Three gambling ads an hour. That is the ceiling Labor proposes for television between 6am and 8pm, with a full ban while live sport is on screen in those hours. Critics say it will change little for the networks that pay billions to show that sport.
A column in The Sydney Morning Herald argues the point bluntly. The reforms, it says, are built to be light on revenue, and the timing makes the case: a rugby league broadcast deal worth $5.3 billion to the NRL is expected to be announced within 48 hours. According to the column, a couple of last-minute issues remain to be settled, but the deal is on track.
The money matters because broadcasters are under strain. Free-to-air television companies are struggling, and the column describes Foxtel as in structural decline for more than a decade, first under the Murdoch regime and then under its later owner. Rising fees for top-tier sport such as the NRL and the AFL have been, in the column’s words, an existential challenge for them. Foxtel will carry the lion’s share of what the AFL is paid.
Pressure on the government is coming from several directions. The Greens, independents, the wider Labor rank-and-file and even the Coalition are pushing back on what they see as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s soft touch on gambling reform. The column says that view matches what the broader community thinks.
Why the soft touch? Some suggest it comes from Albanese’s devotion to the NRL. The column finds that thin. He supports the Rabbitohs, it concedes, but that does not explain the policy. It offers two other reasons. One is a belief that a strong media industry is part of a working democracy, which fits his push for large digital platforms to pay for the content they take from Australian media. The other is his reluctance to put any major Australian media company offside, which the column treats as a serious factor in keeping the changes light on revenue.
Either way, the NRL announcement is not expected to be affected.
