EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts

Broadcasting Services Amendment (Media Ownership) Act 2006

Proclamation

Subsection 2(1) of the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Media Ownership) Act 2006 (the Act) provides that Schedule 2 to the Act commences on a single day to be fixed by Proclamation.  However, if the provisions of Schedule 2 do not commence before 1 January 2008, then those provisions will commence on 1 January 2008. 

The Act received the Royal Assent on 4 November 2006 and all provisions of the Act, other than Schedules 1, 2 and 3, commenced on 4 November 2006.  The provisions of Schedule 1 to the Act commenced on 1 February 2007.  The provisions of Schedule 3 to the Act will commence on 1 January 2009.

The Proclamation fixes 4 April 2007 as the day on which Schedule 2 to the Act commences. 

Schedule 2 to the Act amends the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (BSA) to:

• remove the foreign ownership restrictions for commercial and subscription television interests;
• impose disclosure obligations on commercial radio and television licensees and newspaper publishers with cross-media interests;
• require the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to impose licence conditions from 1 January 2008 on commercial television licensees in regional aggregated Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania markets to broadcast a minimum level of ‘material of local significance’;
• require ACMA to impose licence conditions from the date on which Schedule 2 commences on regional commercial radio licensees that require licensees to maintain existing levels of local presence if the licence is subject to a ‘trigger event’ (that is, the licence is transferred to a third party, if a new commonly-controlled media group is created, or if control over the licence otherwise changes);
• require ACMA to impose licence conditions from 1 January 2008 on regional commercial radio licensees that require licensees to broadcast a minimum level of ‘material of local significance’ between 6am and 6pm on business days; and
• impose further local content obligations on regional commercial radio licensees if a trigger event occurs.  The further obligations involve minimum broadcast service standards for local news and information, as well as planning and reporting requirements.

The commencement date allows ACMA and other regulatory stakeholders to implement important regulatory measures, and enables industry to take early advantage of the business opportunities that both anticipate and are contingent upon the commencement of Schedule 2.  Stakeholders have been consulted on the commencement of Schedule 2 to the Act.

The Proclamation is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.