 hour marathons of infomercials, whereas their metropolitan counterparts air 2 hours mean that they could be making a lot of money out of puling the metropolitan schedule for this type of programming.
At one point, Canberra had Prime 5:45pm news, perhaps with Channel 7 co-operation, they could produce something like that again and replay it late at night (maybe just before the infomercials). All they would have to say is at 4:45pm that regional NSW viewers leave us now and then The Chase Australia could screen from 4:45pm til 5:45pm on Prime. (if you watch Nine News Now, they announced that WA viewers leave the show at around 3:55pm AEST), so something like that has the potential to work.
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No licensee should be under any mandated obligation to a network, other than that stipulated by their affiliation agreement.
The purpose of Aggregation was to equalise the number of services to regional areas, there was and is no obligation to affiliate with a Metro network. It just happened that that was the most efficient way to do it. So ACMA canât make rules like the one you suggest, that tie in with regionals affiliation partner. The airing of Advertorial programs is a calculated risk by whichever station, guaranteed income v viewer satisfaction.
Personally I think Advertorial programs shouldnât be exempt from non-program content: Problem fixed. That is something the ACMA could rule on.
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I think what he is saying is that there is clearly some programming issues.
Every week, as an example, Seven show double episodes of Time After Time at around midnight but GWN7 shows 1 episode then goes to GWN7 repeat news and advertorials. So whilst metro get eps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 all shown in order, GWN7 viewers see a disjointed run of episodes 1, 3, 5, 7.
They also show double episodes of Powerless but only 1 episodes airs on GWN7.
No way to treat programs
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I am just suggesting maybe a rule to prevent networks from not airing local content. I know the US is a bigger market, but over in the US, there are local programming blocks built into their slots.
Ultimately, they should not be able to simply swap actual programs for infomercials if they cannot or unwilling to provide relevant local content.
I am arguing that noodle updates shouldnât be counted as local content, especially if a network cannot be bothered to produce local programming. I strongly believe this given some of the secondary channels screen the same episode of the same show 2 or more times in a 24 hour period on the same network. I can accept the ACMA cannot stop a network from screening a marathon of the episode of same program or re-screening content (otherwise ABC News channel would consistently be breaching the code), but with multi-channels, there needs to be a better system than allowing 2 minutes news updates.
The old system was 120 minutes of local news or 240 minutes of local programming a week were to be supplied by each regional channel in Eastern Australia. If they specified that these programs need to be in a format of not less than 15 minutes to count as âprogrammingâ, then perhaps proper local content could potentially air on all networks in markets not currently served proper local content. With a multi-channel format now across most regions, there is room to screen on either a primary or secondary channel, providing that they advertise the time/s and channel/s such programming will screen.
The new system supposedly encourages local news over other content, essentially, it could be seen as ridiculous for all networks to screen local news with the same stories. Perhaps one network could look at local sports (eg could Prime7 could in Newcastle, Canberra and Wollongong could possibly screen a local rugby union match and maybe a 1 hour sports show and a 30 minute news week type show - showing major stories in the region) or WIN could air a 1 hour weekday program based on issues in each area (maybe title it Studio WIN) - this could air at midday weekdays on 11 and maybe air instead of AAN on the main channel at 7:30am. These are just ideas, but essentially local flavour is missing.
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Maybe a 10% rule could apply to infomercials on the main channel with a piece of legislation something like âinfomercial programming content on any day shall not exceed 10% of total hours broadcast across a networks primary channelâ.
This would still allow stations like Prime7 to screen infomercials on the secondary channel eg Prime7 might drop NBC Today between 9:30am and midday and replace it with infomercials on 7Two.
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