Crossbench senator Nick Xenophon will be picking up the phone to the communications minister this weekend in a bid to nut out a long-awaited media ownership reform package.
Senator Xenophon and Mitch Fifield have been exchanging counter offers on the government's legislation this week.
The crossbencher, who leads a key bloc of senators needed to pass the package, insists he wants a quid pro quo for agreeing to changes which will lead to consolidation and mergers.
His proposal to provide tax breaks for smaller publications looks to be on the backburner, but there are other options in the mix to protect jobs and regional broadcasters.
"I expect that there'll be a number of discussions I'll be having with the Communications Minister Senator Fifield over the weekend," he told reporters in Canberra on Friday.
"If he wasn't expecting any calls from me, I think he is now."
Senator Xenophon said both parties need to bring the issue to a head sooner rather than later.
"I think Senator Fifield knows me well enough to know that tokenism won't get me across the line," he said.
The government has already struck a deal with One Nation in exchange for its support, including new transparency measures for ABC staff salaries and inserting the words 'fair' and 'balanced' into the ABC Act.
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