New laws are being rushed through Federal Parliament to allow television stations to broadcast the AFL and NRL grand finals in high definition, but they may come too late for the 2015 footy season.

At the moment, all free-to-air broadcasters are forced to use standard definition for their main channels, with high definition broadcasts restricted to secondary channels.

Major sporting events cannot be shown on secondary channels due to anti-siphoning laws, leaving sports fans watching premier events in lower resolution.

The Government rushed a bill through the House of Representatives to scrap the restriction, which was passed without any objections.

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he expected it to pass the Senate just as swiftly.

"There is no legal impediment to the football grand finals being broadcast in high definition," he said.

"Of course, it's entirely a matter for the broadcasters to do that."

But Labor's communications spokesman Jason Clare warned "that may not be possible".

"I understand from the briefings we've received that a number of technical upgrades and changes will be required," he said.

"This legislation, to be fair, should've been introduced a couple of months ago to enable that to happen."

But he said he was pleased the change was being made.

"Australians justifiably expect that the shows and events they want to watch will be broadcast using the best technology available," Mr Clare said.

The restriction was introduced nearly 15 years ago at the beginning of the switchover from analogue to digital television broadcasting.

At that time, few people had HD-enabled televisions and the mandate to broadcast in standard definition ensured no-one was left without coverage.

But HD-enabled televisions and set-top boxes are now close to universal, making the restriction redundant.

"We are now at a point where the concern that originally motivated the requirement ... is a concern that largely no longer exists because of the very, very high penetration of high definition televisions and set-top boxes," said Parliamentary Secretary for Communications Paul Fletcher.

"This is a measure that removes a regulatory requirement which is out of date, no longer does useful work and will, as a consequence, deliver a significant consumer benefit."