Communications Minister Mitch Fifield has been working closely with Senate crossbenchers over the summer, in an effort to build support for a media reform package he would like to present to Parliament next month.
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The push for media reform has already started up again with media executives in Canberra last week, when Parliament resumed for the year.
However, as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the coalition government are currently at odds with the crossbench over industrial relations, the state of that relationship remains unclear.
It is understood that Senator Fifield spoke a lot with crossbenchers over the summer and is confident he has support for a media reform package, including removing the reach rule, stopping television networks from broadcasting to more than 75 per cent of the population, and the two-out-of-three rule, preventing media companies from owning a TV station, radio network and newspaper in the same market.
Mr Turnbull is due to deliver his first budget as prime minister in May. With an election campaign likely to follow soon after, it is believed Senator Fifield would like to push media reform through Parliament before then, and is eyeing March as the time to introduce changes.
Backing from PM
The package is supported by the Prime Minister, who has long advocated for changes to media ownership legislation, and would like to see the reform done.
The government does not want to introduce a package without knowing it will get through Parliament for fear that rejection would kill off reform.
The Department of Communications has already indicated that the television industry's $153 million annual licence fees should be cut, a move that is widely supported. However, this would likely come in the context of the federal budget.
The Gillard government, in 2013, reduced TV licence fees from 9 per cent to 4.5 per cent of revenues.
As revealed by Fairfax Media, the department has also recommended to Mr Fifield the removal of a number of outlier events from Australia's anti-siphoning list, which dictates the sports that free-to-air television has first rights to bid on.
Any review of anti-siphoning would more likely come with the budget and licence fee cuts, it is believed.
Some Labor MPs are concerned that the loosening of media ownership restrictions will lead to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation tightening its grip on local media. However, comments from Australian Competition and Consumer Commission boss Rod Sims, stating the watchdog's legal duty to protect media diversity in Australia, may quell some concerns.
Regional MPs are still likely to push for assurances of local content. The Nationals have proposed that regional TV broadcasters be forced to spend more on local news if ownership laws are change.
