Regulation Impact Statement – Department of Communications
On 25 March 2015, the Minister for Communications introduced the Communications Legislation Amendment (SBS Advertising Flexibility and Other Measures) Bill 2015. The Bill contains a range of measures, including a proposal which aims to allow SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) to earn additional advertising revenue. Additional revenue will lessen SBS’s dependence on government funding and could be directed towards producing new content or services in the future. The proposal will increase SBS’s hourly advertising limit from 5 minutes to 10 minutes, but maintains SBS’s daily advertising cap of 120 minutes. The proposal also clarifies that SBS is allowed to earn revenue through the use of product placement in its programming. The proposal has been assessed as likely to have a measurable but contained impact on certain defined sectors of the economy. A Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) was prepared and certified by the Department of Communications under the Australian Government best practice regulation requirements, and has been assessed as compliant and consistent with best practice by the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR). The RIS estimates the proposal will result in nil regulatory costs. The OBPR has agreed that the proposal does not result in any changes to regulatory costs.