Lights, camera, levy
After waiting for years for the Albanese government to flesh out its plans to force tech giants to pay for news, the power players involved have just four weeks to fight their corner.
After years of crying out for the Albanese government to kickstart its work on forcing tech companies to pay for news, the Australian media sector’s chief executives and their government relations heads were handed a victory this week.
On Thursday, Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino fired the starting gun on a consultation period over Labor’s News Bargaining Incentive. The four week process promises to be one of the most heavily contested lobbying skirmishes the media and tech sectors have seen in a decade.
The announcement brings two of the nation’s biggest media companies, Nine Entertainment and Seven West Media, one step closer to seeing crucial legislation before their deals with search giant Google come up for expiry in the first half of next year. Those deals are alone estimated in industry circles to be worth up to $80 million a year combined. News Corp, arguably the most active media player in this process, handles its deals at a global level.
But the consultation process also throws up a number of complex questions, and marks only the beginning of an increasingly high-stakes policy battle likely to draw in Google, Meta and several other platforms including TikTok. Meanwhile, independent and digital publishers will be fighting for a piece of the action too.
