3: Informing and entertaining Australians

The ABC and SBS play a central role in informing and entertaining Australians; particularly through the provision of material that reflects Australia's unique character and characteristics and promotes diversity and understanding of other cultures. These responsibilities are codified in the three relevant Acts.

There is a strong connection between the national broadcasters and Australia's creative industries. This was explicitly recognised in the Final Report of the Australia 2020 Summit:

The ABC and other public broadcasters should be resourced as a cultural platform for the delivery of culture and the arts to society.

Delivery of Australian content

The national broadcasters play a key role in the delivery of Australian content on television and radio. As Figure 1 illustrates, both the ABC and the SBS have generally maintained their level of Australian programming over the past decade.

Figure 1.1: Imported and local television programming by ABC, 1996-97 to 2006-07

Figure 1.1 ABC television programming - text version follows

Figure 1.1: Imported and local television programming by ABC, 1996-97 to 2006-07 - text version

Figure 1.2: Imported and local television programming by SBS, 1996-97 to 2006-07

Figure 1.2 SBS television programming - text version follows

Figure 1.2: Imported and local television programming by SBS, 1996-97 to 2006-07 - text version

Source: Data taken from Screen Australia, Get the Picture: Free-To-Air TV, 5 July 2008. ABC data is for ABC1.

However, in the genres of adult drama, children's drama and documentary programming the national broadcasters are more reliant on overseas material. Figure 2 illustrates the relative weighting of imported and local programming for the ABC in 2006-07.

Figure 2: ABC 1: Imported and local television programming, 2006-07 (24 hours)

Figure 2: ABC 1: Imported and local television programming - text version follows

Figure 2: ABC 1: Imported and local television programming, 2006-07 (24 hours) - text version

Source: Data taken from Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Annual Report 2007, p. 184.

These relative weightings are, at least in part, the result of significant cost differences between Australian-produced and overseas-sourced television programming.

Generally, a television series produced in the United Kingdom or the United States can be acquired by the ABC or SBS for around 10 per cent of the cost of producing an equivalent series in Australia. For example, Australian-produced drama programming typically costs between $500 000 and $1 million per hour, whereas the cost of acquiring overseas drama typically ranges between $30 000 and $100 000 per hour.

While many locally produced dramas are popular with audiences, many imported programs are also highly valued. There is an argument that much of the locally-produced drama would not have been made available by commercial broadcasters, at least not until it had demonstrated an audience on the ABC or SBS.

Without direct funding for the national broadcasters to produce Australian content and regulatory measures that ensure commercial broadcasters provide minimum levels of Australian content, the amount of Australian content available to Australian audiences is likely to be significantly lower than current levels.

In New Directions for the Arts 2007, the Australian Government committed to amending the ABC Charter to mandate minimum levels of Australian drama on the ABC that reflect obligations similar to those that apply to commercial free-to-air television networks. SBS has also indicated a desire to provide an additional 100 hours per year of Australian-produced drama, documentary, comedy and entertainment programming on its main television channel by 2012, commissioned from the Australian independent production sector.5

The current drama requirements for commercial television form part of the Australian Content Standard. The Standard requires all commercial free-to-air television licensees to broadcast an annual minimum transmission quota of 55 per cent Australian programming between 6 a.m. and midnight. This quota includes minimum amounts of first-release drama, documentary and children's programs.

The Seven, Nine and Ten Networks have consistently met or exceeded the minimum requirements of the Standard, including over the past five years, as Figure 3 illustrates.

Figure 3: Australian programming on metropolitan commercial television networks from 6 a.m. to midnight, 2002-07

Figure 3: Australian programming on metropolitan commercial television networks - text version follows

Figure 3: Australian programming on metropolitan commercial television networks from 6 a.m. to midnight, 2002-07 - text version

Source: Data taken from Australian Communications and Media Authority, Australian Content Standard Compliance Results 2007.

However, the capacity of commercial television to continue to provide the current level of local drama content could be challenged over time if the growth of new and competing platforms leads to declining advertising revenue and its privileged access to spectrum ceases to provide a significant benefit.

As greater numbers of media channels and platforms become available, the role of the national broadcasters in providing Australian audiences with Australian drama, documentaries, comedy and arts programming is likely to become more important.

At the Australia 2020 Summit, the ABC argued for a significant expansion of the amount of Australian content that it provides on its current and future digital television channels, ranging from not less than 50 per cent on its proposed children's and education channels ('ABC3' and 'ABC5'), through to not less than 80 per cent for its main channel ('ABC1').

Children's programming

One program genre where the national broadcasters could play an enhanced role is in children's programming. The ABC has traditionally had a strong role in children's television, with some programs household names for generations of Australians. This role is complemented by the commercial networks (for which the Children's Television Standards 2005 determine minimum amounts and scheduling of children's television programming) and by other platforms, particularly subscription television.

There was strong support for the ABC's role in children's education and entertainment at the Australia 2020 Summit:

The ABC would have a specific education role in classrooms and across all industry sectors. This should be supplemented by the ABC having a separate children's channel. (Final Report)

One option put forward by the ABC and the Australian Children's Television Foundation at the Summit was for a dedicated, digital children's channel to be provided by the ABC ('ABC3'). The channel would be commercial free and would provide greater than 50 per cent Australian content.

