With the current political furore about whether the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, gave the Australian commercial television networks an unwarranted gift in the form of a $250 million cut in licence fees, it is timely to revisit the history of program siphoning rules for Australian broadcast television.
Rhonda Jolly from the Australian Parliamentary Library has prepared an excellent history of Australia’s “anti-siphoning” provisions, and the politics between the free-to-air networks and the pay TV providers around the list under both Labor and Coalition governments. It is notable that, while such provisions, which refer to programs that must be carried on the free-to-air services, could include anything, in practice they have only ever covered sporting events, as this is where all the controversies arise.
In considering the history of program siphoning rules, three things stood out for me. First, the sheer size of the list has always indicated the influence that the owners of the commercial networks have had over Australian media policy, as it is a list that has few comparable examples anywhere else in the world. Second, “anti-siphoning” is an increasingly problematic term: events such as the Hyundai A-League soccer, Super 14 rugby and 20/20 cricket between the Australian state teams have always been events shown only on FOXTEL. Finally, as pay TV subscriber numbers head towards 30% (Disclaimer: including myself over Xmas), the politics of this issue may be shifting towards the pay TV providers.