Australians will be forced to use their credit card to pay for sport locked behind streaming paywalls after the Labor, Liberal and National parties caved in to the Murdoch media and the US streaming giants today, ramming their weak sports streaming bill through the Senate.
The Greens have been fighting to ensure sport is free for all to watch on both old-school aerial broadcast television, and on smart TVs, iPads, iPhones and Broadcast Video On Demand (BVOD) platforms.
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is Greens Spokesperson for Communications, Manager of Greens Business in the Senate:
"The Government and the Coalition have sold out free sport today, doing the dirty work of the Murdoch media and giant American streaming corporations like Amazon and Netflix.
"Labor, Liberal and the Nationals have colluded to ram through a law that is going to make it harder for millions of households around the country to access sport for free.
"We could have fixed this sports streaming law to protect free access to significant events like the Matildas, the rugby, the footy and the Olympics in our digital age. Now, Australians will need to pull out their credit card and pay Mr. Murdoch on Kayo for the privilege of barracking for their own team.
"Regional communities where local television stations are increasingly closing down, you've been sold down the river today by the National Party who chose big corporate profits over the community's right to free sport in a digital age.
"This Government is out of touch on the cost of living, out of touch with young people, out of touch with regional Australia. They are technological troglodytes."
