Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned Australia's media chiefs and billionaire owners that he will make no changes to television sports rights restrictions without a consensus between free-to-air and pay television.

But Mr Turnbull has opened up the possibility that News Corp-backed Foxtel could be forced to pay for the right to retransmit the free-to-air networks' channels. He also suggests that the channels used by community broadcasters could be reused by commercial broadcasters.

'I stress that the extent to which reforms are achievable will depend on the degree to which consensus can be achieved in the industry.' Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

In a letter obtained by Fairfax Media dated June 12, the minister spells out a ''deregulation roadmap'' that includes ripping up the rules that prevent television networks merging with their regional affiliates and newspaper companies from owning both television and radio assets in the same capital city.

He plans to tackle those laws "in the next 12 months'' but says the process for addressing the controversial issue remains in development.