The arguments (for and against) were around concepts of localism and diversity.
The technical reason was:
Station groups are limited to reaching a maximum of 39% of all TV households. But with the discount, they only had to count half of the households reached by UHF stations.
That made sense in the days of analog TV. UHF stations lacked the reach of rivals on the lower-numbered VHF band.
But following the national transition in 2009 to digital over-the-air broadcasts, âUHF channels are equal, if not superior, to VHF channels,â the FCC says.
Nine Network chief Hugh Marks has reversed his companyâs media laws position by proposing to defer the reform bill until licence fee cuts are tackled.
Mr Marks told the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee that any change to ownership and concentration rules âbefore addressing onerous and unfair licence fees has the potential to distort the market and have unintended consequencesâ.
The U-turn has caused astonishment in media circles. There was snickering from some that Mr Marks is deploying stalling tactics for time to help Nine fend off the prospect of potential takeover bids as the networkâs shares crater amid weaker ratings and lower advertising revenues.
Other submissions are broadly in line with previous ones, but now take into account events such as Nineâs new affiliate deal with Southern Cross Austereo.
Bruce Gordonâs WIN seized on a âdemandâ by previous affiliate partner Nine for a 55 per cent slice of its ad take as evidence that regional operators are under increasing pressure to pay âhigh program supply fees to metropolitan broadcastersâ.
Together with its peers Prime Media Group and Southern Cross Austereo, WIN wants to see the bill passed as a matter of urgency.
Looks like Nine isnât as interested in the purchase of regional TV licences as SCA might like. Or perhaps Nine think that a legislation change will push up the price of the regional TV shares.
The news comes after Nine Âoffloaded its entire 9.9 per cent stake in regional affiliate partner Southern Cross Austereo for $120 million.
The sale ended speculation about any intentions Nine had of initiating a merger with Southern Cross, although the regional broadcaster is now the bigger of the two companies and could launch a takeover of its metro partner.
The new stand suggested Nine was not working on any deals that required the ownership laws to change.
A Senate committee has recommended the Turnbull governmentâs media reform bill be passed, but it will need crossbencher support after Labor slammed the proposals as ânarrow and shortÂsightedâ.
It recommended abolishing the reach rule, preventing mergers between metropolitan and regional free-to-air broadÂcasters, and the two-out-of-three cross-media ownership law.
The change would allow mooted merger combinations, such as Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media or Seven West Media and its regional TV affiliate Prime Media Group, to be consummated.
Also in the article.
Labor supports abolishing the reach rule and reductions to free-to-air TV licence fees but opposes scrapping the two-out-of-three rule âbecause it Âthinks that would benefit News Corp Australia, publisher of newspapers highly critical of the former Gillard and Rudd governmentsâ. The Greens echo the Laborâs view on the reformsâŚ
I still think license fees should work like income tax - allow local content created in the market of the license to be deducted from the license fee. Pump in everything from Sydney/Melbourne - pay more.
Television networks that use the argument that online services donât pay license fees are more than welcome to hand in their licenses and go online only. Their broadcast spectrum is their competitive advantage - it should come at a price.
Agree, they should pay something to use public airwaves, or be bound to air a strict amount of certain news, childrenâs and SCRIPTED entertainment programming each year, substantially more than now.
I agree with Labor, the reach rule is dumb these days, but 2 out of 3 still matters, especially considering how concentrated media ownership is in Australia.
I completely agree with Moe and TVHead. Broadcasting licence holders should have to pay for the privilege of using public airwaves and have a responsibility to properly cover the communities of the local licence areas they serve.
As far as the reach rule is concerned, thatâs rather outdated these days. But the â2 out of 3â rule should be kept, since media ownership in Australia is quite concentrated as it is. As I always say, media consumers are always better served with more choices rather than less!
When Fairfax closes the weekday editions of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and whatâs left of the daily regional papers, and then merges with another media company it will show how outdated the restrictions are/were.
The Turnbull governmentâs proposed changes to media ownership laws have passed parliamentâs lower house.
The reform package scraps the so-called reach rule, which prohibits a company controlling commercial TV licences which reach more than 75 per cent of the population.
It also removes the two-out-of-three rule, which prevents a proprietor controlling more than two of three radio, TV and newspapers in one area.
Expect News Corp to buy out the Long Doomed Network Ten and become Privately Owned in the Near Future, Tenâs Sport Offerings shall become under the Fox Sports Banner and itâs only Remaining News Bulletins come under the Sky News Banner as well.
Where politicians need to do something donât expect anything until theyâre backed into a corner (look at what they did with a supposedly high priority thing, changing their âentitlementsâ after Bronwyn Bishopâs chopper fiasco; nothing).
Any legislation that didnât pass both houses in the last session is basically abandoned; it has to be re-introduced to parliament in the new session, in this case Autumn session starting Tue 7 Feb: http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Sitting_Calendar
They ere everywhere proclaiming how much they cared about regional voices - ads everywhere and posting nonstop on Facebook every day about how much they cared about regional voices and their respective communities and wanting pity from everyone left right and centre.
Now nothing. Crickets. Dead.
I guess they stopped caring?
Safe to assume it was all to lobby govt - and not actually a reflection of how much they cared at all.