Explanatory Statement

Broadcasting Services Act 1992

Broadcasting Services (Events) Notice (No. 1) 2010

(Amendment No. 7 of 2011)

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Broadband, Communications

and the Digital Economy

Purpose

The Broadcasting Services (Events) Notice (No. 1) 2010 (Amendment No. 7 of 2011) (the Notice) is made by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (the Minister) under subsection 115(2) of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the BSA).

The purpose of this Notice is to amend the Broadcasting Services (Events) Notice (No. 1) 2010 (the Principal Notice) to remove certain events from the Principal Notice to permit these events to be premiered on a free-to-air television digital multi-channel.

This Notice is a legislative instrument for the purposes of subsection 6(d) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

Background

Legislative background

Subsection 115(1) of the BSA provides that the Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, specify events that, in the Minister’s opinion, should be televised free to the general public. Such a notice is commonly known as the anti-siphoning list.

The inclusion of an event in a subsection 115(1) notice triggers a licence condition that prohibits subscription television broadcasters from acquiring rights to televise the event ahead of commercial television broadcasters and national broadcasters (see section 99 of the BSA and paragraph 10(1)(e) of Schedule 2 to the BSA).

The BSA also imposes restrictions on both commercial television broadcasters and national broadcasters with regard to televising events listed on a subsection 115(1) notice. Such restrictions ensure that anti-siphoning events (or parts of those events) are not shown on the broadcasters’ standard definition or high definition television digital multi-channels without first being shown, or being shown simultaneously, on the broadcasters’ main channels during the simulcast period (see Part 4A of Schedule 4 to the BSA). Similar restrictions apply after the end of the simulcast period to ensure that events on the anti-siphoning list are shown first, or shown simultaneously, on commercial television and national broadcasters’ primary digital multi-channels.

Subsection 115(2) of the BSA allows the Minister to amend a notice made under subsection 115(1) of the BSA to remove an event from the notice.

The purpose of this Notice is to amend the Principal Notice to remove from the current anti-siphoning list certain races to be held as part of the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship Series. 

The events to be removed are specified in Item 12.3 of the Schedule to the Principal Notice, as amended by this Notice.

2011 V8 Supercars Championship Series

The 2011 V8 Supercars Championship Series will be held between 10 February and 4 December 2011 in various locations around Australia, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates. It will consist of 26 races held across 14 locations and will be contested by 28 drivers.    

This Notice will remove from the Principal Notice certain races to be held as part of the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship Series, specifically:

• each race scheduled to be held in Darwin, Australia between Friday 17 June 2011 and Sunday 19 June 2011, as part of the Sky City Triple Crown;
• the second race to be held in Townsville, Australia, on Sunday 10 July 2011, as part of the Sucrogen Townsville 400; and
• each race scheduled to be held in Ipswich, Australia between Friday 19 August 2011 and Sunday 21 August 2011, as part of the Ipswich 300.

This will allow (but not require) the free-to-air broadcasters that hold the broadcast rights to these races (the Seven Network and its regional affiliates) to premiere the events on a digital multi-channel in licence areas across Australia in which these events occur at the same time as scheduled coverage of AFL Premiership matches. This would provide viewers in these licence areas with a greater level of choice and allow these viewers to access earlier coverage of races that would otherwise only be shown on a long delay.

Notes on Clauses

Clause 1 provides that the name of the Notice is the Broadcasting Services (Events) Notice (No. 1) 2010 (Amendment No. 7 of 2011).

Clause 2 provides that the Notice will commence on the day it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.

Clause 3 is a definitions clause.

Clause 4 is the main operative clause.  It provides that the Principal Notice is amended by substituting the existing Item 12.3 of the Schedule to the Principal Notice with a new Item 12.3.

This amendment has the effect of removing certain events to be held as part of the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship Series from the Principal Notice. The effect of new Item 12.3 is that each race in the V8 Supercars Championship Series, including the Bathurst 1000, will remain listed on the Principal Notice (for the purposes of the obligations in Part 4A of Schedule 4 to the BSA), except for:

(a)   each race to be held in Darwin, Australia as part of the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship Series;

(b)   the second race to be held in Townsville, Australia, as part of the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship Series;

(c)   each race to be held in Ipswich, Australia as part of the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship Series.

New Item 12.3 does not include the existing exception for the first 2011 V8 Supercar Championship Series race to be held in Hamilton, New Zealand.  This race has already taken place and, as a consequence, the exception is spent and need not be reinserted by new Item 12.3 into the Principal Notice.

Consultation

Consultations were undertaken with V8 Supercars Australia, Foxtel, Austar, Premier Media Group, the Seven Network and its regional affiliates following the Seven Network’s request to the Minister that certain 2011 V8 Supercars Championship races be removed from the anti-siphoning list. The Seven Network holds the free-to air broadcast rights to these events.