A "legal quagmire is blocking a solution to the escalating fight over the broadcast rights" for the Australian Football League and National Rugby League, as expert advisers "warn Malcolm Turnbull against trying to legislate a compromise between rival media companies," according to David Crowe of THE AUSTRALIAN.
The government advice "concludes there is 'no practical capacity' for the changes sought to broadcasting rules to decide which games are aired on free-to-air TV and which are shown on pay-TV."
The findings "counter calls for the Communications Minister to overhaul the anti-siphoning regime that gives the free-to-air networks a big advantage when bidding for sporting rights." Central to the dispute is the question of how the AFL or NRL "would decide the games to be shown on free or pay channels each week, a proposal known as a 'partial delisting' because it would take some games off the anti-siphoning list that gives the free-to-air networks their advantage." Turnbull said that media ownership laws "were outdated but any decision on change was up to federal cabinet" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 3/26).
