Screen Producers Australia Demands 'Fairness' Rules to Curb Streaming Platform Power

Regulatory attention is shifting from simple volume quotas to the structural economics of production. While the 10% spending mandate provides top-line revenue, SPA’s push for IP retention and data transparency addresses the long-term margins of local studios. If the government adopts a bargaining code similar to the one used for news publishers, Australia could become a test case for whether mid-sized production markets can force global streamers into more flexible, localized contract terms. Watch for the ACCC’s final determination in June 2026 regarding SPA’s application for collective bargaining rights, which could set a precedent for independent producers' leverage.

The push for a screen-specific bargaining code follows a period of intense regulatory activity in the Australian digital market. In November 2025, the Australian Parliament passed the Communications Legislation Amendment Bill, which officially introduced the long-awaited 10% local content expenditure mandate for major SVOD platforms. According to Department of Arts reporting from November 2025, services with at least one million subscribers must now spend 10% of their local program expenditure—or 7.5% of their total Australian revenue—on specific genres like drama, documentary, and children's content. This move aligned Australia with a global trend of tightening quotas, following Canada’s 2023 Online Streaming Act and France's investment mandates which can reach up to 25% for local works.

However, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has recently shown resistance to some of the industry’s more aggressive collective demands. In a draft determination issued in April 2026, per ACCC releases, the regulator proposed not to authorize SPA and its members to collectively negotiate model terms of trade with major streamers. The commission argued that such collective action might reduce the flexibility of individual platforms to reach specific agreements, possibly resulting in a public detriment that outweighs the benefits of producer bargaining power. A final decision on this authorization is scheduled for June 2026, posing a potential hurdle for the 'fairness' framework SPA is currently proposing.

Furthermore, the sector continues to face fiscal uncertainty due to unlegislated tax reforms. According to SPA and Screen Australia reports from late 2025 and 2026, two key Producer Offset updates—the removal of the 20% 'above the line' cap and the removal of minimum project lengths—remain unlegislated despite being active as announcements for projects starting after July 2024. This delay has complicated financing for high-end drama and short-form animation, as producers struggle to secure bridge loans against rebates that are not yet formally codified in tax law.