ASTRA Codes of Practice Review
ASTRA is reviewing the Codes of Practice which govern content on subscription television.
A public consultation period was held between November 2018 and February 2019. Two submissions were received:
ASTRA is working with the ACMA to finalise a new Code of Practice.
Codes of Practice
Under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cth) (BSA), industry groups representing the providers of subscription television services must develop, in consultation with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), codes of practice applicable to the broadcasting operations of subscription television services.
ASTRA is responsible for the development of the Codes of Practice for the operations of subscription broadcasting and narrowcasting licensees. The ASTRA Codes cover areas such as program content and classification, advertising, privacy, subscriber service obligations and complaints procedures.
The ASTRA Codes do not cover issues already the subject of licence conditions for STV licensees under the BSA, including in relation to the broadcast of political material and election advertisements, advertisements relating to medicines and tobacco products, the STV broadcast of events on the anti-siphoning list, captioning levels and captioning quality, and restrictions on the broadcast of content classified above MA15+.
ASTRA commences a review of its codes of practice every three years to ensure they remain relevant to community and industry. By law the ACMA may only register a code of practice if it is satisfied that the code of practice provides appropriate community safeguards for the matters covered by the code.
A complaint relating to a matter covered by the ASTRA Codes should, in the first instance, be made to the relevant STV licensee. A complaint relating to a matter that is subject to a licence condition of a STV licensee can be made directly to the ACMA.
Subscription Broadcast Television Codes of Practice 2013
Subscription Narrowcast Television Codes of Practice 2013