Government gives free-to-air TV a $50 million pre-election gift
The Albanese Government has suspended the commercial broadcasting tax for a twelve-month period, lifting “an outdated and unreasonable burden” that will save the free-to-air networks $50 million in fees.
The commercial broadcasting tax is the latest iteration of what has traditionally been known as a “spectrum tax”, which was implemented in 1964 and saw commercial TV stations taxed a percentage of their revenues, in exchange for access to the broadcast spectrum.
In 2017, regulatory reforms saw the 4.5% gross revenue licence fee replaced with a flat tax (the CBT), and positioned as an ‘interim’ measure for a five-year period.
Free TV, who represent Ten, Nine, and Seven, argue the CBT is not the same as the spectrum tax of old, and “has nothing to do with spectrum value and was arrived at simply as a proportion of the revenue tax it replaced”, claiming it is instead a “disguised super profits tax being applied to a sector that is not earning super profits” and that the creep of both digital platforms and overseas streaming services – both of which are not subject to the same advertising restrictions – makes it an unfair burden on the sector.
Bridget Fair, CEO of Free TV, welcomed the one-year suspension of the tax – which will commence in June – as a “an important first step”, but called for the CBT to be permanently abolished.
“Free TV broadcasters already spend $1.67 billion a year on Australian content for the benefit of all Australians, and are subject to a raft of additional regulatory requirements that do not apply to global digital giants we compete with,” she explained.
“It is now time to permanently remove the significant handbrake on the commercial television industry that the CBT has become.
“It is extremely important that Government recognises real and material regulatory costs, and the value of public goods that commercial television broadcasters provide, when considering industry tax settings.”
The free-to-air networks are currently bracing for what seems to be the eventual loss of the $238.6 million in gambling advertising revenue the ACMA recently calculated they earn each calendar year.
The Albanese Government has signalled numerous times it will clamp down on gambling advertising, following a 2023 bipartisan parliamentary review that called for a complete ban, but plans have since stalled.
Anthony Albanese spoke out against the levels of online gambling in 2023, after the initial parliamentary inquiry, telling ABC Radio “that the idea you’re watching a footy game and, on comes an ad for gambling, I find pretty reprehensible”.
Earlier this month, The Greens offered to support a partial ban on sports betting advertisements in order to push some legislation through, but this was rebuffed, with spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young telling Today, “the Labor Party and the Liberal Party don’t have the guts to take on the gambling lobby because of the hundreds of thousands of dollars they’re getting from the gambling lobby in political donations.”
Hanson-Young said people “can draw the dots why Labor and Liberal are going weak”.
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This $45 Million licence tax “holiday” will do nothing to “help journalism”. There’s nothing like helping commercial networks give more airtime to Labor than a $45 million dollar free gift. Official Legal BRIBERY !
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