New Communications Minister Michelle Rowland appears to now want to dictate to media Companies, along with sporting codes such as the AFL, on what they can do and can’t do when it comes to negotiating sporting rights with TV networks and streaming Companies in what is seen as an unprecedented move for a Communications Minister.
Some observers claim she is the new front person for Labor power brokers who are trying to flex their media muscle in Australia with a push along from free to air network owners who have strong links to the Labor party in WA and South Australia where AFL football is popular.
Yesterday Rowlands took the unprecedented step of trying to intervene in business negotiations between the AFL and TV and streaming networks by warning the sport’s governing body that they need to maintain the availability of matches on free-to-air television under the new deal this is despite their being legislation or Government framework to support this proposition.
WA Premier Mark McGowan a close friend of the Stokes family who own the Seven network, who are currently in negotiations with the AFL along with News Corp controlled Foxtel has already revealed his support for the Seven Network and Rowlands latest proposition.
It was only days ago that McGowan also urged the AFL to “pull back” on a potential change in broadcast rights that would put matches involving Perth and Adelaide’s local teams behind a paywall.
Also jumping on the conga line is South Australia’s Labor controlled government.
Let’s cut to the chase as to what this is really all about.
The reality is that this is a blatant case of looking after friendly supporters of the Labor party namely the Seven West Network whose power base is in WA where Labor gained seats at the expense of the Coalition with a lot of help from the Seven West Media assets such as the Seven TV network and the West Australian newspaper.
During the past 12 months in the USA the UK and across Europe billions in media rights have been negotiated between the likes of Amazon, Google, Paramount, Disney and Prime as well as a multitude of free to air networks such as the ABC, CBS, and NBC in the USA and not once, has a Minister or a Government stepped in to try and influence the decision making process.
The reality is that the Labor party is now trying to hurt media organisations that have been critical of their actions, policies and have offered an alternative view to theirs.
As soon as the Labor Government won power, Former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd launched a petition calling for a royal commission into NewsCorp’s dominance of Australia media, arguing Rupert Murdoch’s media company employs tactics that “chill free speech and undermine public debate.”
This was because when he was in power News Corp saw right through his strategies and the way he governed and said that it was not good for Australian. He was then booted from the top job by his own colleagues.
Now the Labor party power brokers who in NSW are using the unions to stir up their members to take action against the NSW Coalition Government ahead of a State election, are now using Rowlands to try and manipulate what the AFL does and doesn’t’ do and that is extremely dangerous.
The AFL Commission is expected to announce in the next week which broadcasters will secure the lucrative rights to screen the sport from 2025 and what is at stake is a whole heap of money.
Michelle Rowland has even had the cheek to ask the AFL Commission to keep matches freely available to their free to air mates, amid the ongoing review of laws designed to keep major sporting and cultural events free for the public.
The comments, which are highly unusual from a federal government, could delay or significantly alter where AFL games are aired and how much money the sport receives.
What Rowlands should be looking at is why Network 10 which is owned by US Company Paramount who also own Paramount+ which according to the AFL have also stuck their hands up to bid for the AFL rights across both Ten network and their Paramount + streaming network are in a position where their streaming network is unregulated, yet Foxtel is regulated.
Maybe it’s because the popular Ten show The Project is very supportive of Labor and during the recent election were a party-political broadcast machine for the Labor party and their policies which now, they are in Government they are struggling to deliver.
Then there is the issue of 4K TV streaming.
Foxtel has spent the money ensuring that Australian who pay to get AFL sports via their Kayo app or Foxtel get an ultra-high definition 4K stream for the all-important matches.
The free to air networks overseas are already putting major sporting to codes such as Premier League or NFL games in the USA to air in 4K but not in Australia with Rowlands appear to be taking the view that broadcast quality is not an issue if it comes to looking after the right media partners or more so the media partners that Labor powerbrokers favour.
What Rowlands is trying to change is how Seven and Foxtel, who have agreed how they want to share the contract, with a possible shake-up of how games are broadcast in differing states.
What the new Labor Government also appears to want to do is change the 30-year-old anti-siphoning laws to restrict global and News Corp owned steaming services from bidding on major sporting codes until their Labor mates have had the first pick of the best games.
What Labor need to do is butt out of commercial processes especially when it comes to the broadcast of content that is of no danger to the public.
Recent events have shown that Australians are prepared to pay for content with demand for streamed content soaring.
In the US recently streamed content outperformed free to air TV content and that is set to happen in Australia which for Labor is a big issue as they are desperate to try and control the media narrative.
The issue is money and what Rowlands is trying to do is bring dirty political influence into play and that is a very dangerous precedence for any Government especially when all that is at stake is the broadcast of a football game.
You only had to follow the comments from the Seven West Media TV CEO James Warburton to see where the pressure was coming from when he said: “As a proud Australian-owned free-to-air television network, Seven welcomes Minister Rowland’s statement today, which backs up the Albanese government’s stance on the issue of anti-siphoning prior to the federal election.
“Seven will continue to fight fiercely to ensure all Australians can watch the sports they love live and free.”
Really, he had the money to stump for all the rights he would not have a need for boardroom meetings with Foxtel in an effort to reduce the amount the network will have to pay to get the AFL rights.
