Free TV CEO Bridget Fair has downplayed concerns regarding figures released by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) last week showing Australia’s commercial broadcasters spent nothing on Australian children’s drama in 2022-23.
Women in Media has bolstered its ranks with a trio of new board appointments, welcoming Free TV Australia CEO Bridget Fair, Digital Wellness managing director Nicole McInnes, and Deloitte assurance and advisory partner Pooja Patel for three-year terms.
Free TV CEO Bridget Fair has identified free and easy access to free local services on connected TVs and updates to anti-siphoning legislation as the two most pressing issues for commercial broadcasting in 2024, calling on the government to implement a modernised regulatory framework that allows broadcasters to compete with "cashed up streaming services".
Freeview Australia has unveiled its HbbTV (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV) service, providing access to a library of more than 50,000 individual programs and episodes.
Some $1.17 billion was spent on drama production in Australia in the last financial year - the second highest year on record and more than 50 per cent up on the previous year - driven by all-time high expenditure on local content and significantly bolstered levels of foreign spend.
There is no doubt that the future of children’s television quotas for commercial television is an emotive issue. But rather than hanging on to the current quota arrangements like an old and well-loved security blanket, it’s well past time to really look at whether they are delivering their intended purpose.