FREE TV CONSULTATION BEGINS ON PROVISIONS TO BAN GAMBLING ADVERTISING IN LIVE SPORT
Free TV Australia today [17 November] announced the commencement of the consultation period on the new draft provisions of the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice relating to gambling advertising during live sporting events.
The new provisions further restrict gambling advertising during live sports following discussions with the Government.
Free TV Acting CEO Pamela Longstaff said, "Free TV is committed to ensuring that the Code meets community expectations, including in relation to gambling advertising.
"These significant restrictions will prevent gambling advertising being broadcast during live sports at times that children are likely to be watching.
âOf course, to be effective, these safeguards must apply consistently across all platforms including online,â Ms Longstaff said.
The draft gambling provisions of the Code are open for public comment until 15 December 2017. They must then be approved by the Australian Communications and Media Authority before they come into effect in March 2018.
Public comments can be submitted to Free TV either by post to 44 Avenue Road, Mosman NSW 2088 or email to contact@freetv.com.au.
Full details of the consultation process including the draft provisions can be accessed here
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Iâm not home to download the app on my Apple TV yet, but Iâd be really surprised if Ten are actually live streaming all 3 of their channels via Freeview when only the main is currently only available on tenplay.
EDIT: Downloaded the app, works well especially for Ten as they donât offer live steaming through the tenplay Apple TV app like 7, 9, ABC & SBS do. Also as I suspected, only the main Ten channel is working with One & Eleven showing as unavailable.
Nine is still the only network that opens its own app 9Now when you click on one of their channels. Iâm surprised that Seven hasnât followed Nineâs lead to force viewers to use 7plus rather than the streams playing in the Freeview app.
The latest compliance report from the Australian Communication and Media Authority has confirmed that commercial free to air networks remain the home of Australian content in both metropolitan and regional licence areas.
FreeTV CEO Bridget Fair said: âCommercial television broadcasters are proud of our commitment to Australian content. Our members invest over $1.5 billion annually in making great Australian content that is loved by millions of Australians. Over 80 per cent of total program expenditure by commercial broadcasters is spent on Australian content.
âThis is an unrivalled commitment to telling local stories, entertaining and informing Australians and giving them access to all the major sporting codes, live and free.
âThe ACMA report shows that in 2017 all networks easily exceeded the requirement to show 55% Australian content on the primary channels between 6am and midnightâwith some exceeding 75%.
âOur networks broadcast nearly 600 hours of first run Australian dramas and documentaries in 2017. In total across the primary and multi-channels, 23,000 hours of Australian content was broadcast by the commercial free to air sector.
âContrary to incorrect claims made today, programming from New Zealand makes up a small fraction of the networksâ schedules. The ACMA has confirmed that only 409 hours of content from New Zealand was shown by FreeTV members in 2017. That is less than 2% of all Australian content and is less than the 5-year average.
âThe ACMA report does highlight the issues faced by 12 smaller regional sections 38 A and 38B or remote licensees in meeting the full multi-channel quota requirements. In these small areas, operational issues have impacted the ability of these licensees to syndicate the complete suite of multi-channels provided by their metropolitan affiliate.
âThis issue was anticipated and was raised with the Government last year during the review into the Australian content rules. However, even in these areas, the ACMA has confirmed that the amount of Australian content broadcast on the primary channel exceeded the minimum quota by so much that it far exceeded the multi-channel transmission shortfall for all 12 regional licensees.â
Bridget Fair and her organisation have done themselves a great discredit. ABC and ACMA caught them, they canât say itâs lying. FTA are lying themselves in this par.
Itâs still a breach, they should source content elsewhere to make up the shortfall, run Australian youtube videos if thatâs what it means.
Itâs no operational issue. Thereâs no technical barrier that there once might have been when reels were bussed in to remote stations. Even those stations made quota such as GTW Geraldton or RTS Loxton.
This is simply the regionals reluctance to pay the metro pipers and ACMA should be going after them.
We know that regional and metro licensees visit Canberra and lobby them, greasing the wheel with dinners and visits from âpersuasive peopleâ.
They have clearly silenced regional based MPs and Senators.
@Radiohead is correct, the quality is the most important requirement. The cheap formats such as reality are a disgrace. But who cares, at some point, the viability will reduce so much for stations that either theyâll sell (likely forced by admin a la 10) or reinvest to save themselves. Until then, itâs a race to the bottom.
Sorry for the typos in the original, I had limited time and didnât proofread!!
It shouldnât count. New Zealand is producing as much local product as Australia which is embarrassing for us, considering the size of their population.
