The Seven, Nine and 10 networks insist they are not stockpiling Australian dramas and other local programming despite the suspension of the local content quotas for the rest of this year.
Seven's director of network programming Angus Ross explains how the country's lockdown is benefiting Seven's channels and catch-up viewing, the need to rejig the schedule, and flags a raft of upcoming Australian shows.
Graeme Mason has warned there will be permanent job losses in the entertainment industry once the coronavirus pandemic has passed.
Brad Lyons, the Seven Network's former director of production and a network executive for 20 years, has died from cancer.
The emerging crisis around local content results from repeated inaction by government to develop 21st century policy frameworks, write University of the Sunshine Coast's Anna Potter and Queensland University of Technology's Amanda Lotz. Here, they recommend three ways government can encourage local production and break the policy inertia
For Australia's commercial free-to-air networks, arguably the biggest threat to losing eyeballs is not each other but the seemingly inexorable rise of streaming services led by Netflix, Stan, Disney+ and Amazon.
The Federal Government has committed to a staged process of media regulation reform, ultimately culminating in what it hopes will be "platform-neutral regulatory framework covering both online and offline delivery of media content."
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.