‘A hangover from the old super-profits tax of the past’: Australian TV stations thrown $50 million lifeline

Nathan Jolly

December 19, 2024 8:57

‘A hangover from the old super-profits tax of the past’: Australian TV stations thrown $50 million lifeline

Australia’s free-to-air TV stations will be saved a combined $50.3 million in the next financial year as the government announces a one-year suspension of the “archaic” Commercial Broadcasting Tax – a fee the stations say is a hangover from outdated regulatory reforms.

The Commercial Broadcasting Tax is levied on transmitter licences associated with commercial broadcasting licences, and was introduced in 2017, before the influx of digital platforms and global streaming services into the local market.

Free TV, which represents Nine, Seven, and Ten welcomed the on-year suspension, which comes into effect on July 1, 2025, saying the tax is “out of step with comparable jurisdictions”, and “no longer justifiable, given the changing competitive landscape and public policy benefits of a sustainable local television sector”.

Bridget Fair, CEO of Free TV, called the temporary suspension “an important step towards supporting the long-term sustainability of Free TV broadcasters,” adding, “We are grateful for the Government’s recognition of the important role of local commercial television services to a healthy media sector”.

Fair said the tax is “really just a hangover from the old super-profits tax of the past”.

“It is well and truly time for it to be permanently abolished,” she said. “The tax disproportionately affects regional broadcasters who need more transmitters to broadcast to regional and remote areas. It undermines the ability of all broadcasters to compete fairly with digital platforms and global streamers, who do not face the same tax or regulatory obligations, yet compete with and sell advertising against commercial broadcasters.”

Anthony De Ceglie, who recently used his Melbourne Press Club address to call for the abolishment of the “tax on journalism”, called the one-year suspension a “great win for journalism”.

Anthony De Ceglie

“Free to air networks like Channel 7 still pay an archaic ‘broadcast tax’ that was designed 60 years ago during an era of super profits that simply no longer exist,” De Ceglie said, during the late October address.

“The so-called Commercial Broadcast Tax is actually just a tax on journalism. Even more so, it’s a tax on the truth and it’s a tax on facts.” De Ceglie noted that “no other comparable jurisdiction in the world places tax burdens of this kind on broadcasters. Licence fees paid by Australian broadcasters are now the highest in the world at 52 times more than the equivalent per capita charge on our US peers.”

Fair added that Free TV is looking forward to working with the government to “remove this tax burden on a permanent basis.”

“If the CBT is permanently removed, broadcasters could redirect these payments to creating the Australian content they are regulated to provide, and towards maintaining broadcast infrastructure, to ensure free TV remains available to all Australians,” she said.

“We urge the Government to recognise the vital role that free-to-air television plays in our media landscape and to permanently remove this tax.”