ASTRA unveils new rules restricting gambling advertising during live sport broadcast

The Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA) has today announced a set of new rules designed to restrict gambling advertising during television coverage of live sport.

The new rules are set to be implemented from 30 March 2018 and restrict the airing of any gambling advertising between 5:00am and 8:30pm^, meaning there will be no gambling advertising during game play or during scheduled and unscheduled breaks in play. During all other times, existing gambling advertising restrictions will apply.

ASTRA’s new rules were developed in conjunction with the industry and approved by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and have been updated in the subscription television Codes of Practice.

The move addresses public concerns regarding gambling advertising during live sports to ensure safeguards are in place during times that children are likely viewing.

The ASTRA Codes include a conditional exemption from the new rules for sports channels with a very low audience share (0.5% of the viewing audience). The ACMA has placed strict limits around this exemption, which will ensure it is only available to the very small sports channels on the platform, and will not apply to any Fox Sports channel or to any nationally significant events. Existing gambling advertising limits will continue to apply to these small channels.

Full details of the ASTRA Codes of Practice are available on the ASTRA website here.

^Foxtel’s single national feed restricts its ability to broadcast across multiple time zones. The new time-of-day restrictions will apply to AEST or AEDST time zones, which reflect the vast majority of the subscription TV viewing audience.