Media bosses in Canberra for show of unity

Media executives will join Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Canberra on Wednesday in a rare show of unity for changes to ownership laws.

Microphones at a press conference

Microphones at a press conference (AAP Image/Paul Miller) Source: AAP

The nation's major media bosses are heading to Canberra in a bid to win over support for federal government changes to ownership laws.

Executives, including Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood and chiefs from Foxtel, News Corp and the Seven Network, will address a summit in Parliament House on Wednesday night.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Communications Minister Mitch Fifield will join the more than 25 CEOs, in a bid to pressure opponents of the coalition's package of measures.

Labor opposes axing the two-out-of-three rule, which prevents a company controlling more than two of the three media segments - radio, television and newspapers - in one market.

The change is part of a broader package which includes cutting broadcast licence fees, limiting gambling ads during live sports telecasts and a reduction in the number of events on the anti-siphoning list that quarantines first rights to free-to-air broadcasters.

Senator Fifield is refusing to split his package, despite Labor willing to back scrapping the 75 per cent reach rule.

"It's a good package, it deserves to be supported as a whole," he told ABC radio ahead of the summit.

"I'm not prepared to see this package carved up."

Senator Fifield commended the executives for speaking with one voice, insisting not everyone of them is getting everything they want.

The changes were needed to ensure the viability of Australian media, given existing laws were created in a pre-internet age.

Key crossbench senator Derryn Hinch, a former broadcaster, has no qualms about scrapping the two-out-of-three rule.

But One Nation's four senators plan to vote against the package, as well as other key budget measures, until the government slashes funding to the ABC.


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Source: AAP


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Media bosses in Canberra for show of unity | SBS News