Chafter9 Other Issues A. Cross-Media Ownership
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CHAFTER9 OTHER ISSUES A. CROSS-MEDIA OWNERSHIP RULES 9.1 Prior to 1987 there were restrictions on the number of commercial radio and television licences a person could own. There were no restrictions on cross-ownerships with newspapers. Cross-ownership restrictions which limit common ownership of newspapers and commercial radio and television were introduced for the first time by the Government in 1987 as an integral part of a legislative package which repealed the 32 year old two station rule governing the ownership of commercial television and replaced it with an audience reach rule. The Government retained the limits on the extent of radio ownership as well as the 'one-to-a-market1 rule. The latter prohibited multiple ownership of radio or television licences in any service area. 9.2 The two station rule prevented a person from holding a prescribed interest in more than two commercial television licences throughout Australia. This rule equated an interest in stations in Sydney and Melbourne with an interest in stations in Mildura and Wagga despite massive differences in the population of their service areas. The audience reach rule allows persons to hold prescribed interests in any number of 295 commercial television licences as long as the combined population of their service areas does not exceed 60 per cent of the Australian population. 9.3 In explaining the case for cross-media ownership restrictions, the then Minister for Communications, the Hon. Michael Duffy MP, said in his second reading speech on the Broadcasting (Ownership and Control) BUI IWthat: If competition is to be enhanced, an essential part of the reform program is to limit cross-media ownership, that is, the common ownership of television-newspaper and television-radio interests within the television services areas. Cross-media ownership has a long history in this country going back to the 1920s when newspaper interests decided to become involved in the new broadcasting industry. It is of concern because it can limit public access to diversity of opinion, information, news and commentary. It can inhibit competition, produce monopolies, and affect employment opportunities. 9.4 Minister Duffy went on to say that raising the national ownership limit for commercial television without placing limits on cross- media ownership would produce an unacceptable level of media concentration in local television areas. Cross-media ownership rules were i introduced in order to: (a) support competition policy; (b) discourage concentration of media ownership in local markets; and 296 (c) enhance public access to a diversity of viewpoints, sources of news, information and commentary. (House of Representatives, Debates, 29 April 1987, pp. 2191-96) 9.5 These cross-media ownership limits restrict the ability of any one player to dominate a particular market or markets. Specifically, the cross-media rules limit the prescribed interests (control or indirect or direct interests above a certain level) a commercial broadcaster (i.e. television or radio) can have in newspapers in the same service area as that of the broadcaster. A newspaper is deemed to share the same market as a commercial television or radio station if more than 50 per cent of the newspaper's circulation is in the station's service area. Combinations of television and radio stations are not allowed if they serve the same market or their markets overlap by 30 per cent or more. There are no cross-media ownership restrictions applying to national newspapers and magazines. 9.6 Details of the prescribed interest for media within the same service area are shown in the following diagram: I LIMITS FOR SERVICES IN THE SAME DISTRIBUTION AREA Newspapers ••- Radio Television 15% 297 9.7 Cross-media interests between television and radio and television and newspapers held on 27 November 1986 which would have been in conflict with the cross-media rules were 'grandfathered' - i.e. they were exempted from the rules as long as those interests were not increased or sold. However, any new owner was required to comply with the cross-media ownership rules. The grandfathering provisions for radio and newspapers were introduced a year later - on 27 October 1987. Significant changes in media ownership since have resulted in the cross-media ownership rules applying to most service areas. 9.8 Prior to the introduction of cross-media ownership rules there were ten radio service areas where the only commercial radio service and the commercial television service were commonly owned. There were an additional nine areas where one of the commercial radio services and the commercial television service were owned in common. (BTCE, 1991) In some of those cases the common ownership extended to the local newspaper. 