A set of
Australian Laws thet prevent
media companies from owning more than one mainstream media outlet (not including internet) in each major Australian City. The laws are mostly administered by the
ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission). The laws were first championed by the
Paul Keating Government in the early nineties to prevent
monopolisation of a city's media outlets.
For example, Kerry Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd owns the Nine Network (a television network) that operates in Melbourne, Sydney and other major capital cities and this prevents PBL or registered interests from holding controlling shares (or other significant shares) in both radio networks and newspaper publishers that operate in those cities.
The Major Pulishers and Broadcastors of Australia are:
News Corporation
Newspapers: Daily Telegraph, The Melbourne Herald Sun, The Adelaide Advertiser, The Courier Mail, The Australian, The West Australian, The Weekly Times
Television: Several Foxtel Pay TV channels and 25% of Foxtel itself
Internet: Fox Interactive, News Interactive
Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd (PBL)
Newspapers: None
Television: The Nine Network (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and other regional centres), owns 25% of Foxtel
Magazines: Australian Consolidated Press (over 100 titles)
Internet: Owns 80% of Ecorp which owns 50% of the Ninemsn joint venture with Microsoft.
Fairfax Ltd
Newspapers: The Sydney Morning Herald, The Melbourne Age, The Australian Financial Review and other regional titles
Magazines: Several titles including BRW, Personal Investor
Internet: The F2 Network
Seven Ltd
Television: The Seven Network
Magazines: Several hundred PMP magazine titles
Internet: i7, Seven Interactive
Rural Press
Newspapers: Several rural publications
Radio: Regional radio stations.
PMP
Magazines: Many magazine titles
Radio: Popular Australian radio networks including 2GB and 2UE.
As can be seen from this list, media companies have managed to position themselves without infringing upon the laws, but still maintaining great variety of operations in their businesses.