The Nine Network screened just two first-release Australian dramas - 'Seachange' and 'Bad Mothers' - last year and had to rely on New Zealand imports to fulfill the local drama quota.
If the Federal Government needed any further vindication for imposing a mandatory code which will force Google, Facebook and other international digital platforms to pay Australian media companies for sharing news content, Google Australia's latest financial results are timely.
What needs to be in place to get the sector back to work? And what will production actually look like when things can resume?
Lingo Pictures MD Helen Bowden has called on the Federal Government to adopt the model set out in the Screen Australia/ACMA options paper which would require all commercial networks, pay channels and SVOD services to invest a percentage of their revenues in new Australian content.
The Screen Australia and ACMA options paper sets out four potential models for how local screen content could be regulated and incentivised into the future.
The commercial free-to-air networks and Foxtel are major beneficiaries of the Federal Government's package of measures to help sustain Australian media businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ABC is worried that the government's classification review could result in a new nationwide system that impinges on its independence and would encompass content screened on ABC iview.
The Classification Review Board would be abolished and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) would oversee the classification of commercially-provided content across all platforms if the federal government accepts the ACMA's submission to the classification review.