Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (2021 Measures No. 1) 2021

✦ Plain-English Summary

# Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (2021 Measures No. 1) Bill 2021

## What it does

This bill makes five changes to Australian broadcasting rules. The main one cuts the drama spending requirement for TV networks from 10% to 5% of their expenditure. It also updates rules about closed captions for hearing-impaired viewers, creates new digital radio services, adjusts how population is calculated for regional broadcasting rules, and creates a fund to support small publishers.

## Why it matters

Lowering the drama spending requirement makes it cheaper for TV networks to operate in Australia, but means less money flowing to Australian drama production. The captioning changes and regional broadcasting adjustments aim to improve access and competition in media, though the details here are still being worked out by the government.

## Key details

- The **drama spending change (10% to 5%)** kicks in immediately after the bill becomes law
- **Captioning rules** have up to 12 months to be finalised — if the government doesn't confirm the details by then, this part gets scrapped entirely
- The other three changes (digital radio, population rules, and the publisher fund) also start the day after the bill becomes law
- These changes affect TV networks, radio broadcasters, and regional media companies

Official Description

Amends the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 to: reduce the expenditure required by subscription television broadcasting licensees on new eligible drama expenditure from 10 per cent to 5 per cent; provide for subscription television captioning rules to be made by legislative instrument; remove the requirement that all frequency channels allotted or reserved in a digital radio channel plan be within the same frequency band; provide that a regional commercial radio broadcasting licensee does not breach a licence condition if it is only as a result of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) making a new licence area population determination; and extend the timeframe for the ACMA to make grants under the Regional and Small Publishers Innovation Fund beyond 30 June 2021.

Committee Referrals

Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills; Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee

Full bill PDF →APH page →

Audit History

Introduced

25 Mar 2021

Last updated on APH

10 Apr 2026

Outcome date

29 June 2021

Last checked by Crossbench

yesterday

Full text indexed

yesterday

🗳️

No formal division recorded

This bill passed by voice vote — parliament agreed without calling a formal count. A division is only recorded when a member explicitly requests one.

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