The subscription TV sector says it will make up for its
The subscription TV sector failed to meet its annual local drama expenditure requirement for the second consecutive financial year in 2009-10.
Subscription-TV licensees and channel providers must spend at least 10 per cent of their annual total program expenditure on new eligible drama programs. However, the sector spent just $15.66 million of the required $27.88 million on new eligible programs during 2009-10, according to Australian Communication and Media Authority data. A further $11.18 million was spent during the period to make up for its expenditure shortfall in 2008–09.
Licensees and channel providers were required to spend at least $12.22 million in 2010–11 to make up for the drama shortfall in 2009–10 however, the ACMA data (released in its Communications report 2010–11) does not refer to that period.
Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA) chief executive Petra Buchanan said flexibility was deliberately built into Subscription TV’s Australian drama expenditure obligations under the Broadcasting Services Act “to enable obligations to be acquitted in either the reporting year or the following year”.
“This allows STV to accommodate production cycles and to ensure the quality of Australian drama is not compromised. As such, STV achieved its drama spend obligation for 2008-09, acquitted through a portion of the 2009-10 spend. ASTRA would expect that, as in previous years, the STV sector will comply with its expenditure obligations for 2009-10 in a similar manner.”
In October, ASTRA released information (https://if.com.au/2011/10/06/article/WYQNIJTVKJ.html) that said the sector had invested more than $578 million into Australian content last year – 7 per cent higher than in 2009 – across all screen content genres, including light entertainment, drama, films, children’s programming, music, news, sport, documentaries and lifestyle. Around one-third of Australian households receive subscription TV and the sector employs about 7410 people (including platform outsourcing).
Despite the investment shortfall, the sector has supported some big-budget local drama in recent times including Tim Winton’s cloudstreet mini-series. while the $14 million Resistance XXXXXXXXXX
Buchanan claimed that the $35.28 million total sector expenditure on new Australian drama in 2009-10 still exceeded the required $27.88 million set for 2009-10.
However, that compares to different sets of data: one contains the eligible drama expenditure for one year ($27.88 million in 2009-10) and the other contains eligible drama expenditure for two years ($35.28 million in 2008-09 and 2009-10).