CBAA

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The sky's not falling - but there's a change in conditions ahead

The-Sky's-not-falling.jpg
There's been a lot of talk throughout the sector about the legislative
framework in which we operate. About whether the licence renewal
process is too onerous. About whether the regulator, the Australian
Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), is taking away licences en
masse. About the difficulty of complying with sponsorship regulations.

It seems that we may be due for some legislative change to enable us
to operate effectively and without fear of breaking the rules
unwittingly.

But before we go down that path it's important to clarify the current
situation, and most important to clear up a few myths.

Licence Renewals

The licence renewal process has certainly been a hotly debated topic -
Is it too much work? Is it fair? Is ACMA ruthlessly taking away
licences? The last question in particular is one of great concern to
many in the sector.

So how many stations have not had their licence renewed since the new
regime started in 2002?

a) 5
b) 12
c) 23

The answer is 5

Out of a total of 215 stations to go through the renewal process so
far, only 5 have not been renewed. No matter how you look at it, it
would be hard to mount an argument that ACMA are ruthlessly pillaging
the sector and taking away licences. It's simply not the case.

Beyond the 5 licences that have not been renewed, there are other
licences that have been 'lost' and it's interesting to look at how and
why these licences have disappeared. Below is a table showing the
total licences lost over the past 6 years (note that the current
renewal process has only been in effect for 5 years)

5 Licence not renewed
1 Renewal application received late and the licence subsequently
expired
1 Renewal application withdrawn and the licence subsequently expired
1 Licence was renewed but subsequently cancelled due not meeting
imposed conditions
1 Station shut down and ceased to broadcast. The licence was
subsequently cancelled
1 Station surrendered it's licence due to "lack of community support"
3 Licensee (the association) ceased to exist either through
insolvency or associations merging

It's well worth noting that in 9 cases out of the above 13, the
service has been continued under a Temporary Community Broadcasting
Licence (TCBL). A further 1 permanent licence has been allocated in a
service area which lost a licence.

So while 13 licences in total have been lost, this translates to only
3 actual community broadcasting services that have been lost.

Obviously the CBAA is concerned about any station that loses its
licence for whatever reason, but the bottom line is that the sky's not
falling, the sector is not collapsing, licences are not being taken
away and there is no conspiracy by ACMA or the Federal Government to
take away community licences for commercial or any other purposes.

What has happened, however, is that a number of stations have been
renewed with 'voluntary undertakings'. What this means is that ACMA
has identified issues with the operation of these stations and the
station has agreed to take some action to remedy the issue. Some have
viewed this as ACMA bullying stations into submission. Others view it
as a more flexible and friendly approach by the regulator - guiding
stations towards compliance rather than beating them into shape.

The CBAA tends to be of the second view. But no matter which way you
view it, what is far more important is that we as a sector maintain a
close scrutiny of these decisions - firstly, to ensure that standards
and decisions are applied consistently across the sector. Secondly, to
learn from them.

Both of these objectives will become easier in the future as ACMA has
now agreed to publish online all applications for licence renewals and
any conditions imposed.

Licence Conditions

Something we have seen used a number of times recently is the placing
of licence conditions on a service. Licence conditions are as binding
as the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the Act) itself and non-
compliance could certainly result in the cancellation of a licence (as
it has in 1 case). The conditions are generally specific tasks or
objectives which are designed to correct a serious issue with the
service. They can be placed after an investigation outcome or in
conjunction with a licence renewal. So far there are only 2 cases of a
station having additional licence conditions placed on them at the
time of renewal.

Investigations
Investigations Graph.jpg (28k)

The most important thing to bear in mind with discussion of
investigations is that they are initiated only after a complaint is
received by ACMA. So if the number of investigations is increasing,
it's because more people are complaining. This is precisely what
happened in 2005/06. In that year the number of complaints suddenly
spiked leading to a total of 37 investigations, as opposed to 22 the
year prior.

With such an increase in the number of investigations combined with
the still relatively recent introduction of the more intense renewal
regime, it's easy to get the impression that the sector has become the
target of gross over regulation.

However, moving on to 2006/07 the number of investigations dropped
right back down again to 22 again with only 13 breaches as opposed to
the previous year's 18.

Ultimately, there is little point in blaming the regulator for
investigations happening, but again we must continue to closely
scrutinise the decisions made to ensure consistency and transparency.

Recurring Issues

Examination of both licence renewals and investigations reveals a
number of clear trends, or problem areas:

* community participation
* management (both governance and administration)
* sponsorship / advertising
* conflict resolution and complaints handling



Of these four issues, sponsorship is perhaps the most difficult. While
the other three issues largely come down to station policies and
procedures, sponsorship is clearly governed by the Act. Although
'clearly' is not such an accurate description since it seems the more
we examine the issues related to sponsorship and advertising, the less
clear it becomes.

Changes Ahead - Sponsorship

Following representations from the CBAA, ACMA agreed to update its
guidelines on sponsorship and advertising for community broadcasters.
From a CBAA perspective this exercise served two purposes. Firstly, to
provide the sector with clear guidance on sponsorship issues so as to
enable all stations to operate without fear of inadvertently
advertising and being found in breach of the the Act. The second
purpose was clarify elements of the the Act as well as ACMA's
interpretation to enable a clear look at the current structure with an
outlook to changing the Act to make it more user friendly.

The draft revised guidelines were released last November for comment.
It is important to note that the guidelines do not represent a change
in legislation, or regulation of the sector. They simply provide
documentation of how ACMA interprets the Act and how they view
particular circumstances. This is largely based on prior investigation
outcomes.

The simple lesson we learn from the sponsorship guidelines is that the
Act as it relates to sponsorship is in dire need of an overhaul. As
such, the CBAA is now developing a proposal for legislative change in
the area of sponsorship.

The changes we will be moving towards are not about 'wholesale
deregulation', or simply throwing out the notion of sponsorship all
together. It is about developing a new framework which embraces our
core values as an independent, not for profit, community focused
broadcasting sector, but allows us the clarity and the flexibility to
operate within the realities of the new media environment.

Legislative change of course is rarely a quick process and as such the
revised sponsorship guidelines remain an important document for the
community broadcasting sector as they will guide our actions under the
current legislation while we are moving forward on the changes.

The CBAA has submitted further feedback to ACMA on the draft
guidelines to highlight a number of outstanding concerns. ACMA are
currently redrafting the document taking into account all of the
submissions they received during the consultation period. The final
guidelines are expected to be released mid year.

[The Syn Byn Kid]

The ACMA is, in my opinion, like the ABA which preceded it, and the
APC which governs the print media industry.

It is a facade designed to give the impression of a responsible, well
monitered industry.

It ain't.