Politicians, media moguls and pay-TV: Pay-TV policy-making in Australia 1977-1995

This article explores the major influences on pay-TV policy-making in Australia from the late 1970s, when the issue was first discussed in the context of proposals to establish a domestic communications satellite, up until the introduction of pay-TV in Australia in 1995, thereby placing current developments in the pay-TV industry in context. The article argues that among larger broadcasting and telecommunications issues, pay-TV has never been 'the main game'. For both Coalition and Labor governments, the expansion of existing free-to-air television services in regional Australia and the introduction of competition in telecommunications have been much more important policy priorities than the introduction of pay-TV. Furthermore, because pay-TV policy-making largely took place in this wider policy context, the structure of the broadcasting and telecommunications industries also shaped pay-TV policy outcomes.