27/07 Tuesday 27 March 2007

Minister welcomes Register to support Media Diversity Safeguards

The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan today welcomed the release by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) of the Register of Controlled Media Groups.

“The establishment of the Register was a key component of the broader media reform package aimed at ensuring the protection of diversity and localism within the industry, whilst taking the media regulatory framework into the 21st century and beyond.

“For an industry that is facing issues of rapid convergence and the new media ‘explosion’, it was untenable that businesses were operating within a regulatory framework that has seen very little change for over two decades.

“With consumers accessing entertainment and information services over the Internet and their mobile phones as well as more traditional media sources such as television, radio and newspapers, it was critical that this framework was updated to reflect the information revolution whilst ensuring protection of diversity and localism,” Senator Coonan said.

Senator Coonan said that the Register will be an important tool in protecting media diversity by ensuring an adequate number of independent voices are maintained in each licence area.

“The new laws create a framework that will deliver greater consumer choice and a competitive industry in the digital media age.

“This country needs a flexible system to allow media organisations - national, commercial or community based - to adapt and prosper in the new digital environment.”

Senator Coonan said that both ACMA and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) have a role in protecting media diversity.

“Transactions will not be permitted to proceed without prior approval from ACMA, if the number of separately controlled media operations or media groups in a licence area drops below certain levels,” Senator Coonan said.

“Accordingly, the Register will assist both media operators considering whether it is possible to move into a market and ACMA in determining whether the appropriate levels have been maintained.”

The release of the Register of Controlled Media Groups is a legislative requirement of the Media Reform package, which is yet to be proclaimed.

More information on the Register of Controlled Media Groups is available from www.acma.gov.au

Media Contact: Fiona Telford 02 6277 7480