Cultural policy between television and digital platforms: the case of SVOD regulation in Australia

ABSTRACT

As subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services enter new markets, they become subject to national laws and regulations. This incorporation into national governance is driven by various priorities that include cultural diversity, censorship, and local protectionism. In this article, we provide a critical analysis of the attempted process of SVOD policy-making in Australia, where the entry of services including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ has prompted much concern about the future of local content production and distribution. Focusing on the years 2017 to 2022, under the former centre-right Liberal/National coalition government, we excavate the origins and outcomes of a protracted ‘harmonisation’ process that ultimately prioritised the interests of national commercial broadcasters. We also show how SVOD production incentives came to be preferenced over catalog quotas as a mechanism for cultural policy. In this way, our analysis explores how one mid-sized, English-speaking nation initially grappled with the challenges inherent in regulating global platforms, amidst a charged public debate about the future of local screen content.

KEYWORDS:

• Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD)
• Netflix
• discoverability
• cultural policy
• Australia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Additionally, many other countries have imposed or are considering a general sales tax for digital services (e.g. the OECD’s digital tax initiative). This is distinct from ‘Netflix taxes’ as understood in cultural policy terms – i.e. as production obligations or levies designed to support national screen production (Kerševan Smokvina 2021).

2. Our primary research focused on eight Australian federal government inquiries and reviews addressing SVODs and/or digital platforms (Figure 1). These include two parliamentary committee and one senate inquiries (Australian House of Representatives 2017, 2021; Australian Senate 2019), the Australian and Children’s Screen Content Review Consultation Paper (Australian Government 2017), a parallel, Treasury-led inquiry into digital platforms (ACCC 2019), and various departmental options papers and green papers in which a regulatory agenda for SVODs began to evolve (ACMA and Screen Australia 2020; Australian Government 2020, 2022). For each of these inquiries, we analysed the official documents and public submissions to identify policy positions, framing, and coalitions among stakeholders. We also analysed trade sources (Inside Film, Screen Hub, and major news dailies) to reconstruct media coverage and stakeholder public relations. Additionally, between 2017 and 2022, we conducted observational analysis at numerous professional events hosted by national regulators and screen industry associations.

3. The Convergence Review, along with later policy proposals, also offered the option for major providers to pay a levy into a national cultural fund, rather than produce their own local content.

4. Following the precedent laid out in the prior options paper, this production obligation would not extend to services owned by broadcast or subscription-TV licensees – a conspicuous carve-out for Stan and Binge, local services owned by politically friendly companies (Nine and News Corp/Telstra) that the government wished to keep on side. Minister Fletcher justified this decision on the basis that their corporate owners already undertook content obligations in their broadcast holdings (Slatter 2021).

5. No submissions to, or final report from, the Streaming Services Reporting and Investment Scheme review had been made available at time of writing.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Australian Research Council [DP190100978, FT190100144].

Notes on contributors

Ramon Lobato

Ramon Lobato is Associate Professor (Australian Research Council Future Fellow) in the School of Media and Communication, RMIT University. A screen industries researcher with a special interest in digital distribution, Ramon is the author of Netflix Nations (NYU Press, 2019), Geoblocking and Global Video Culture (INC, 2016) and Shadow Economies of Cinema (BFI, 2012). Ramon co-leads the Global Internet TV Research Consortium and serves on the editorial board of International Journal of Digital Media and Policy, Media Industries Journal, and International Journal of Cultural Studies.

James Douglas

James Douglas is a media and cultural studies researcher with expertise in the Australian screen industries. His work can be found in Media Industries, Media International Australia, Studies in Australian Cinema, Metro, and elsewhere.

Alexa Scarlata

Alexa Scarlata is a research fellow at RMIT University. Her research considers the recent history of online television in Australia, particularly the impact on local drama production and policy. Alexa is the Book Reviews Editor of the Journal of Digital Media and Policy and has published in Critical Studies in Television, International Journal of Digital Television, Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research, Media International Australia, and Continuum.

Stuart Cunningham

Stuart Cunningham is Distinguished Emeritus Professor, Queensland University of Technology. His most recent books are concerned with global digital transformations in platform and screen industries (Social Media Entertainment: The New Intersection of Hollywood and Silicon Valley, with David Craig, 2019, Creator Culture: Studying the Social Media Entertainment Industry (edited with David Craig, 2021), and Wanghong as Social Media Entertainment in China (with David Craig and Jian Lin, 2021)) and creative industries (A Research Agenda for Creative Industries, edited with Terry Flew, 2019).