The Wire

The Communications Minister Helen Coonan has rejected calls for a fourth free-to-air television network, saying that no one had made a good enough case for another commercial station. Prior to last year’s Federal election the ALP was very keen on the idea of a fourth network, the “A Triple C” thought it was a good idea, and John Singleton’s Macquarie Media group indicated they would be willing to to pay up to 1 billion dollars for the licence. But since Helen Coonan’s comments last week it seems everyone has suddenly gone cold on the idea. There have been no howls of protest despite the preservation of the monopoly and massive profits of the three incumbent commercial networks. Dr Terry Flew, Associate Professor in Communications at the Queensland University of Technology is a long term advocate for a fourth free-to-air network. He argues that in an era of rapid technological change, the Federal Government should be promoting competition. Dr Flew is speaking here with Michael Jones.