The Australian, 28th April 1999
By Finola Burke
The nation's three largest media companies, which between them control more than half the media landscape, have, for the first time, united in a push for changes to the media ownership laws.
The architect of competition policy and chief executive of John Fairfax Holdings, Fred Hilmer, yesterday joined News Limited (publisher of The Australian) and the Packer family's Publishing and Broadcasting, in calling for the deregulation of the country's media ownership laws.
Mr Hilmer told more than 600 business people at an Australia-Israel chamber of commerce function yesterday that "in a proper model of competition policy, you can't look narrowly at one part of the market here but you've got to look at open markets and deregulation in all the areas that may be affected."
His stance, which comes ahead of a government inquiry into the relevance of media laws, departs from Fairfax's long-standing opposition to cross-media laws being changed.
Mr Hilmer said Fairfax was in the strongest position it had been for a decade and was considering acquisitions rather than worrying about who owned it.
The Productivity Commission has been asked by the Government to consider whether the media ownership laws are relevant in the age of the Internet and digital television.
The laws are designed to stop foreign companies from acquiring more than 15% of television networks, 20% of newspapers and local companies from controlling TV and newspaper businesses in the same market.
In just two years, television and newspaper companies will have the capability to deliver information and programming content through digital television sets.
"We will be making a major submission (to the commission)," Mr Hilmer said adding that Fairfax wanted to have a chance to be part of digital TV.
"Part of the premise of that inquiry is that technologies are converging and that convergence is creating a new environment which is making some of the old rules obsolete."
Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of The News Corporation, News Limited's parent, made similar comments at the company's annual meeting last October.
Mr Packer and his son, James, echoed those sentiments last month in a major shift in philosophy.
Mr Hilmer advocated that the commission inquiry be broadened to consider the convergence of industries rather than technologies.
"IT (information technology) is converging, telecommunications is converging, media is converging, not just one piece," he said.