Terms of reference: Review into alcohol advertising restrictions in the Free TV Code

In March 2025, Free TV Australia (Free TV) completed its review of the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice 2015 (Free TV Code) and submitted a revised code to the ACMA for registration. In June 2025, we announced our decision not to register the revised Free TV Code, as we were not satisfied that the revised code would provide appropriate community safeguards. Of particular concern, informed by submissions on the revised code, was the proposal to extend the time when M classified content would be permitted, which would expand timeframes permitting alcohol advertising. This decision means that the current Free TV Code remains in force. 

Free TV’s public consultation also surfaced long-standing concerns from health advocates about existing alcohol advertising provisions in the Free TV Code, including exemptions for sporting programs shown outside of the M classification timeframes. In response, we decided to review the suitability of these rules.

Further background is in the Explainer: alcohol advertising under the Free TV Code.

This review will gather evidence to allow us to understand how the current alcohol advertising restrictions, set out under part 6.2 of the Free TV Code, are operating and if they provide appropriate community safeguards. 

The review will consider and report to the Authority on:

• the operation and outcomes of current Free TV Code provisions, including the volume, frequency and placement of alcohol advertising in sport and non-sport programming on commercial TV
• available data and research that is directed towards establishing a direct or indirect link between alcohol advertising on television, increased consumption and broader social harms
• the economic contribution of alcohol advertising on commercial TV.

The review process will involve:

• an 8-week public consultation process to understand community expectations on the appropriateness of current safeguards
• targeted consultation to seek industry views on the operation of the current provisions and the impacts of any potential regulatory change
• further assessment of existing evidence available to us, including submissions to Free TV’s code review process, comparisons of international regimes and publicly available research and parliamentary reviews. 

The following items are out of scope of this review:

• the content of alcohol advertisements or programs
• other advertising restrictions covered by existing industry codes and standards. 

While this review is focussed on the assessment of part 6.2 of the Free TV Code, we may also draw from our consultation process to provide insights on: 

• in-stadia and integrated content advertising, such as alcohol advertising in sporting stadiums, signage on jerseys and sponsored collaborations within programming
• alcohol advertising placement on mediums, including video-on-demand services like subscription video on demand, advertising-based video on demand and broadcaster video on demand.

We acknowledge that alcohol products and the advertising of such products are already subject to a wide range of regulatory requirements in Australia. This review will only be examining existing alcohol restrictions within our direct regulatory remit. For more information on the regulatory arrangements applying to alcohol advertising, including under the co-regulatory scheme established under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (BSA), see Explainer: alcohol advertising under the Free TV Code. 

This review does not presuppose an outcome, including if any additional or strengthened regulatory intervention is required. It will provide a fact base that may be used by:

• industry as relevant research under section 123 of the BSA to be considered in the development of a revised code of practice
• the ACMA in assessing whether the Free TV Code provides appropriate community safeguards for alcohol advertising and, if not, whether we should determine a program standard under section 125 of the BSA.

The 8-week public consultation process will close at 5 pm on Thursday 30 April 2026. 

We expect to publish the outcomes of the review by mid-2026, including whether we intend to proceed to a program standard.

If we determine to proceed to make a program standard, there would be:

• publication of a draft program standard for public consultation
• a reasonable period for public comment.