KEY FEATURES OF NEW MEDIA OWNERSHIP LAWS:
* Repeal of the reach rule which prevents a person exercising control of commercial television broadcasting licences whose combined licence area exceeds 75 per cent of Australia's population. The rule has stopped mergers between Seven, Nine and Ten as well as regional broadcasters Prime, WIN and Southern Cross.
* Repeal of the rule banning a person controlling more than two-out-of-three platforms - TV, radio or newspaper - in any one commercial radio licence area. The government argues news is now consumed through a wide range of sources, including online, and the rule is redundant.
* Regional TV broadcasters will have new requirements to boost local programming.
* Gambling ads during live sports telecasts will be limited and the number of quarantined sporting events will be reduced on the anti-siphoning list that gives free-to-air broadcasters first rights.
* Broadcasting licence fees and datacasting charges will be abolished at a cost of $127 million in 2017/18 and $97 million a year thereafter.
* Labor voted against the package due to their opposition to repealing of the two-out-of-three rule.
* One Nation struck a side deal with the government for more transparency over ABC and SBS pay and a pledge to introduce separate legislation to insert the words "fair" and "balanced" into the ABC Act.
* Nick Xenophon secured a deal with the government to establish fund for a regional and small publishers, which will total $60.4 million over three years. It will be overseen by the Australian Communications and Media Authority with input from the bodies such as the Press Council.
* Under that deal, there will also be 60 scholarships over two years worth $40,000 each to study journalism and 50 cadetships a year at regional and small media organisations, with $40,000 of wages subsidised by the government.
* The ACCC will conduct an inquiry into Google and Facebook concerning the impact of digital platforms on the media landscape.
