TV bosses descend on Canberra to eliminate broadcast tax
A phalanx of TV bosses supported by on-air talent are descending on Canberra today to convince politicians they should no longer be paying licence fees for using the public airwaves.
During the Parliamentary Showcase – to be held this evening in the Parliament House theatrette – the TV industry will argue strongly for the permanent removal of the Commercial Broadcasting Tax, which in theory raises around $50m annually in total. A bi-partisan parliamentary “friend group” will also be resurrected to support the industry’s lobbying.
It is a busy time in Canberra for lobbyists, with digital platforms also vigorously making their case against the under-16s social media ban, due to come into effect in December.
Last week a Greens-initiated Senate Inquiry was set up to examine the privacy implications of the age ban, which many see as a last opportunity for digital platforms to delay, water down or stop the ban.
For the TV industry, the “Shaping a Nation” showcase represents a rare unified front, and a chance to press its case in person with prime minister Anthony Albanese and communications minister Anika Wells.
Midjourney’s impression of the Telstra Tower in Canberra
As well as the abolition of the licence tax, the CEOs of Seven, Nine, Ten, WIN and industry group FreeTV Australia will be pushing against further regulation of gambling advertising and seeking direct support for regional TV.
CEO of Free TV Bridget Fair made the industry case when she spoke with Tim Burrowes and Zoe Samios on the ABC’s Medialand last week.
”We want to make sure that we are not shackled by outdated regulations. We’ve still got a lot of regulations that are hangovers from sometimes the ’80s or even earlier. We want to be in the best position to be able to compete,” she said.
“It would help not to have the government with their hands in our pockets … other things that we are looking at: some direct support for regional TV, which is obviously challenged at the moment … [and also] looking at something like extending the producer offset, which we currently use for drama and documentaries, to something like news production.”
The Commercial Broadcasting Tax, established in 2017 to replace fees based on TV revenue, is linked to the number and strength of broadcasters’ transmitters. It was suspended in 2020 for a year, and is currently again in another 12-month suspension “in the face of continuing financial pressures impacting the sector”.
The TV industry makes the case that its digital platform competitors do not have to pay fees to operate in the Australian market, and therefore the CBT is an unfair handicap. The counter argument is that broadcast spectrum — the part of the electromagnetic spectrum able to transmit TV wirelessly over distance — is a valuable public resource that must be regulated (to avoid overlapping signals) and carries significant commercial value.
Fair argued during her Medialand interview that commercial TV had a cohesive social impact.
“We’ve got a very fragmented world at the moment. We are seeing stories … that indicate fragmentation in our society is worse than it’s ever been, and we are one of the services where people enjoy the same thing at the same time. And that makes us feel that we are part of a community.”
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