Is access to content really the new bottleneck: or should we be content about content?

Exclusive rights to premium content, and other content-related factors, are identified in the Convergence Review Report as potentially powerful impediments to competition in the rapidly converging telecommunications and media sectors. Substantial revisions to existing regulatory arrangements are recommended in the Report to address this threat. However, it is not apparent that these concerns are justified, or that the dramatic institutional changes proposed are warranted. Rather, a number of convergence-related developments in premium content demand, availability, and distribution suggest that any market power bestowed by exclusive access rights in the past may be eroding. This paper highlights these developments. It is concluded that, that taken together, they do indeed have the scope to weaken the threat to competition seen in exclusive content rights. Caution is counselled in proclaiming the prospect of emerging content-related threats to competition, and instituting changes to the regulation of communications competition in Australia, until market evidence is examined more closely.