Regional newsrooms under threat as media companies say they are making no money

Regional broadcasters say their newsrooms are struggling to survive and the rules need to change if they are to continue to serve their communities.

WIN TV chief executive Andrew Lancaster. Picture: Hollie Adams

Regional news services are under threat from declining advertising revenue and some media bosses say they make “no money out of local news”.

Speaking at the Senate inquiry into media diversity, Prime Media chief executive Ian Audsley said the company had gone from being a $360m business to a $160m entity in the past five years.

“None of us makes money out of local news,” Mr Audsley told the inquiry.

“We lose a substantial amount of money on local news. We do it as a public service, we don’t make from it.

“We have not made money from it, certainly in Prime’s case, for two decades.”

Mr Audsley said the economics behind running regional newsrooms was being increasingly challenged and for many it was simply unsustainable.

“The reality is the market can only have what the market can ­afford and the economics of ­regional markets don’t have the capacity to sustain more than one regional television news service,” he said.

“Even though most of Australia is back spending, we are still behind where we were two years ago and we still bear the costs of our business that is increasing.”

Media bosses want legislative changes including to abandon the one TV licence in one market rule and the voices test, which requires at least four voices in regional commercial radio licence areas.

WIN TV chief executive ­Andrew Lancaster, also appearing at the inquiry, said WIN had also experienced sharp declines in revenue and the loss of about 55 staff, including journalists and camera operators, in the past five years.

Prime CEO Ian Audsley. Picture: Hollie Adams

Mr Lancaster said there was an “increased level of competition for eyeballs in regional Australia”. 

“We don’t profit from local commercial local news, far from it,” Mr Lancaster said.

“Over the last five years we’ve had a 25 per cent reduction of audience and similarly a reduction of revenue of about the same amount.”

He said WIN had shut down five news services in this time in locations including Wagga Wagga, Dubbo, Wide Bay, Albury and Orange.

Just last month, Nine signed an affiliate agreement with Bruce Gordon’s WIN, which means Channel 9 television content will return to the regional broadcaster in Tasmania, regional Western Australia, Victoria, Queensland and southern NSW.

And last week the Antony Catalano-backed Australian Community Media bolstered its shares in commercial television broadcaster Prime Media and is now the regional broadcaster’s largest shareholder ahead of Seven West Media. ACN thwarted a takeover attempt by Seven of Prime Media in 2019.

Alistair Feehan, the chief executive of Imparja — which broadcasts across more than 3.6 million square kilometres spanning six states and territories predominantly in remote areas — said Imparja also had been “decimated year after year — we’ve been smashed”.

“There’s not an economic model for the business we actually run,” Mr Feehan said.

Mr Audsley said news services in regional Australia were “at risk” because of the continual closure of local television newsrooms.

“Regional television covers 37 per cent of the Australian population, local news services are discreetly local, 22 minutes, 30 of local news Monday through Friday,” he said.

His said reforms would help sustain news services in regional Australia.