Licence fees for commercial broadcasters

We have fees for commercial broadcasters. These fees are called commercial broadcasting taxes.

These fees do not apply to:

• national broadcasters
• community broadcasters
• any other apparatus licences 

Fees for commercial broadcasters are detailed in the commercial broadcasting transmitter licence fee schedule.

In response to COVID-19, the Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts made the Commercial Broadcasting (Tax) (Transmitter Licence Tax Rebate) Rules 2020.

These rebate rules apply for 12 months from 14 February 2020. Under the rules, companies are entitled to a 100% rebate for all commercial broadcasting taxes during the rebate period, unless they are eligible for transitional support payments.

Commercial broadcasting tax assessments will continue during the rebate period. We will outline how the rebate rules apply to each case as part of this process.

We charge licence fees each year.

Your first licence fee will be due after we issue your licence and give you an invoice.

We will send you an assessment and invoice on, or soon after, each anniversary of when we issued the licence.

You have 28 days to pay your invoice.

If you don’t pay on time, there are penalties. Our current penalty rate is 20% per year.

If the person who handles invoices in your organisation changes, you should tell us.

This legislation helps us determine how we charge for TV licences:

• Broadcasting Services Act 1992
• Commercial Broadcasting (Tax) Act 2017
• Commercial Broadcasting (Tax) (Individual Transmitter Amounts) Determination 2017
• Commercial Broadcasting (Tax) (Transmitter Licence Tax Rebate) Rules 2020

Program expenditure information relates specifically to the amount of program usage plus program amortisation by commercial television broadcasting licensees each financial year. This data is reported by the commercial television broadcasting licensees on a network consolidated basis.

Program expenditure information July 2019 – June 2020

Broadcasting Financial Results (BFR)

The BFR were a snapshot of the aggregated expenditure, revenue, profitability, assets, liability and net assets of the commercial radio and television broadcasting sectors. The Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Broadcasting Reform) Act 2017 resulted in the abolishment of the broadcasting licence fees, removing the requirement for commercial broadcasters to submit financial returns in relation to those licence fees.

For access to previous Program expenditure information or Broadcasting Financial Results (BFR) please contact:

Revenue Assurance, Grants and Financial Operations

If you have questions about licence fees for commercial broadcasting, email us.