During the early 1980s, the Fianna Fáil led Government decided to publicly support the campaign for the legalisation of local radio and it subsequently passed the Radio and Television Act 1988. In order to acknowledge the historical role of news and current affairs in national broadcasting, all contract holders were obliged to devote at least 20% of their output to news and current affairs, or at least two hours of speech content between the hours 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. each day. Access to current affairs had to be given fair and reasonable prominence beside music on entertainment services. This commitment to a range of features is further expanded by this legislation.