Free TV’s sweet deal may whiff, but so does The Oz’s second bite

Tim Burrowes

February 10, 2010 10:04

There’s a funny feeling of deja vu about the front page of today’s Australian – and indeed the front page of its second, A Plus, section.

The paper has dedicated a lot of space – and a leader column – to the government’s generous decision to give the free to air broadcasters a big discount on what they are charged for accessing the public airwaves.

Fair enough – it’s an important issue (and something of a murky one at that). Mumbrella reported on it on Monday and was suitably sceptical about the spin that this was about somehow guaranteeing local content, pointing out that no new standards were attached. It was obvious from the start that a political deal had been stitched up.

But the odd thing is that The Oz had done the story on Monday too, leading its Media section with it. The only new angle appears to be the predictable one that it’s been good for the TV companies’ share prices.

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.