1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2004

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 27/02/2004

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Contents >> Culture and recreation >> Radio and television broadcasting

Broadcasting services in Australia are regulated primarily through the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cwlth). The Act identifies and defines categories of broadcasting services, establishes regulatory arrangements for broadcasting services, and establishes the Australian Broadcasting Authority as the independent regulator for radio and television in Australia.

The Act defines six categories of broadcasting services covering both radio and television:

national broadcasting services - the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), which are largely regulated through separate legislation

community broadcasting services - non-profit free-to-air services provided for community purposes

commercial broadcasting services - free-to-air radio and television services operated for profit and funded predominantly by advertising revenue

subscription broadcasting services - services with general appeal to the public and funded predominantly by customer subscriptions

subscription narrowcasting services - services with limited appeal to the public (either because of content or availability) and funded predominantly by customer subscriptions

open narrowcasting services - services providing programs targeted to special interests groups (e.g. foreign language), or of limited appeal because of content or availability, and not funded by subscriptions.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

The ABC has been in existence since 1932 as Australia's only national, non-commercial broadcaster. At 30 June 2003, the ABC's services included:

a national television service simulcasting in digital and analog

local television news services in each state and territory

ABC Asia Pacific, an international television service broadcasting by satellite to Asia and the Pacific

four national radio networks

Radio Australia, an international radio service broadcasting by shortwave and digital satellite to Asia and the Pacific

nine metropolitan radio stations in capital cities and Newcastle (New South Wales)

50 regional radio stations throughout Australia.

Further information about the ABC, including its publications, programs and broadcasts can be obtained from the web site, <http://www.abc.net.au>.

Special Broadcasting Service (SBS)

SBS was established by the Commonwealth Government in 1978. Its principal function is to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect Australia's multicultural society.

Both SBS Radio and SBS Television broadcast nationally. The radio service has its origins in 1975 when ethnic radio stations 2EA in Sydney and 3EA in Melbourne began limited broadcasts. By 1996 SBS Radio had expanded to its current five-signal service broadcasting in 68 languages. It operates a national signal heard in all capital cities and major regional centres, and separate AM and FM services in Sydney and Melbourne. It broadcasts in more languages than any other radio network in the world.

SBS Television, which began in 1980, broadcasts programs in more than 60 languages that it obtains from over 400 national and international program sources. SBS commissions from independent Australian film-makers a range of programs - dramas, documentaries, comedies and animation - that reflect multicultural Australia. More than half of the programs broadcast are in languages other than English, but they are made accessible to all Australians through SBS-produced English language subtitles. Further information about the SBS can be obtained from the web site, <http://www.sbs.com.au>.

Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA)

The ABA, established in October 1992 under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cwlth), is the regulator for radio and television broadcasting, digital broadcasting and Internet content in Australia. As well as planning the availability of segments of the broadcasting services bands (VHF/UHF television, FM and AM radio), the Authority has the power to allocate, renew, suspend and cancel licences and collect any fees payable for those licences.

Under the Television Broadcasting Services (Digital Conversion) Act 1998 (Cwlth), the ABA was empowered to regulate for the introduction of digital broadcasting services in Australia from 1 January 2001.

In terms of broadcasting content, the ABA is empowered to:

conduct research into community attitudes on programming matters

develop program standards relating to broadcasting in Australia

assist broadcasting service providers (licensees) develop codes of practice

monitor compliance with licence conditions and codes of practice

investigate complaints about services.

The ABA administers a regulatory scheme for Internet content which applies to Internet content hosts and Internet service providers. It also has a role in administering aspects of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (Cwlth), including investigation of complaints about interactive gambling content and registration of industry codes of practice (and/or determination of industry standards) relating to certain interactive gambling matters. Further information about the ABA can be obtained from the web site, <http://www.aba.gov.au>.

Television services industry

At the end of June 2000, in addition to the two public television broadcasters, there were 41 private sector television broadcasters, comprising 34 commercial free-to-air television broadcasting businesses (operating 48 television stations) and seven pay television broadcasting businesses (operating seven television stations). In 1999-2000 the private sector broadcasters earned a total income of $4,181.9m and employed 10,668 persons. Commercial free-to-air television broadcasters recorded an operating profit before tax of $803.5m, while pay television broadcasters reported a loss of $675.8m.