Explanatory Statement
Broadcasting Services Act 1992
BROADCASTING (HOURS OF LOCAL CONTENT) DECLARATION NO. 1 OF 2007 (AMENDMENT NO. 1 OF 2007)
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Communications,
Information Technology and the Arts
Purpose
The Broadcasting (Hours of Local Content) Declaration No. 1 of 2007 (Amendment No 1 of 2007) (the Declaration) is made by the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (the Minister) under paragraph 43C(3)(c) of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the BSA).
The purpose of the Declaration is to vary the Broadcasting (Hours of Local Content) Declaration No. 1 of 2007 (the Principal Declaration) to:
- vary the “applicable number” as it applies to a racing service licence and remote area service licence; and
- vary the definition of “racing service licence”.
Background
Subsection 43C(1) of the BSA contains a safeguard relating to local content. It provides that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) must ensure that, from 1 January 2008, there is in force a licence condition requiring regional commercial radio licensees to broadcast minimum levels of “material of local significance” (as defined in the licence condition to be imposed by ACMA). Each licensee will be required to broadcast “at least the applicable number of hours” of material of local significance.
Subsection 43C(3) of the BSA sets out the meaning of “applicable number” for the purposes of the application of subsection 43C(1). It provides a default applicable number of 4.5 hours, but also provides that the Minister may declare a different applicable number of hours to apply to regional commercial radio broadcasting licences generally (see s. 43C(3)(b)), or to specified classes of licence (s. 43C(3)(c)).
Subsections 43C(3)-(4B) of the Act specify that before the power to make the Declaration may be exercised, the Minister must cause a statutory review to be conducted and a report of the review to be prepared and tabled in both houses of Parliament. The review was conducted by ACMA (pursuant to the Broadcasting Services (Local Content on Regional Radio) Direction No. 1 of 2006). The report of the review was prepared by ACMA and tabled in both houses of Parliament on 13 September 2007 (Australian Communications and Media Authority, Local content levels investigation report, June 2007).
In accordance with subsection 33(3) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, the Broadcasting (Hours of Local Content) Amendment Declaration 2007 (No. 1) (the Declaration) varies the previous declaration made by the Minister under paragraph 43C(3)(c) (the Broadcasting (Hours of Local Content) Declaration No. 1 of 2007) in order to amend the “applicable number” as it applies to ‘racing service licence’ and ‘remote area service licences’, and to amend the definition of ‘racing service licence’.
Details of the Broadcasting (Hours of Local Content) Declaration No. 1 of 2007 (Amendment No. 1 of 2007)
Section 1 provides that the name of the Declaration is the Broadcasting (Hours of Local Content) Declaration No. 1 of 2007 (Amendment No. 1 of 2007) (the Declaration).
Section 2 provides that the Declaration takes effect from the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
Section 3 is a definitions clause.
Section 4 provides that the Principal Declaration is amended as set out in the Schedule.
The variations contained in the Schedule are as follows.
Clause 1 amends the definition of “racing service licence” contained in subitem 3(1) of the Principal Declaration. The Principal Declaration requires that for a regional commercial radio broadcasting licence to be a “racing service licence” it must, inter alia, satisfy the criteria in subitem 3(1). That subitem requires that at least 80% of the content of the broadcasting service on a day (except Christmas Day or Good Friday) be of a type set out in paragraphs 3(1)(a)-(c). Broadly, those paragraphs relate to:
- descriptions of horse races, harness races and greyhound races;
- information directly related to horse races, harness races and greyhound races; and
- material incidental to the content in the first two categories.
The Government has decided to reduce the threshold from 80% to 60%. It is the Government’s intention that services which are predominantly racing radio services are subject to a five minute requirement. The Government has decided that a threshold of 60% best reflects the variations in programming across racing radio services, whilst still ensuring that only services which are predominantly racing radio services are captured by the definition.
Clause 2 substitutes item 4 of the Principal Declaration. The new item 4 varies the “applicable number” as it applies to a racing service licence and remote area service licence. Item 4 of the Principal Declaration declared the applicable number to be 30 minutes for those licences.
The Government has decided to reduce the applicable number as it applies to racing service licences and remote area service licences from 30 minutes to 5 minutes. Currently, there are four racing radio broadcasters and five remote area service licences.
The reason for this variation is that racing service licences typically retransmit special interest content from a central location. They are considered to have such a limited capacity to provide local content without forced format change that an applicable number of even 30 minutes is not appropriate. Similarly, remote area service licences typically cover vast areas of outback Australia such that the delivery of 30 minutes of material of local significance would be problematic.
Consultation
Stakeholder views on the issue of appropriate levels of local content were sought by ACMA as part of the statutory review that the Minister caused to be conducted pursuant to subsection 43C(4) of the BSA. Since ACMA completed its review, representations were made to the Minister directly by stakeholders regarding the appropriate levels of local content. This supplementary consultation process contributed to the Minister’s decision to make the Declaration.