Laws guaranteeing free to air TV the first rights to air the Olympics and grand finals should be extended to cover online broadcasting, the sector's peak body has urged.
Free TV Australia, which represents the Nine, Seven and Ten networks has called on the federal government to make changes to its anti-siphoning laws to include digital streaming rights.
Under anti-siphoning laws, free to air TV gets the first opportunity to secure broadcast rights to major sporting events before they are offered to subscription services such as pay TV or streaming platforms such as Netflix.
However, Free TV chief executive Bridget Fair said the current provisions did not extend to streaming services owned by broadcasters such as 7plus and 9Now.
Ms Fair said subscription services could still acquire digital rights, meaning those who watch free to air TV through the internet could miss out.
"As the proportion of households watching TV online grows to half by 2027, the anti-siphoning list will be fundamentally undermine if it does not apply to digital rights," she said.
"Bidding for sport will become commercially unviable if free to air broadcasters can only acquire a narrow range of terrestrial rights, leaving paid services to acquire all sporting events."
The federal government introduced its updated anti-siphoning laws in 2023 to expand the number of sporting events to include more women's sporting fixtures such as the Women's World Cup, NRLW and AFLW.
The laws were brought to parliament to prevent online streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon from putting major sporting events behind paywalls.
But Ms Fair said it also needed to include digital streaming provided by free to air networks.
"It must be amended to reflect modern viewing habits," she said.
"Many new homes do not even have antennas installed. All Australians deserve access to the great sporting events, trusted news and great entertainment programs that bring our nation together."
In a submission to the federal government, the peak body also advocated for laws that would require smart TVs to free to air channels prominently to be extended.
The submission has urged for the implementation period for the industry once the laws are passed to be reduced from 18 months to six months.
Ms Fair said the laws should also be extended to existing TVs that receive software updates, rather than only new smart TVs.
"The government should apply the new rules to existing TVs, not just new ones, with expert analysis showing software can easily be updated to benefit people who already have a smart TV," she said.
"If we wait until 2026 to even start addressing the problem, it will simply be too little, too late."
