Seven has ramped up its anti-siphoning lobbying with a consumer-facing campaign urging the government to give Aussies access to free sports content on digital platforms.
The “We are Aussies, of course I want free sport” campaign, which features a host of Seven talent, will run across all major social media platforms. The campaign highlights the details of the current Bill before parliament, which only protects Australians’ access to free sport via broadcast TV but not if they watch TV through the internet – specifically via an app like 7plus.
Seven’s campaign against the Federal Government is working hand in hand with the broader industry campaign from Free TV Australia, which is seeking changes to the prominence and anti-siphoning Bill to stop free TV content from disappearing behind paywalls.
The new campaign was created by Seven’s in-house creative agency, Red Engine and features Bruce McAvaney, Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer, Matthew Richardson, Abbey Holmes, Mel McLaughlin, Matt Evans, Jason Richardson, Juliet Godwin, Emma Freedman and Mark Beretta.
Bruce McAvaney said: “Australians shouldn’t be denied access to free sport just because they don’t have an aerial. If you want to stream sport over the internet, the anti-siphoning scheme should ensure internet-delivered sport is also free.”
Seven West Media managing director and CEO, James Warburton said digital platforms were a glaring omission from the bill.
“It only guarantees free sport content for Australians that have an aerial,” he said.
“It does not guarantee people will get free sport if they choose to stream it over the internet or don’t have an aerial. No aerial means no guarantee that Australians will have access to free sport in the future.
“As the Bill is drafted now, nothing is stopping Amazon, Kayo, Prime and Netflix from buying all the digital rights to Australians’ favourite sports and making them pay if they want to stream sport over the internet.
“The Albanese Government needs to amend the Bill to include the free digital stream alongside the free broadcast stream so that all Australians can access free sport, regardless of whether they have a TV aerial or not.”