Free TV Australia has welcomed the suspension of the Commercial Broadcasting Tax (CBT) for one year, effective from June 2025.
This will take around $50 million out of the cost of supplying free television services to all Australians.
Free TV CEO Bridget Fair said this is an important first step to removing an outdated and unreasonable burden on commercial television broadcasters.
"Free TV broadcasters already spend $1.67 billion a year on Australian content for the benefit of all Australians and are subject to a raft of additional regulatory requirements that do not apply to global digital giants we compete with,” she said.
“This tax is nothing more than a disguised super profits tax, a hangover from the percentage of revenue licence fee first imposed on broadcasters in 1964. It is now time to permanently remove the significant handbrake on the commercial television industry that the CBT has become."
Fair said that it is extremely important that the government recognises real and material regulatory costs, and the value of public goods that commercial television broadcasters provide, when considering industry tax settings.
“The CBT should be permanently removed as soon as possible, and Free TV looks forward to working with the Government and all political parties to make this happen," she said.
The CBT - also known as spectrum fees - was introduced in 2017 to replace broadcast licence fees.
In a document released at the time of its introduction, the Department of the Communications and the Arts said that commercial broadcasters had up until that point been paying a "very small amount" compared to the value of the spectrum they actually use – about $75,000 per year.
"Under the Commercial Broadcasting (Tax) Act 2017, broadcasters will pay for the spectrum they use at a level more reflective of its value. The broadcasters will pay for each spectrum transmitter they use. Higher value transmitters will attract a higher fee," the paper said.
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