The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has signalled a significant shift in its media outlook – to who is controlling media content rather than who controls how it is distributed.

ACCC Chairman, Graeme Samuel, has told the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) that the focus in years gone by has been on retail distributors or cross media ownership.

“In other words, which electronic media outlet (radio or TV) could own which print outlet? This focus on what might happen at that retail distribution end may be misplaced.

“Two or three years ago, the ACCC held that print and electronic media were entirely separate, with different markets and audiences. Putting the two together did not concentrate those markets, so there was no role for the ACCC to govern those issues. The attitude of the Commission is developing, evolving in a different direction at the moment.

“The other thing it says to the ACCC, though, is this: Let’s focus less on who controls these retail outlets because it could be that we’re not talking about half a dozen or three commercial television stations or two major newspaper networks – we’re talking about potentially hundreds or thousands of providers of information on the TV screens or the internet.

“Let’s focus rather at the other end on who’s got the content, and is there a prospect of one or more parties trying to acquire exclusive rights to all the valuable content that ultimately starts to close out competition at that retail distribution end?”

Samuel says if all the valuable content is locked up in one or two hands, there is potential for anti-competitive results: “You can expect some pretty sharp eyes to be focused on that in the not too distant future.”