This year was a year of big-picture items on the agenda at the CBAA conference. Another of those big-picture items was sponsorship. New Community Radio guidelines for sponsorship were released by the ABA at the conference.

ABA Deputy Chair Lyn Maddock was “encouraged by the responsiveness shown by the community sector during the past ten years, and it is timely that attention be given to the practical operation of the legislation. These guidelines will give a level of certainty to community radio.”

The Guidelines for Broadcasting Announcements and other Promotional Material on Community Radio set out the obligations for community broadcasting services. They reflect the ABA’s experience in working with the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 over the past ten years and explain how the provisions work.

The guidelines are the product of a mutual recognition by the CBAA and the ABA of the need to clarify the legislation covering promotional material.

Clause 9 of Part 5 of Schedule 2 to the Broadcasting Services Act sets out the conditions that apply to every community broadcasting licence in Australia, saying:

“the licensee will not broadcast advertisements, and the licensee will not broadcast sponsorship announcements otherwise than as mentioned in subclause (3), and … A community broadcasting licensee may broadcast sponsorship announcements that run in total for not more than 5 minutes in any hour of broadcasting.”

The act also clarifies things that do not amount to broadcasting of advertisements:

A person is not taken to broadcast an advertisement if

a. the person broadcasts matter of an advertising character as an accidental or incidental accompaniment to the broadcasting of other matter; and

b. the person does not receive payment or other valuable consideration for broadcasting the advertising matter.

These things are also not advertising:

c. community information material or community promotional material; or

d. a sponsorship announcement that acknowledges financial support by a person of the licensee, whether or not the announcement:

i. specifies the name and address of, and a description of the general nature of any business or undertaking carried on by the person; or

ii. promotes activities, events, products, services or programs of the person; or

e. material that announces or promotes the service provided under the licence, including material (whether by way of the announcement or promotion of activities, events, products, services or otherwise) that is likely to induce public support, whether financially or otherwise, or to make use of, the services provided under the licence