Proposed changes to anti-siphoning laws could prevent millions of viewers from watching 'key sports' for free, Greens say

The 1 million people who watched the Matildas' World Cup semifinal against England last year via streaming would have been blocked from seeing it under proposed changes to federal laws.

That is according to the Greens, who said the changes to the anti-siphoning scheme could see events like the NRL and AFL grand finals behind a paywall for those who do not watch TV via their aerial.

The proposed reforms introduced by the Albanese government are currently before the Senate.

The federal government's mechanism to ensure Australians can watch events like the Olympics and the Boxing Day Test for free is the anti-siphoning scheme.

University of Western Sydney Emeritus Professor of Cultural Research David Rowe said it was a policy that had generally been successful.

"They were established in the 1990s when pay television came in, essentially to prevent what are called events of national importance and cultural significance being captured exclusively by pay TV," Dr Rowe said.

"These events are listed by the minister for communications, it's called the anti-siphoning list — events on that list that include the Olympics, the grand finals, Australian representative teams — they have to be offered first to free-to-air television, so it can't be offered to a subscription platform."

"It is really a strong way of discouraging this migration of key sports onto pay platforms or subscription services."

But the way we watch sport is changing.

Digital users disadvantaged

The federal government's reforms to the anti-siphoning scheme were introduced late last year to update it to cover streaming.

However, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said they left a loophole.

"The government's legislation is protecting some key sporting moments for access on free-to-air television on your old-school TV with your aerial, but its not protecting it and guaranteeing it will be free on digital services," she said.

Her fear is that could see sport streaming rights bought up by someone like Foxtel or Netflix, who could put it behind a paywall.

"So what we'll have is a large number of Australians who don't watch television with an aerial, they won't be able to access their favourite football team or the Matildas or the Boxing Day Test match for free," Senator Hanson-Young said.

Under that circumstance, people with an aerial could still watch sport for free, but those who watch sport on apps like ABC iview, 7Plus or 9Now would be blocked if they were streaming it on a smart TV, tablet or phone.

The number of people that would be affected is hard to put an exact figure on but streaming is growing in popularity.

Bridgette Fair is the CEO of Free TV, the peak body for Australia's commercial free-to-air broadcasters.

She said last year's 2023 Women's World Cup semifinal was an indicator of how many people stream sport.

"Last year, we saw the Matildas play England. More than 7 million Australians on average watched that game and over a million of those people were watching through the internet," she said.

"We know that over the past three years there's been an almost 500 per cent growth in sports audiences watching using the internet versus over the aerial.

"Last year's AFL Grand Final — the number of people watching over the internet quadrupled over the previous year and similar figures for the NRL Grand Final."

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the vast majority of Australians still had access to free-to-air television.

"The Department's Television and Media Survey 2023 shows that watching through a broadcast signal and antenna was the top response for how Australians most often access free-to-air television," she said.

Ms Rowland also said the streaming rights to some major sporting competitions had already been locked up for the coming years.

"The Nine Network has the rights, including streaming rights, to the NRL premiership until 2027, the Australian Open until 2029, and the Olympics until 2032," she said.

"The Seven Network has the rights, including streaming rights, to matches of the AFL premiership until 2031, and international cricket matches played in Australia through to 2031."

Senator Hanson-Young said her concern was if a loophole existed, it would eventually be taken advantage of, so the Greens introduced their own amendment to the anti-siphoning scheme reforms.

"I'll be pushing through an amendment to fix this, to close the loophole so that all Australians can access sport for free on whatever device they watch," she said.

"That means ensuring that those free-to-air television stations like channel 7, 9, 10, ABC or SBS — if you get the sporting rights for terrestrial television, you can carry over that licence to your digital service."

The matter returns to the Senate on Wednesday.