Earlier this week, the Australian Communications and Media Authority revealed its findings that Melbourne-based online sports radio provider SEN+ had breached existing gambling advertising rules.
The local regulatory body held an investigation into the advertising practices of SEN+ during the Australian Open and found that the online sports radio broadcaster, which is currently owned by the Pacific Star Network (PSN), aired a gambling promotion during its online audio coverage of the women’s quarter-final at the Australian Open on January 23rd, 2019.
The most recent rules of the ACMA were brought into effect in September 2018. Under the provisions of the rules, all gambling advertisements on streaming services during sports live coverage from 5:00 AM to 8:30 PM are suspended. In addition, gambling ads are banned from being aired five minutes before the scheduled start of the sports event and five minutes after the ending of the event.
As found by the monitoring body at the Australian Communications and Media Authority, a gambling advertisement was aired by SEN+ at 10:58 AM, right before the live coverage of the women’s Australian Open quarter-final at 11:00 AM. At the time when the regulatory body revealed its findings, its Chair Nerida O’Loughlin reminded that all online service providers are expected to be aware of the obligations they have under the existing rules, which were put in place to make sure that families and underage individuals would be able to enjoy live sport broadcast streamed on TV or online.
Breach Resulted from an Unintentional Error of SNE+ Due to Scheduling Delay
It became clear that the violation of the existing ACMA rules came as a result of an unintentional error made by the online sports radio provider due to an unexpected scheduling delay. The ACMA has responded to the explanation, issuing a remedial direction to the broadcaster’s owner to commission an independent audit on its practices and processes. PSN is also supposed to conduct staff training, especially on the rules to make sure there would no longer be other breaches of the existing regulatory framework.
As part of the remedial direction, SNE+ owner PSN would also be supposed to formally report to the Australian Communications and Media Authority on the internal audit’s findings and make recommendations about future improvements which could be brought to its divisions’ work. In case it fails to carry out the requirements of the remedial direction, the broadcaster could face a monetary penalty for its failures.
The Pacific Star Network could appeal to the country’s Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of the telecom watchdog’s decision, which was made public after the regulator has investigated the online content service provider’s compliance with its Broadcasting Services 2018, also known as the Online Rules.
- Author
Daniel Williams
