‘Doing the Australian viewing public a disservice’: Seven West Media responds to Senate committee recommendations
Seven West Media has released a statement on Tuesday evening following the Senate committee’s recommendations on the Prominence and Anti-siphoning Bill.
Seven West Media’s CEO and MD, James Warburton, said: “The committee’s recommendations totally misunderstand the needs of the Australian viewing public in 2024 and beyond. The recommendations are doing the Australian viewing public a disservice.
“The Senate committee has released a report that does not see merit in ensuring free sport for all Australians, particularly those who don’t have an aerial.
“As the Minister considers the report, Seven strongly urges the government to ensure that the anti-siphoning scheme includes the free digital simulcast of the broadcast stream and that Australians see the benefits of the Prominence Framework sooner.”
He said the network appreciated the report reducing the introduction of the Prominence Framework from 18 to 12 months, “however, for it to be effective over the coming years it needs to apply to TV screens already in the home”.
“Seven welcomes the input of the Greens through Senator Hanson Young who see the merit in a shorter introduction for prominence, reducing it from 18 months to six months and including the digital simulcast in the anti-siphoning framework, Warburton concluded.
Bridget Fair, Free TV CEO, also struck out at the recommendations, calling them “major missed opportunity to ensure that all Australians can benefit from free local TV services into the future.”
“While we welcome the Committee’s recommendation to reduce the implementation period for the new prominence framework from 18 to 12 months, the report misses the mark by not applying the new requirements to existing sets in the market,” Fair said.
“Every person with a connected TV sees the look and feel of their existing set updated on a regular basis. The changes required to implement the new prominence rules are no different. Unless we incorporate existing sets in the prominence framework, only those who buy a new TV will see any change, and people who can’t afford to upgrade their sets will miss out, even though their connected TV sets can be, and regularly are, updated over the internet. If we don’t make this important change, the legislation will not make any meaningful difference until late this decade.
“The Committee misses the mark on ensuring iconic sport remains free for all Australians too.
“The increasing number of Australians who watch their free sport on TV using the internet, because they have no aerial, will miss out unless the new laws are amended to stop paid streaming services buying up exclusive digital rights and putting sports behind a paywall.
“We’re running a real risk that in the not too distant future, if you want to watch your favourite sports, you will need to pay multiple streaming services to do so. Knowing that every Australian can freely access the big footy finals or gather around the TV for the Boxing Day cricket will be a thing of the past.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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