SBS has also suggested that it should play a role in the provision of children's programming on its digital television multichannels, specifically those in languages other than English, which would be subtitled in English.6

The Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts recently indicated its support for proposals of this nature, recommending that broadcastersthe national broadcasters in particularconsider establishing dedicated children's television channels.7 The ABC previously operated a digital children's television channelABC Kidsbetween August 2001 and June 2003.

In its review of the Children's Television Standards for commercial television, the Australian Communications and Media Authority raised the option of commercial networks 'trading' or 'buying out' some or all of their regulatory obligations for children's programming under the Standards. The 'traded' quota requirements would be broadcast by other operators, potentially including the national broadcasters. It is understood that this approach was not well supported in the review.

News and current affairs

Consistent with their legislative mandates, SBS and the ABC play a prominent role in the provision of news and information.

  • SBS television and online services include the nightly World News Australia bulletin, current affairs programming such as Insight and Dateline, and more than 60 hours a week of international news bulletins. SBS also provides news and current affairs programming on radio in more than 68 languages, as well as a dedicated all-news digital television service, the World News Channel.
  • ABC television services include regular evening bulletins and current affairs programming such as the 7.30 Report, Four Corners, Lateline and Foreign Correspondent. Material for this programming schedule is supplied by an extensive network of Australian and overseas-based journalists. ABC news programs on radio include the flagship AM, PM and The World Today. In addition, ABC NewsRadio, Radio National and 60 local radio stations provide news and information throughout their schedules. This broadcast programming is augmented by ABC Online, with close to five million pages of content.

The Final Report of the Australia 2020 Summit emphasised the importance of the news arms of the national broadcasters and their role in supporting an informed and educated citizenry:

National broadcasters should be the venues of public education and offer a space for dissemination of mature judgement on ideas. They should be a repository of knowledge, rather than just of information.

Digital technologies provide scope for the national broadcasters to enhance the impact and value of their news and information content. It will be important to ensure that synergies in news gathering and dissemination made possible by digitisation are maximised. For example, the ABC has announced that work has begun on a Continuous News Centre to provide multiple, simultaneous streams of news content to all of the ABC's outlets: television, radio, online.8

Digital technologies could provide further scope to enhance the effectiveness of the news and information services of the national broadcasters, for example through the creation of a dedicated news and public affairs channel, as proposed by the ABC ('ABC4').9 Such a service was endorsed in the Australia 2020 Summit's Final Report:

A program along the lines of "C-span" in the United States or Canada could be established. An Australian version of "C-span"AuSpanwould make a big difference to the public policy debate.

Comprehensiveness and program diversity

SBS has a legislated mandate to 'provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians'. The ABC's Charter requires the organisation to provide 'innovative and comprehensive broadcasting services' and, in fulfilling this and other functions, 'provide a balance between broadcasting programs of wide appeal and specialised broadcasting programs'.

These broad mandates pose challenges for the national broadcasters as they decide how to deploy scarce resources to produce programs across the content spectrum and the platforms on which programming is to be delivered.

This challenge is likely to be even greater in the 2020 media environment. Audiences will no longer be passive recipients of content whose timing and manner of delivery is determined by the broadcasters. These new audiences will expect higher levels of interactivity and greater choice about when and how they consume content. Charter obligations and programming priorities will need to align with contemporary community expectations and needs.

At present only one domestic programming areaeducationis explicitly mandated as a charter requirement for the ABC, and the charters of the ABC and SBS are still couched in terms of 'broadcasting' even though these organisations increasingly provide online services. News and information services and children's programming are two possible areas that could be given greater emphasis in any revision of each organisation's charter.

However, the implications of articulating more specific priorities would need to be carefully considered. The current structure of the ABC Charter, and to a lesser extent the SBS Charter, provides considerable flexibility as to how the organisations give effect to their roles as national broadcasters, determine priorities and allocate resources. This flexibility provides each broadcaster with the scope to respond to changing circumstances and emerging technologies, and to ndertake new activities.

Questions: Informing and entertaining Australians

  • What role should the ABC and SBS have in promoting Australia's cultural identity and presenting Australian images on television, radio and across new media?
  • What role should the ABC and SBS play in the provision of children's programming and should children's programming be delivered on the main digital television channels, or on separate channels, or both?
  • How might the national broadcasters harness new technologies and platforms to enable Australians to remain informed at a local and national level?
  • Should the charters of the national broadcasters be amended to more clearly define their broad programming directions and priorities? Should such priorities take into account the nature and reach of particular delivery platforms?

Footnotes

  1. Special Broadcasting Service, SBS's Plans for the Future, July 2008.
  2. Ibid.
  3. Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts, Sexualisation of Children in the Contemporary Media, June 2008, Recommendation 5.
  4. Australian Broadcasting Corporation, The Digital Future Now, media release, 12 March 2008.
  5. M Scott, The ABC of the Digital Media Age, National Press Club Address, 10 September 2008.
 
 
 
 
Document ID: 87635 | Last modified: 26 May 2011, 10:24am