The Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA) has launched a campaign to raise public awareness about the potential impacts of the Government’s Prominence legislation. The campaign is being run across multiple channels, including radio, broadcast, print, and digital, with new ad creatives being released regularly.

ASTRA's campaign is centred around the belief that consumers should have the right to control their own content and television choices. An ASTRA spokesperson stated: “We will continue to campaign for Australians' right to choose their content and control the TVs they spend thousands on every year. Our argument is simple - TVs should serve the consumer, not the government and not Free TV Australia. When a consumer chooses to pay for a service, they should have easy access to that content. Content discovery should be determined by the consumer, not the government and not Free TV Australia."

The spokesperson further added that Australian content aggregators like the Foxtel platform and the soon-to-launch Hubbl serve the consumer by surfacing both free and paid content based on consumer preferences.

ASTRA's campaign comes in response to the government's proposed Prominence legislation, which would legislate free-to-air networks' app and search prominence on smart TVs. ASTRA argues this legislation could limit consumer choice and create complications and frustrations for users. ASTRA's research indicates that 1 in 2 Australians with a smart TV don’t know how to change the layout of their apps, suggesting that the legislation could exacerbate this issue.