CRA proposes new measures to protect broadcasters against tech companies

Commercial Radio Australia has responded to a preliminary report of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s Digital Platforms Inquiry with a range of measures to protect broadcasters’ content.

The proposed measures aim to limit the ability of the global tech giants to use their market power to unfairly erode the business model of commercial radio stations.

In the submission, CRA calls for stronger protections to limit third parties from benefiting from Australian radio content without the permission of the content owners.

This content would include live radio streams as well as podcasts.

“CRA submits that large digital platforms should be independently monitored – with the Commission setting terms and conditions of access – to ensure that they do not use their market power to favour their own businesses or to divert consumers from the websites of content creators, thus appropriating revenue and reducing competition in the supply of media content,” said the submission.

CRA CEO Joan Warner also said that the peak industry body supports the introduction of a Mandatory Standard to enable the timely take-down of copyright-infringing content.

She also indicated that the standard should include hyperlinks to “listen live” websites.

Commercial radio stations are increasingly directing their resources towards the removal of their intellectual property from third-party aggregator sites and mobile apps.  Typically, such sites provide ‘listen live’ links to station broadcasts or enable consumers to access stations’ podcasts. This diverts traffic – and ultimately advertising revenue – away from the stations’ own websites,” Ms Warner said.

“We urge the Commission to address this issue in the proposed Mandatory Standard, by requiring digital platforms to remove hyperlinks to copyright protected content at the request of the rights holder,” Ms Warner said.

The submission by CRA suggested that a separate ACCC review regarding an overarching regulatory framework for all platforms should include a focus on how local content obligations and Australian music requirements are spread across various platforms.

This is because Digital platforms currently have no local content obligations and are not subject to the same requirements that commercial radio faces under the Commercial Radio Code of Practice and the Broadcasting Services Act.

Read the full submission here.