Australia’s commercial free-to-air networks have lobbied the government to impose tougher tax rules on global online giants – such as Google and Facebook – in an attempt to create a “level playing field” beyond the media reforms set to go before cabinet this week.

The main priority of the free-to-air lobby is to have licence fees reduced and the scrapping of reach rules preventing mergers with regional broadcasters. But they have argued that lower tax rates have handed an unfair advantage to online companies including Google which is grabbing an increasingly large share of the $12 billion local advertising market.

“The point we have always made is that there needs to be a level playing field for media regulation,” said Nine managing director and chairman of Free TV Australia, Jeffrey Browne.

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