ABC faces News Corp call for charter review, to create level playing field

The ABC and SBS should be subject to a statutory review to create a “level playing field” in online news, publisher argues.

Managing Director Michelle Guthrie has led the ABC’s digital push. Picture: AAP

News Corp Australia has called for a statutory review of the charters of the ABC and SBS to create a “level playing field” in news online.

The publisher has made the case for the remits of the ABC and SBS to be reformed, arguing they have expanded their digital services at the expense of choice and, in doing so, distorted markets.

In a submission to an inquiry into the competitive neutrality of the national broadcasters, released publicly for the first time, News Corp has argued that the ABC should stop using taxpayer funds to crowd out commercial rivals in Google search results.

The Australian’s publisher News Corp calls for an end to the ABC competing for commercial contracts with organisations that do not enjoy its public funding to supply third parties with news content.

The submission notes that the British government recently reviewed the BBC’s charter amid similar criticisms of its activities from commercial operators. The Guardian newspaper lobbied ministers to “clip the BBC’s wings” during the government’s review of the corporation’s future.

News Corp also questions whether the public broadcasters are straying too far from producing content that is distinctive, original and free from commercial considerations. Fairfax Media has articulated the same concern.

“There is now a lack of a level playing field for the distribution of news content online,” according to the submission.

“Public broadcasters — who are now news publishers — are advantaged on this field due to their taxpayer funding models and the out-of-date Charters that require holistic review in the digital context.

“There is also a lack of a level playing field for the commercialisation of broadcast news content. Public broadcasters are advantaged on this field where they compete in a commercial marketplace with commercial news providers, with dramatically different incentives as they do not have to receive a return on their taxpayer funding in order to sustain a news content business including reinvestment in news content.”

A wide range of news publishers and commercial broadcasters have stated they have become collateral damage as the ABC and SBS battle for digital households.

Television networks point out that when commercial services work and there is an increased take-up of digital services, the public broadcasters simply hijack them and replicate their programming.

Critics argue that the public broadcasters have shifted away from factual programming towards more populist genres, against the spirit of their charters. The ABC and SBS, meanwhile, are dismissive of arguments used against them.

The inquiry received 139 submissions through the online submission form. Of this number, 38 did not give permission for their submission to be made public and 25 requested that their submission be published anonymously.

Additionally the inquiry received 6,669 submissions via email. A large number of these were received via a campaign website operated by left-wing group GetUp!.

The ABC and SBS are facing two government inquiries, run separately but concurrently, which have the potential to reshape the public broadcasters.

The first inquiry is into the competitive neutrality of the public broadcasters. The second inquiry is into the efficiency of SBS and the ABC as they spend their annual taxpayer allocations of and $280 million and $1.1 billion respectively.

Stan, the streaming service jointly owned by Nine Entertainment Company and Fairfax Media, said its start-up model faced increasing competition from national broadcasters.

“The manner in which national broadcasters are funded means they often find themselves in an advantageous position in content acquisition markets compared with growing commercial operators like Stan.

“In some cases these services are becoming more like ‘free’ versions of paid subscription services. National broadcasters have also begun to establish commercial partnerships with global streaming services which are largely focused on international distribution and securing second window rights in Australia.

“These sorts of partnerships often see the global partners benefiting from Australian government funds to reduce their cost of content rights.”

Journalists union the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance said the inquiry was being conducted in an environment of overt hostility towards the ABC and to a lesser extent, SBS.

“MEAA support full public accountability for public broadcasters. The ABC and SBS have made admirable headway in the first decade of the digital media era. It now appears that this is a source of unrest for commercial broadcasters, who are looking to preserve income streams, especially advertising income. The national broadcasters are not to blame for diminishing advertising returns.

“With all due respect to the panel members on this inquiry, MEAA believe that competitive neutrality principles, which have largely fallen into disuse in the past ten years, are a virtual Trojan horse through which the Government can mount further attacks on the ABC and its employees. Meanwhile, the progressive failure by government to modernise broadcasting regulation to suit the digital era continues.”