UPDATING Australia’s out-of-date media-ownership laws is not a job for the faint-hearted. Two years ago, the then prime minister, Tony Abbott, backed off from proposed reforms after two influential proprietors signalled their disapproval. Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of News Corporation, and Kerry Stokes, who owns Seven, one of three commercial television networks, in effect blocked reform—supposedly because it was not radical enough.

Now Mr Abbott’s successor, Malcolm Turnbull, a market champion and former investment banker, is having a go. If he succeeds, as seems possible, a wave of takeovers will follow. A federal parliamentary committee is weighing proposed reforms. Mitch Fifield, the communications minister, wants them enacted before the next election, probably in July, although they're unlikely to pass by then. They involve dropping two notable rules. One is the “reach rule”, which stops commercial TV networks from broadcasting to more than three-quarters of the population. The other is the “two out of three” rule, which prevents firms owning more than two of a newspaper, radio or television outlet in the same city or region.

The existing law is nearly three decades old, written when Paul Keating, who later became a Labor prime minister, argued that media bosses could be “princes of print” or “queens of the screen”, not both. The rise of the internet, social media and smartphones makes such talk of royal realms sound ridiculously dated. Newspapers had just 14% of Australia’s advertising market last June, less than half of their share in 2005. In the same period online advertising grew almost sevenfold to account for 41% of media advertising, more than any other platform. Almost half of Australians count online outlets, including social media, as their main source of news.

Australia has been slow to adapt its ownership rules in response. Mr Fifield says previous governments dallied, talking of a need for consensus “as an excuse not to act”. Most media outfits now agree that the reach rule is antiquated. Seven and Nine, another commercial TV network, now broadcast over the internet, bypassing the rule. Australia’s most profitable media company is Foxtel, a cable television company owned jointly by Mr Murdoch and Telstra, a telecoms firm; ownership rules, written before cable television arrived, and never updated, do not affect it.

More controversial is the plan to drop the “two out of three” rule. This was intended to ensure diversity among media owners, though it has not stopped Mr Murdoch controlling about two-thirds of newspaper circulation in big cities. One rumour suggests a union could follow between News Corporation, Foxtel and Ten, the third commercial TV network. Fairfax Media, the main newspaper rival to Mr Murdoch, recently cut 120 jobs from its titles in Sydney and Melbourne, as it struggles with falling ad revenues. The proposed changes could give Fairfax a lifeline, letting it merge with Nine Entertainment, which owns the Nine network. These firms already co-operate: last year they launched Stan, a video-streaming outfit to compete with Netflix.

Tim Dwyer of the University of Sydney says media ownership in Australia is already one of the most concentrated of “advanced democracies”, and new rules would “unequivocally increase” that. Mr Fifield denies that Mr Murdoch and others will get stronger. Another rule on diversity will stay. Known as “five-four”, it requires at least five independent media “voices” in Australia’s big cities, and four in country regions. Mr Fifield calls himself “ownership agnostic”, saying it is for owners, within rules, to “determine what is the best way for them to configure themselves”.

Mr Murdoch wants more deregulation, with the “five-four” rule dropped, too. News Corporation also wants to scrap rules stipulating that popular sporting events, such as the Olympic Games and the Melbourne Cup horse race (pictured), must be screened on terrestrial, free-to-air channels. Such events are ratings gold and changes would be politically sensitive. Mr Fifield does not rule it out; but only if parliament approves.

Mr Stokes has another target in his sights. For the past 52 years commercial broadcasters had to buy operating licences, currently levied at 4.5% of their gross revenue. The government collected A$148m ($114m) from such fees in 2014, at a rate five times higher than is levied in Singapore, and 150-times that in America. Mr Stokes objects that global companies can now operate on Australia’s airwaves for nothing, and wants such fees scrapped entirely. Even if the government’s planned reforms pass, the pressure for further changes will not let up.