The Federal Government has unveiled a wide-ranging media reform package, with plans to abolish broadcasting licence fees and conduct a review into Australian and children’s content.
The message of Screen Australia CEO Graeme Mason’s keynote address to the Australian International Documentary Conference was simple: adapt or die.
The Australian government is currently conducting separate inquiries into the future of film and television content in this country, and the market effects of digital platforms. Any decisions we make in these domains could affect social media entertainment, so it’s critically important we understand the industry lest we inadvertently strangle it as it’s just getting started, writes QUT's Stuart Cunningham.
Fifield said the content review is looking for an "identification of a mix of regulation and incentives fit for a multi-platform, highly competitive digital era".
"Let’s make no bones about it - this is a disaster."
In the lead up to the federal election, the fight to regulate streaming services looks poised to get noisier: Australian Directors Guild executive director Alaric McAusland told Screen Forever Tuesday that the industry was currently "way too polite" to government on the issue.