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Challenge to the Federal Government

In its submission for the ABC budget for the next triennium, the ABC has delivered a challenge to the federal government and an imaginative vision for the future which only the ABC could provide.

The ABC has pledged to greatly extend TV, radio and online services in rural Australia and to introduce new state-based TV channels using digital technology if the Government will reverse its funding cuts of three years ago.

As well, it has said it will boost Australian content from 55% to 60% with more drama and children's programs, start an online music channel, double its radio drama output and extend the reach of Radio Australia.

The ABC's rural plans include a new daily rural news television program and a prime-time weekly TV program about regional Australia. Coverage of Triple J and News Radio would be extended to towns of 10,000 or more.

It would use the digital spectrum to introduce state-based news and current affairs programming on a new ABC plus channel, which would also show more children's programming.

This money for content, amounting to over $200m over three years, is on top of the amount needed to convert to digital television. This is being funded from the ABC budget and property sales; the Government, despite its promises, has provided only $20m - the same as it gave to SBS -for digitisation.

The ABC has lobbed the ball strongly into the Government's court. If the money is not forthcoming, it is the Government which will have deprived us all, and especially the people in rural and regional Australia, of some wonderful opportunities.

And we'll look very silly with a wonderful new delivery system and no content.

Source: W/E Australian, 19-20/2/00

ABC tops the list of all public broadcasters

When a public broadcaster has to take commercial funding in order to survive, it is forced to become more populist and to reduce its public service role.

McKinsey, a firm of UK consultants, has compared public broadcasters world-wide in this respect.

One of the more interesting conclusions of their number-crunching is that there is an inverse relationship between a broadcaster's dependence on advertising revenue and the share of programming given over to factual, cultural and children's programming, the traditional fare of public broadcasters.

Somewhat surprisingly is the fact that the ABC actually tops all public broadcasters in its commitment to this traditional fare, exceeding even the BBC, which is also a non-advertising medium. The most populist mix of a

public broadcaster in a competitive market is Denmark's TV2, which derives 72% of its operating income from advertising. However, on the McKinsey definition, TV2 allocates 40% of its programming to traditional public broadcasting programs compared with 70% for the ABC and 60% for the BBC.

The McKinsey analysis suggests that the extent of populist programming on advertising-dependent broadcasters has been increasing with the passage of time. Consequently there is evidence to support the proposition that advertising would change the ABC into a more populist broadcaster.

Max Walsh, The Bulletin, 30/11/99

The same could be predicted of any form of reliance on commercial funding, not just advertising