All commercial TV broadcasters meet Australian content requirements in 2025 – Every Australian commercial television licensee met the required Australian-content quotas in 2025, according to the latest compliance report from the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
The result covers 74 licences: 13 metropolitan commercial television licences and 61 regional licences. All met the obligations applying to their primary channels, multichannels and first-release Australian programs.
The figures provide the regulator’s official account of compliance. They also show that Australian programming remained a substantial part of free-to-air schedules across metropolitan, regional and remote markets, even as total program expenditure edged lower across the financial year.
Seven, Nine and 10 exceed the primary-channel quota
Commercial broadcasters must screen Australian programming for at least 55 per cent of the time between 6am and midnight on their primary channels.
Across their metropolitan licences, Seven averaged 77 per cent Australian content in 2025, Nine averaged 79 per cent and Network 10 averaged 66 per cent. Each result comfortably cleared the statutory minimum.
Regional and remote services operated by WIN, Southern Cross Austereo and Imparja Television recorded primary-channel results ranging from 65 per cent to 80 per cent.
Licensees also met the separate requirement to broadcast at least 1,460 hours of Australian content between 6am and midnight on their non-primary channels during the year.
Networks meet the first-release points target
The Australian-content standard includes an annual target of at least 250 points for first-release Australian programs. The system awards points according to eligible genre and, for drama, the program’s production budget.
Higher-budget commissioned Australian drama earns more points than lower-budget productions, while other eligible first-release genres also contribute to the annual total.
Seven, Nine and Network 10 each reported 284 points for 2025. Those results included points carried over from 2024, as permitted under the regulatory framework.
All 61 regional commercial television licensees also met their applicable first-release obligations.
Australian programs account for $1.63 billion in spending
A separate ACMA expenditure report shows commercial television broadcasters spent $1.83 billion on Australian and overseas programs during the 2024–25 financial year. That was slightly below the $1.84 billion recorded a year earlier.
Of the latest total, $1.63 billion was spent on Australian programs. The figures cover program expenditure reported by metropolitan, regional and remote commercial broadcasters.
The compliance findings are distinct from industry commentary about the policy settings surrounding free television. The ACMA report records whether broadcasters met the current rules; questions about future regulation, advertising markets and platform competition sit outside that compliance assessment.
What the Australian content rules require
The rules are designed to ensure Australian stories, perspectives and creative work remain prominent on commercial free-to-air television. They combine a percentage requirement for primary channels, an hourly requirement for multichannels and a points-based obligation for new Australian programs.
The ACMA monitors compliance using information supplied by broadcasters and publishes annual results for metropolitan, regional and remote licence areas.
ALL 74 COMMERCIAL TELEVISION LICENCES ASSESSED BY THE ACMA MET THEIR AUSTRALIAN-CONTENT REQUIREMENTS FOR 2025.
Read TV Central’s earlier report on commercial television’s role in Australian communities. View the official ACMA television content compliance results.