When Bridget Fair, the CEO of Free TV Australia, appeared before Senators on the Inquiry into Australian Content on Broadcast, Radio and Streaming Services in Sydney last week there was no deviation from the commercial broadcasters’ long held position that children’s television quotas should be scrapped.
Today’s High Court decision that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has the power to determine whether or not a broadcaster has committed a criminal offence and therefore breached its licence condition, highlights a serious flaw in
Figures released today by Free TV Australia show commercial free-to-air broadcasters invested a record $1.54 Billion on free Australian content in 2013/14, up 11.6% from $1.38 billion in 2012-2013.
Australian TV drama expenditure has reached a record high of $376 million.
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.
Network 10 is set to launch a new free-to-air channel, 10 Shake, which by day will air children's content and from 6pm-6am focus on edgier content for adults under 40.
Existential threats to the screenwriting profession have been making headlines lately with the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike, but Australian writers working in children's television have been facing their own less noisy, but equally momentous, disruption since the scrapping of quotas in October 2020, writes Cleon Prineas.