Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the funding will support newspaper businesses and commercial broadcasters across regional and remote Australia.

Through the PING program, television will receive $20 million, publishing $18 million and radio $20 million from July.

"We're at a time when Australians have an enormous appetite for news and information," Mr Fletcher told reporters in Melbourne on Monday.

"We are seeing an unprecedented and catastrophic decline in advertising revenue for regional media businesses."

He said the program was about supporting regional journalism that had suffered under the unprecedented economic impact of the pandemic.

Mr Fletcher said public interest journalism was critical to keep communities informed.

Of the 107 eligible applicants, there are 92 publishers, 13 radio and five television operators. Three applicants were successful across two streams.

The majority of publishers receiving grants were small-to-medium businesses.

Money would only go to publishers once they resumed printing their papers.

"In regional communities around Australia people are looking to their local media outlets for news about the COVID-19 pandemic," Mr Fletcher said.

Australian Associated Press