Transmission quotas
To comply with the transmission quotas set out in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (BSA), all commercial television licensees must broadcast:
- 55% Australian content between 6 am and midnight on primary channels
- 1,460 hours of Australian content between 6 am and midnight on non-primary channels.
First-release Australian programs quota
To meet the first-release Australian program quota set out in the ACCTS, commercial TV networks must broadcast at least 250 points of first-release Australian programs each year.
What points can be claimed?
Points can only be claimed for programs that are broadcast between 6 am and midnight.
First-release Australian programs that attract points are:
- commissioned Australian drama programs (including children’s drama programs)
- commissioned Australian children’s non-drama programs
- commissioned Australian documentary programs (capped at 50 points)
- acquired Australian films.
Commissioned programs may include in-house productions or domestic co-productions with national broadcasters, streaming video services or subscription broadcast channels.
To calculate the points, multiply the:
- (duration of the program in hours) x (relevant points per hour broadcast as set out in Schedule 1 of the ACCTS).
Licensees can claim more points towards the first-release Australian program quota by increasing the production budgets per broadcast hour for commissioned programs.
Schedule 1 of the ACCTS provides the relevant points per hour allocation across the prescribed genres as follows:
|
Genre |
Points per hour broadcast |
|---|---|
|
Commissioned first release Australian documentary program (capped at a maximum 50 points per calendar year) |
1 |
|
Commissioned first release Australian children’s program (non-drama) |
1.5 |
|
Commissioned first release Australian drama program (less than or equal to $450,000 production budget per hour) |
1.5 |
|
Commissioned first release Australian drama program (more than $450,000 up to $700,000 production budget per hour) |
4 |
|
Commissioned first release Australian drama program (more than $700,000 up to $1,000,000 production budget per hour) |
5 |
|
Commissioned first release Australian drama program (more than $1,000,000 up to $1,400,000 production budget per hour) |
6 |
|
Commissioned first release Australian drama program (more than $1,400,000 production budget per hour) |
7 |
|
Acquired first release Australian film (licence fee per film less than $50,000) |
1 |
|
Acquired first release Australian film (licence fee per film equal to or more than $50,000) |
2 |
Under section 14 of the ACCTS, up to 50 points that are accrued in excess of the required 250 points for a calendar year, may be carried over to the next year.
For 2022 and later years, the ACCTS provides for increases to production budget and licence fee figures used to calculate points for some first-release Australian programs.
‘Material and meaningful’ financial contributions for commissioned programs
Commissioned programs must meet section 8 of the ACCTS, which requires a licensee or program supplier to make a ‘material and meaningful’ financial contribution to the production of a program (before completion). If a contribution is not material and meaningful quota points cannot be claimed.
For a financial contribution to be considered ‘material and meaningful’, the contribution should be both significant and should enable the program to be made.
When assessing licensee reporting, ‘significance’ is primarily determined by focusing on the licensees’ contributions as a proportion of the overall production budget for a program. Our assessments of ‘material and meaningful’ financial contributions can also include other factors besides direct funding, such as the broadcasting and streaming rights that arise, the level of creative control, co-production and multi-party production/financing, the type of program being produced, and the overall budget of the program.
Compliance with the BSA and ACCTS
It is a condition of commercial television broadcasting licences that licensees meet the quotas set out in the BSA and ACCTS
We investigate complaints about non-compliance with the rules.
See our annual compliance results for Australian content on commercial TV.