The Australian government intends to introduce a Streaming Services Reporting and Investment Scheme (the Scheme) to support the provision of Australian content to Australian audiences and the viability of the Australian screen production sector over the long term.

The proposed scheme is a key component of the government’s media reform program, designed to modernise media regulations towards an end-state of a platform neutral framework covering both online and offline delivery of media content to Australian consumers. The elements of the government’s broader reform agenda are outlined in the Media policy statement.

The scheme will require large Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) services to report annually on their expenditure on, and provision of, Australian content, and the steps they are taking to make Australian content prominent and discoverable on their services. If a service were to invest less than 5 per cent of their gross Australian revenue on Australian content, the scheme would enable the Federal Minister for Communications to impose a formal investment requirement on these services.

The proposed scheme outlined in this discussion paper has been developed following extensive consultation with stakeholders through the Media reform green paper and prior to that, the Supporting Australian stories on our screen options paper. Informed by these processes, this discussion paper outlines the proposed design of the scheme and seeks stakeholder comment on key regulatory design decisions including definitions, services in scope, and implementation timeframes. The government will use this feedback to develop the legislation necessary to implement the scheme.