Commercial television in Australia: government policy and regulation, 1953 to 1963

Abstract

Television came relatively late to Australia, but by 1950 the overriding issue of whether to allow commercial as well as national television stations had been settled in favour of a 'dual system', with reference to the examples of Britain, Canada and the United States. The Royal Commission on Television was set up in 1953 to determine the residual details. It decided that television could be successfully regulated by the Broadcasting Control Board which had proved itself a capable regulator of radio broadcasting, and that television transmission channels would be licensed to private individuals or companies selected by means of public hearings. Television 'services' would, it was hoped, gradually be extended to all major urban and regional centres in an equitable and orderly manner. The weaknesses of the Broadcasting and Television Act 1956, began to be manifest from the first round of licence hearings. The Control Board were placed in an increasingly invidious position, caught between the market imperatives which were driving the commercial television industry, and the demands of a bevy of reformers who sought to change programme outcomes to reflect a variety of minority interests. Despite the existence of an avowed policy of 'localism', commercial licensees were quick to form networks based initially on programme sharing arrangements, but later extended by means of a web of minority shareholdings in regional subsidiary companies.