Media law reform as https://tvtonight.com.au/2020/10/ray-martin-to-front-regional-media-campaign.html
NZ population is ~5m, so not quite.
Changes to make the regulatory framework more favourable (for them) - they’ve also cracked the sads that they’ve been unable to engage with the communications minister.
The group’s media release also makes somewhat of a threat that they’ll walk away from local news if they dont get what they want - they talk of a plan that was jointly submitted to the Government for a sustainable local news model (I dont know whether they’ve made that public at any point or not)
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Yeah, it’s all very vague. I don’t know why they expect the public to support a secret, possibly illegal (collusion being against competition law) plan that we’re not allowed to see.
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I’ll put money on it being some kind of agreement where there’s minimal (if any) local news competition in each market and they will divvy up who gets what market.
Maybe some kind of single news operator that the three invest in?
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Agree it’s vauge.
They talk of Netflix and google. These guys are having a. Impact on every single tv broadcaster in the world - not just regional
Ones in Australia
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and the campaign it self :
https://www.saveourvoices.com.au/
https://www.saveourvoices.com.au/how-you-can-help/
Local media needs your help. Lending your voice to the debate will help us to save the trusted voices of regional Australia.
Ask your local federal member of parliament what they are doing personally to support a sustainable, independent and self-funding local media presence in regional Australia.
- Ask if they are aware that media regulations are seriously disadvantaging local news media.
- Ask if they want their local newspaper, television or radio news bulletin to disappear on their watch.
- Ask if they are prepared to sit idly by while the real voices of our communities wither and die.
While you’re at it, please consider buying a print or digital subscription to your local newspaper, or taking out an advertisement. If you’re a business owner, please consider the power of the airwaves and printed pages that you have at your fingertips. And when you buy a product that has been advertised on TV, radio or a newspaper, please be sure to tell the retailer where you heard about their product.
Together we can save our voices, but we have to act now.
Because regional Australians won’t know what they have lost until it is gone.
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The TV Aggregation model of three competing licenses was doomed from the start and the whole regional TV industry knew it. Only the metros approved of it as they were finally able to reverse the pendulum going their way smashing the former monopoly regionals turning them into metro network cash cow clones. Now it is all coming home to roost. If the regionals get their ways and merge, watch the return of the bad old days with even more reduced services.
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Most regional and remote markets cannot sustain the number of multichannels that the metros have - those living outside of the cities have to realise and deal with the fact the broadcasters are not charities - they must be sustainable businesses - if it is profitable I am sure they will do it, if they can’t make the numbers add up then they should go without.
The “choice” model from 1989 was based on five main channels of choice, not 20 channels with, almost all of it, repeated drivel.
Although personally, the regional networks should be able to place any new content from these channels in blocks on another of their channels in place of repeats. Just might be able to generate revenue from those targeted audience demographics for those periods.
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Most people dont care about the financial implications of these extra channels
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Yep. They just want them.
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It’s also worth noting that the alternate model that was pushed by regional broadcasters in the late 80s would more than likely had resulted in what we have today regardless - there was never an intention for a single broadcaster controlling all services in a market long term. Not to mention there had already been a level of consolidation of ownership in the leadup to aggregation.
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Prime7 “Live And Free” watermark being used on 7mate during Woman’s Cricket today.
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New?
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The issue is the profitable metro stations (largely) have separate ownership than their unprofitable regional affiliates.
7 West Media’s bid to purchase Prime7 should’ve been allowed to proceed, SCA should sell their 9 stations to Nine Entertainment, their 7 stations to 7WM, and ViacomCBS should buy WIN.
A degree of internal cross-subsidisation (which already happens to a degree) could work. Federal regulation/legislation should be updated to reflect the realities and dissuade networks from omitting services in less profitable broadcast areas (either they can afford to start-up another multichannel across the country, or not at all).
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But the reason this didn’t proceed wasn’t that the current rules didn’t allow it - rather a small number of shareholders, who control a decent amount of Prime blocked it because they didn’t believe it represented good value. Doesnt help that one of those shareholders is also owner of a competing broadcaster.
There’s no regulatory hurdle (beyond controlling a greater number of services then permitted in a licence area) that would stop the regionals being bought out by their metro counterparts - the financial reality of such a deal is what is stopping it
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