The Australian government is moving closer to approving new regulatory reforms that would "better support the Australian media industry and enhance the range and quality of services and content available to all Australians."
Under the proposal, streamers would have the obligation to invest a percentage of their Australian revenue in local content, either through commissions, coproductions or acquisitions.
The proposal seeks to accomplish two goals: to encourage international streamers to produce more Australian content and also to provide more homegrown content to local over-the-air broadcasters. Currently, Australian free-to-air networks are required to have a 55% quota of Australian content on their airwaves, with additional sub-quotas for Australian kids, documentary and drama content.
The proposal would also require SVOD and AVOD services to “make Australian content discoverable to Australian audiences” and report to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) each year on performance against those expectations.
Failure to comply with expenditure expectations over two years could be subject to formal regulatory requirements imposed by the minister under the proposal.
A group of Australia's industry unions, guilds and associations representing 26,000 creatives from across the screen industry, have issued a set of guiding principals that argue should be part of the new regulatory reforms:
- A minimum 20% of revenue investment obligation by the steaming services or a certain and legislated pathway that will reach this goal within three years. We need a robust, transparent and incorruptible regulatory model that all Australians can have confidence in and that will take our industry forward, meet the promise to audiences of Revive, and demonstrate an ambition to grow the Australian screen industry as an important future industry for our economy in a screen content-hungry world. It is unacceptable to the screen industry for any detail of this to be left to the regulator to deal with at an uncertain future date. We need legislative certainty now. The inclusion of sports expenditure to discount a revenue model is not acceptable. Sports rights already attract high levels of expenditure, audiences, government support and business monetisation in the market and only serve to undermine the policy goals for streaming regulation. Sports expenditure should have absolutely no place in a policy framework to deliver on Australia’s National Cultural Policy. The alternate proposed expenditure models have low integrity and accountability and can very easily be manipulated by digital streaming platforms and are therefore rejected outright by us. Similarly, allowing a streaming platform to acquit any part of its investment obligation from ‘in-house’ production weakens regulation and incentivises internal cost manipulation.
- Revive’s promise of ‘a place for every story, a story for every place’ needs to be realised. Investment is needed to support First Nations storytellers and also support diversity / inclusion outcomes to ensure that the policies can be delivered to all Australian audiences and that all communities have access to creative work in the screen industry.
- A strong definition of ‘Australian content’, that will deliver screen stories of Australian cultural value. We need a better balance between foreign projects that use Australia as a low-cost location and valuable Australian stories that are driven by Australian creative workers to ensure that public investment results in public value.
- Ownership of intellectual property in Australian creativity must be secured for Australians and treated as a valuable national asset to be retained by us. The Australian Government must take action to stop the abuse of market power by powerful digital streaming platforms that are intimidating creatives into surrendering these rights, including for projects that receive generous public funding through screen incentives. Licensing rights to the creative work must revert back to Australian creatives to count as part of this investment obligation. Similarly, platforms should adhere to industry terms of trade that will ensure screen businesses, workers and suppliers are dealt with in a fair and sustainable manner.
- The industry supports a threshold of $50 million in revenue or 500,000 subscribers for a service to trigger regulation obligations. This would capture all commercially viable streaming services. The current proposal is far higher than standards around the world, and the proposed exclusion of “thematic” or “niche” services would only create unnecessary complications.
- Minimum levels of investment by streamers in scripted drama, documentary, and kids’ content should be legislated as part of their investment obligation. We reject any so-called ‘multipliers’ that will dilute overall investment in vulnerable genres and undermines the intent of what is to be achieved from regulation. This will still allow plenty of flexibility for streaming platforms to invest in any content of their choosing while ensuring that vulnerable genres are part of their commissioning plans.
- The investment obligation must focus on new commissions and not acquisitions. The purpose of the regulation is to generate new skilled jobs and new content, not to create a secondary trading market where companies sell their libraries to each other. An acquisition of a program for more than three years should not be included in any investment or expenditure calculation.
- The Australian screen industry should retain its independent character that currently ensures the diversity of screen stories and supports our unique character and creativity. This can be done by ensuring the majority of regulated commissioning is done as an arms-length transaction by minimising in-house commissioning by streaming services that obscures accountability and Australian industry sovereignty.
The list of principals were signed by the following Australian trade guilds and unions:
Screen Producers Australia
Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance
Australian Writers Guild
Australian Directors Guild
Australian Cinematographers Society
Australian Location Managers Guild
Australian Guild Of Screen Composers
Australian Screen Sound Guild
Australian Screen Editors
Once the regulatory reforms are finalized, they would need to be passed by the Australian parlament.