On 19 August 2015, the Government introduced the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Primary Television Broadcasting Service) Bill 2015 (Cth) (Bill) into Parliament.
The Bill seeks to amend the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cth) to allow commercial and national free-to-air broadcasters to provide their primary television services in standard definition or high definition. Currently, free-to-air broadcasters are required to broadcast their primary service in standard definition.
In the Second Reading of the Bill, the Minister for Communications, the Hon Malcolm Turnbull, said:
With the completion of digital switch-over and the availability of a range of new television services, many Australians now expect premium free-to-air programming to be provided in high definition – especially events such as live sports.
The bill responds to these developments and amends the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, giving TV networks the flexibility to broadcast the primary service in either standard or high definition. It does not change any other existing arrangements regarding the primary services such as captioning, Australian content or anti-siphoning requirements.
The Bill forms part of a larger scale review of the free-to-air digital television regulatory framework to ensure that it is fit-for-purpose for the next wave of innovation in the media sector. The introduction of the Bill was brought forward so that, if passed, broadcasters will have the opportunity to broadcast this year's AFL and NRL grand finals in high definition. Although many free-to-air broadcasters offer high definition content on their secondary channels, anti-siphoning legislation prevents the major sporting events from being premiered on a secondary channel.
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