Broadcast Fee Relief, page-5

I’m back at it again after a few weeks away and have been catching up on all that has been happening since I’ve been gone. Between the Senate, the Media Reform Bill, Fairfax, the Ten Network, broadcast licence fees etc. it looks as though a lot has been happening to say the least!

The abolishing of the broadcasting licence fees is a welcome move and has finally gotten the interest of investors. Even with the increase in the share price to 38 cents, the updated guidance, even at the lower end of $33.5 million gives PRT an EPS of 9.1 cents. That’s still a P/E ratio of 4 – well below SWM at 8 times and NEC at 10 times earnings. Looks as though PRT still has some catching up to do!

As for the Media Reform Bill, it looks as though August will be the month where it all happens. Personally I believe that the bill will pass with or without the 2 out of 3 rule but I give it a more than 50% chance of passing in its entirety.

An article from the Financial Review writes that One Nation seems to be rethinking its stance after receiving some “convincing” evidence from a veteran media executive spelling out how much the industry was struggling to survive in the 21^st century. They don’t say who the executive was but it shows that the cross benchers are listening.

http://www.copyright link/news/one-nation-inching-towards-media-reform-deal-20170621-gwvfuw

In my opinion, one of the better political parties in the Senate is Nick Xenophon and his team. According to an article in The Australian, ‘they are apparently looking at presenting a suite of measures to the government tomorrow that they hope will win over enough crossbenchers to drive the stalled media reform package through parliament’.
The measures include a tax on Google and Facebook as well as tax deductions for people who subscribe to smaller and regional publications.

It seems that One Nation and The Greens are willing to compromise with the Government just as long as more is done to protect the diversity of Australian media.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/nick-xenophon-hopes-media-pitch-will-save-reform-package/news-story/1a6b11760483f946e465e40e8c6dad10