9.9 Tables 9.1 and 9.2 at pages 300 and 302 show cross-media ownership of major print media groups in June 1986 and the current situation. 9.10 The tables show that substantial cross-ownerships were in place in June 1986. Although the pre-existing cross-ownerships were sanctioned by the grandfather provisions of the cross-media rules, the sanctions could be retained only while shareholdings remained unchanged (i.e, neither increased nor decreased). Before 1987 it was common for newspaper groups i I 298 to also have major interests in radio and television. For example, the Herald and Weekly Times and John Fairfax groups had substantial television and radio interests. 9.11 The takeover of HWT by News limited meant that the previously sanctioned cross-ownerships became in breach of the Broadcasting Act and had to be disposed. The takeover also placed the previously unaffected News limited's interests in ATV (Melbourne) in breach of the Act (previously News limited had no newspaper interests in Melbourne). The sanctioned cross-ownerships of the Fairfax group and Consolidated Press Holdings (ACP/CPH) were disposed of when these groups sold their broadcasting interests during 1987-88. ACP/CPH recently reacquired most of its previously held broadcasting interests following the failure of Bond Media to comply with its financial obligations to ACP/CPH. 9.12 Now there are two major newspaper groups: News and Fairfax; three major television groups: Nine, Ten (Wesgo) and Seven (in receivership); and a number of radio groups: Hoyts Media, Austereo, Wesgo and Australian Radio Network. None of these groups have cross-media holdings. 299 Table 9.1: Major Print Media Groups with Prescribed Interests1 in Broadcasting (30 June 1986) GROUP PRINT RADIO TELEVISION News Ltd The Australian (National) 3FOX (Melbourne) TEN (Sydney) Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 4AM (Atherton) ATV (Melbourne) Daily Mirror (Sydney) The Sunday Telegraph (Sydney) Daily Sun (Brisbane) Sunday Sun (Brisbane) News (Adelaide) The Sunday Times (Perth) Northern Territory Times (Darwin) Townsville Bulletin Country/Suburban Newspaper Interests Major Magazine Interests HWT The Herald (Melbourne) 3DB (Melbourne) HSV (Melbourne) The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne) 3GL (Geelong) ADS (Adelaide) The Sunday Press5 (Melbourne) 4AK (Oakey? The Courier Mail (Brisbane) 4BK (Brisbane)2 Telegraph (Brisbane) 5AD (Adelaide)3 The Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 5PI (Crystal Brook)3 3 The Advertiser (Adelaide) 5SB (Mount Gambier) West Australian (Perth) Mercury (Hobart) Sunday Tasmanian (Hobart) Geelong Advertiser Bendigo Advertiser Kalgoorlie Miner Lithgow Mercury The Manly Daily Mercury (Maitland) Country/Suburban Newspaper Interests Magazine Interests Fairfax The Australian Financial Review (National) 2CA (Canberra) ATN (Sydney) The National Times (National) 2GB (Sydney) BTQ (Brisbane) The Sydney Morning Herald 2WL (Wollongong) The Sun (Sydney) 3AW (Melbourne) The Sun-Herald (Sydney) 4AY (Ayre) The Age (Melbourne) — - 4BH (Brisbane) The Sunday Press (Melbourne)5 5DN (Adelaide) The Canberra Times 4MMM (Brisbane) Newcastle Herald 2AD (Armidale)2 Illawarra Mercury (Wollongong) The Warrnambool Standard Country/Suburban Newspaper Interests Magazine Interests ACP/CPH Country/Suburban Newspaper Interests6 2UE (Sydney) TCN (Sydney) Major Magazine Interests 3AK (Melbourne) GTV (Melbourne) 6AM (Northern) 6PM (Perth) 6KG (Kalgoorlie) 6GE (Geraldton) Notes: 1. Prescribed interest defined as a shareholding of at least 15 per cent for radio and 5 per cent for television. 2. Interest through Queensland Press in which HWT held 41.5 per cent of the issued shares. 3. Interest through Advertiser Newspapers Ltd in which HWT held 36.57 per cent of the issued shares. 4. Interest through Rural Press Ltd in which Fairfax held 47.17 per cent of the issued shares. 5. Jointly owned by HWT & Fairfax. 6. Prescribed interests defined as an interest exceeding 15 per cent of shareholdings for radio and 5 per cent for television. Source: Compiled from information provided by ABT and various other sources. Table 9.2: Major Media Groups (30 June 1991) GROUP PRINT RADIO1 TELEVISION1 News Ltd The Australian (National) Daily Telegraph Mirror (Sydney) The Sunday Telegraph (Sydney) The Herald-Sun (Melbourne) The Sunday Sun (Melbourne) The Sunday Herald (Melbourne) The Courier Mail (Brisbane) The Sunday Sun (Brisbane) The Sunday Mail (Adelaide) The Sunday Times (Perth) The Mercury (Hobart) Sunday Tasmanian (Hobart) Northern Territory Times (Darwin) Sunday Territorial! (Darwin) Bendigo Advertiser Geelong Advertiser Townsville Bulletin Manly Daily Country/Suburban Newspaper Interests Major Magazine Interests Fairfax The Australian Financial Review (National) The Sydney Morning Herald The Sun-Herald (Sydney) The Age (Melbourne) The Sunday Age (Melbourne) Newcastle