EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Select Legislative Instrument 2007 No. 109

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts

Broadcasting Services Act 1992

Broadcasting Services (Digital Television Standards) Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 1)

 

 

The Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the Act) provides for the regulation of broadcasting, datacasting and online services.

 

Paragraph 217(1)(b) of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

 

The purpose of the Regulations is to amend the Broadcasting Services (Digital Television Standards) Regulations 2000 (the Principal Regulations) to take account of changes to the Act made by the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Television) Act 2006 (the Amending Act).

 

The Principal Regulations were made pursuant to provisions in the Act, now repealed, which provided that the regulations must determine standards requiring commercial television broadcasting licensees and national broadcasters to:

·        meet specified quotas for the provision of high definition television (HDTV) services (Div 2 of Part 4 of Sch 4 to the Act); and

·        meet specified targets for the provision of captioning services for the deaf and hearing impaired (Div 3 of Part 4 of Sch 4 to the Act).

 

The Principal Regulations were made to give effect to these requirements. In order that television broadcasters’ compliance with specified quotas could be assessed, the Principal Regulations also impose reporting and record keeping obligations on broadcasters, and provide the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) with a monitoring role in relation to reporting and record keeping.

 

The purpose of the Regulations is to:

·        amend the Principal Regulations to repeal the provisions setting out HDTV transmission quotas and captioning standards for commercial television and national broadcasters; and

·        make minor amendments to the record keeping and reporting requirements to take account of changes made by the Amending Act.

 

The commencement of Schedule 2 to the Amending Act repealed the enabling provisions under which parts of the Principal Regulations were made. As of 1 January 2007, quota arrangements for HDTV in non-remote areas and for captioning services have been incorporated into Division 2 of Schedule 4 to the Act itself.

 

Consequently, commercial television broadcasters no longer need to comply with the HDTV quota standards in Schedule 1 to the Principal Regulations (instead they must comply with the new rules set out in clause 37E of Schedule 4 to the Act) and national broadcasters no longer need to comply with the HDTV quota standards in Schedule 2 to the Principal Regulations (they must comply with the new rules set out in clause 37F of Schedule 4 to the Act). Neither commercial nor national broadcasters must comply with the captioning standards in Schedule 3 to the Principal Regulations (instead they must comply with the new rules set out in clause 38 of Schedule 4 to the Act).

 

The reporting and record keeping obligations in Part 4 of the Principal Regulations were not affected by the Amending Act.

 

Details of the Regulations are set out in the Attachment.

 

The Act specifies no conditions that need to be satisfied before the power to make the Regulations may be exercised.

 

The Regulations would be a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

 

The Regulations would commence on the day after their registration.

 

 

 

In this Explanatory Statement the following abbreviations are used:

 

 

Act Broadcasting Services Act 1992

 

Amending Act Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Television) Act 2006

 

ACMA Australian Communications and Media Authority

 

HDTV High definition television

 

Principal Regulations Broadcasting Services (Digital Television Standards) Regulations 2000

ATTACHMENT

 

Details of the Broadcasting Services (Digital Television Standards) Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 1)

 

 

Regulation 1 – Name of Regulations

 

Regulation 1 provides that the name of the Regulations is the Broadcasting Services (Digital Television Standards) Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 1).

 

Regulation 2 – Commencement

 

Regulation 2 provides that the Regulations commence on the day after they are registered.

 

Regulation 3 – Amendment of Broadcasting Services (Digital Television Standards) Regulations 2000

 

Regulation 3 provides that Schedule 1 amends the Broadcasting Services (Digital Television Standards) Regulations 2000.

 

Schedule 1 – Amendments

 

Clause 1 - Regulation 1.03, definition of commercial television broadcasting licensee

 

Clause 1 amends the definition of “commercial television broadcasting licensee, and licensee" in regulation 1.03 of the Principal Regulations. The effect of the amendment is to exclude “licensee” from the definition, as “licensee” is no longer used in isolation in the Principal Regulations.

 

Clause 2 - Regulation 1.03, before definition of high-definition television program

 

Clause 2 inserts two new definitions into the Principal Regulations: “HDTV quota” and “HDTV quota period”. These definitions take their meaning from the Act and are necessary to ensure consistency with changes made to the Act by the Amending Act.

