Top sport to stay free-to-air
Jessica Wright
November 21, 2010
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PREMIUM football matches, including the picks of the AFL
and NRL rounds, and headline cricketing events are set to stay in the
hands of the free-to-air television channels.
But broadcasters that misuse or shelve the rights to
major sporting events face harsh penalties under planned changes to
communication legislation.
The Labor government is expected to reveal this week its
long awaited changes to broadcasting laws governing sports and special
events and The Sunday Age has learned pay television will
continue to play second fiddle for the right to air some of the nation's
most lucrative sporting moments.
Currently, Australia has strict regulations - known as
anti-siphoning laws - that are designed to prevent pay television
broadcasters from buying monopoly rights to air ''important and
culturally significant events'' before free-to-air television has a
chance to bid on them.
The current regulations expire on December 31 and
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is considering additions and
removals from a list of 12 quarantined sporting events that must be
broadcast on free-to-air channels.
The Sunday Age understands cabinet will approve
changes this week that would allow pay TV to bid directly for some AFL
and NRL games, while retaining the ''best of the round'' or
blockbuster'' games for free-to-air; force penalties on broadcasters
that did not show certain events live, and allow an extension of
free-to-air rights to digital multi-channels.
Twenty20 cricket internationals played in Australia are
also tipped to be added to the list of protected free-to-air events.
There are 12 sports and events on the current list, including the
Olympic and Commonwealth Games. Any rights to protected sporting events
that are not acquired by free-to-air broadcasters are available to pay
TV.
There has been intensive lobbying by television and sports executives about the new deal.
Football Federation Australia chief executive Ben Buckley
flew to Canberra last week to exhort Senator Conroy to keep Socceroos'
World Cup qualifiers off the protected list, concerned that a forced
free-to-air broadcast would devalue A-League games, which are shown on
Foxtel sporting channels.
Discussions between television executives and Senator
Conroy's office have become tense, with a source saying a decision on
whether to roll over the list had ''yet to be decided''.
Both AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou and NRL boss
David Gallop are pushing for clubs to have a greater say in the
negotiations with television networks.
''We are best equipped to understand what our supporters want with games,'' Mr Demetriou said.
The Greens will this week introduce legislation that
would effectively delay the introduction of a new deal until Parliament
has considered it next year.
If the opposition supports the Greens' bill, any new list
would then need to be considered by Parliament for six days until it
comes into effect. Parliament rises on Thursday for the rest of the
year. A spokesman for shadow communications minister Malcolm Turnbull
said yesterday that the Coalition would consider the Greens' bill
tomorrow morning.
Last Modified on 21/11/2010 12:16