Under the scheme,pay TV providers are prevented from buying the rights to televise major sporting events – such as the Olympics,AFL and NRL grand finals and the FIFA World Cup – until free-to-air networks have had the chance to buy those rights.
The Prominence and Anti-siphoning Bill,introduced toparliament at the end of 2023,for the first time will also prevent streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon from having first purchase rights. However,the scheme does not cover the rights for digital streaming through apps such as 9Now,10Play and SBS On Demand,the way people are increasingly watching television and live sport.
Currently,about 20 per cent of television is streamed,and that proportion is growing.
Scott Lorson,chief of aggregation platform Fetch,said the scheme should be updated to account for streaming rights because the bill contained a “clear regulatory gap” between the policy objective and the reality of how people are watching free-to-air television.
Loading
“The legislation needs to ensure that the protected sports are exactly that,protected,regardless of whether the free-to-air channel is accessed via an aerial or over the internet,” he said.
More recently,when purchasing the broadcast rights for a major event,the commercial networks have usually also acquired the digital rights. However,this is not always the case.