 

Clause 3 - Regulation 1.03, definitions of phase-in day and phase-in period

Clause 3 would remove the definitions of “phase-in day” and “phase-in period” from regulation 1.03 of the Principal Regulations. These phrases would no longer be used in the Principal Regulations.

Clause 4 - Regulation 1.03, definition of SDTV digital mode

Clause 4 removes the definition of “SDTV digital mode” from Regulation 1.03 of the Principal Regulations. This phrase is no longer be used in the Principal Regulations.

Clause 5 - Parts 2 and 3

Clause 5 removes Parts 2 and 3 of the Principal Regulations.

 

Part 2 of the Principal Regulations currently:

·        makes, for the purposes of former subclause 37E(1) of Schedule 4 to the Act, HDTV quota standards applicable to commercial television broadcasting licensees in non remote areas; and

·        makes, for the purposes of former subclause 37F(1) of Schedule 4 to the Act, HDTV quota standards applicable to national broadcasters in non remote areas.

The removal of Part 2 of the Principal Regulations is a consequence of the repeal of the enabling provisions under which Part 2 was made (former subclauses 37E(1) and 37F(1) of Schedule 4 to the Act).

Part 3 of the Principal Regulations currently makes captioning standards applicable to commercial television licensees and national broadcasters, for former subclause 38(1) of Schedule 4 to the Act. The removal of Part 3 of the Principal Regulations is a consequence of the repeal of the enabling provision under which Part 3 was made (former clause 38 of Schedule 4 to the Act).

Clause 6 – Regulation 4.01

Clause 6 omits existing regulation 4.01 of the Principal Regulations, which sets out reporting requirements applicable to broadcasters in relation to HDTV quotas, and inserts a new regulation 4.01. The new regulation is similar, but amended so as to be consistent with terminology inserted into the Act by the Amending Act.

New regulation 4.01 continues to require television broadcasters to provide the ACMA with interim and consolidated annual reports in an approved form. The information required to be provided in such reports has not changed (see subregulation 4.01(7)).

Prior to the commencement of Schedule 2 to the Amending Act, the Act used the concept of a “phase-in day” and “phase-in period” in relation to digital transmission. The Principal Regulations use same terminology, including in the context of the period to which particular reports must relate.

The Act as amended no longer uses this terminology. Instead, it uses the phrase “HDTV quota period”. Subregulations 4.01(2), (3) and (4) set out the period to which both interim and final reports must relate, by reference to the commencement of a broadcaster’s HDTV quota period.

Subregulation 4.01(2) provides that an interim report relates to a period from 1 January to 30 June in each calendar year of the HDTV quota period unless subregulation (4) applies. Subregulation 4.01(3) provides that a consolidated annual report relates to each full calendar year of the HDTV quota period unless subregulation (4) applies. The table in subregulation (4) sets out a system for determining the period to which reports must relate in the event that a broadcaster’s HDTV quota period commences part way through a calendar year. In practice, these timing requirements are very similar to the existing requirements, notwithstanding the different terminology.

Clause 7 – Paragraph 4.03(1)(a)

Clause 7 amends existing paragraph 4.03(1)(a) of the Principal Regulations to remove the words “after the television broadcaster’s phase-in day”. Subregulation 4.03(1) sets out the record keeping obligations, and the amendment ensures consistency with the terminology in the Act.

Clause 8 - Schedule 1, 2 and 3

Clause 8 removes Schedules 1, 2 and 3 from the Principal Regulations. These Schedules set out details of the HDTV quota standards applicable to commercial television broadcasting licensees in non-remote areas (Schedule 1), to national broadcasters in non remote areas (Schedule 2) and of the captioning standards applicable to both (Schedule 3).

Schedules 1 and 2 are incorporated by reference into existing Part 2 of the Principal Regulations, which makes the HDTV quota standards. Schedule 3 is incorporated by reference into existing Part 3 of the Principal Regulations, which makes the captioning standards. Existing Parts 2 and 3 are removed due to the repeal of the enabling provision under which they were made (see clause 5, above). It is for this reason that Schedules 1-3 are also removed.

Clause 9 – Further Amendments

Clause 9 is a consequential amendment which amends references to “the ABA” to read “ACMA”. The change in terminology is a consequence of the merger of the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) and the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) into the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). This merger occurred upon commencement of the Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005.