New broadcasting rules for Kyle & Jackie O Show licensees

16 March 2026

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has today imposed additional licence conditions on the ARN Media licensees of the Kyle & Jackie O Show following repeated breaches of the decency provision of the Commercial Radio Code of Practice.

The new conditions will remain in force for 5 years and will apply to the ARN licensees when broadcasting the Kyle & Jackie O Show or any other program hosted by or featuring Kyle Sandilands and/or Jacqueline Henderson.

Enforcement actions available to the ACMA in the event of breaches by ARN of the additional licence conditions include court‑enforceable undertakings, remedial directions, civil penalties, or suspension or cancellation of the broadcasting licence.

ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said this action follows multiple failures by the licensees to meet their obligations under the Code.

“To date ARN management have been unwilling or unable to control the content that has gone to air. These additional licence conditions mean further breaches will attract strong enforcement action that was not otherwise available to the ACMA,” Ms O’Loughlin said.

The conditions also require the licensees to commission an independent audit of their governance framework by a qualified compliance expert, provide the report and its recommendations to the ACMA, and implement the recommendations within agreed timeframes.

“This requirement is designed to strengthen foundational governance structures and reduce the risk of further non‑compliance. The ball is now firmly in ARN’s court to take control of the content they are responsible for,” Ms O’Loughlin said.

This action follows findings by the ACMA in 2025 of 9 breaches of the decency provisions of the Code of Practice by the program.

Content from the investigated broadcasts included:

• Two episodes of a guessing game where audio clips of male and female staff members urinating were aired, with hosts guessing which audio belonged to which staff member. Both episodes included comments about the genitals of participants, and in the female staff member episode, graphic comments about menstruation and oral sex.
• A game where a contestant provided an offensive description of a sexual position.
• A segment which contained lewd discussions about masturbation and pornography websites. Prior to these breaches, the ACMA had already taken a range of enforcement actions available to it under the broadcasting co-regulatory system for breaches made between 2019 and 2022.

Measures undertaken by ARN following these actions included the employment of two censors for the program.

The additional licence conditions have been published for the ARN licensees, Commonwealth Broadcasting Corporation and Double T Radio, as have the ACMA’s Statement of Reasons for the decisions for Commonwealth Broadcasting Corporation and Double T Radio.

MR 06/2026