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Other media companies have cautiously welcomed the government's announcement. Seven West Media chief executive James Warburton described the proposed laws as sensible and fair."There’s now no reason for Facebook or Google to be unwilling to negotiate fair agreements,"Mr Warburton said.

News Corp executive chairman Michael Miller declined to be interviewed but toldThe Australian Financial Review that he had no issue with the consideration of referral traffic.

Search giant Google lobbied aggressively for the two-way value exchange,claiming it directed more than 3 billion visits to publishers in 2018 worth $218 million. Facebook estimates its referrals to media companies in January to May this year were worth $196 million.

But Mr Marks said the referral traffic Nine gets from Google and Facebook was worthless and that there was no need for it to be considered in the negotiation process."They[the government] must have given into the threats from Google and Facebook,"Mr Marks said."Why have an arbitration process to value something that's already been valued? It just complicates the whole framework."

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg this week said the proposed code was designed to ensure"a sustainable and viable Australian media landscape"as he tabled detailed legislation in the Parliament on Wednesday. The bill will be scrutinised by a Senate committee before going to a vote next year.

Under the proposed laws,if the tech giants cannot reach commercial agreements with news businesses within three months,the parties must enter a"final offer"arbitration process,with a panel given the power to pick one of the parties'respective offers,or find a more reasonable offer. The panel will take into account a range of factors including the value news outlets give to Google and Facebook. It will also consider the imbalance of bargaining power that currently exists between tech platforms and media companies.

Google and Facebook will also be required to give the news businesses 14 days notice of algorithm changes that are likely to have a significant impact on the online traffic they direct to publishers. The bill also contains non-discrimination provisions to stop the tech giants taking retaliatory action against news organisations that participate in the code by removing or punishing content.

In order to participate,media companies need to satisfy several tests,including that they produce core news which is directed at an Australian audience,comply with professional standards,such as having internal editorial policies,and have annual revenue of more than $150,000.

Mr Marks declined to put a dollar figure on how much Nine expected to receive,but referenced the $600 million total industry benefit that was mentioned by chairman Peter Costello earlier this year. He said Nine will lobby for the payments as a group rather than via individual news outlets. But he signalled Nine was likely to head to arbitration,conceding all efforts by Google and Facebook to strike deals so far have been"disingenuous".

Google and Facebook are both yet to publicly comment on proposed laws. The tech giants have both threatened to limit their services in Australia after describing a draft version of the code as"unworkable."

Facebook has previously said it would block Australian news content on its platform,while Googlewarnedits free service were"at risk".

"I think[Facebook and Google] are probably pretty pleased with having successfully lobbied the government that this two way value exchange - which is already commercially determined - should become a subject of arbitration,"Mr Marks said."They're probably pretty pleased that they've confused the process sufficiently. That's why they've probably shut up."

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