ABC Cuts - Good-bye VFL telecasts

[vjknight]

bring back jim cairns

 

[speedytiger]

I do feel for those losing jobs but I'm also uncomfortable with abc presenters earning over $300,000 too

 

[manicmagpie]

Perhaps the news and radio readers/hosts earning 300k per year? An online editor earning 285k or Scotts 700k. That's a great way to spend public money.

Anyway, I'm sure the commercial channel will offer more than one or two Pie games per year that our ABC was ever able to deliver.

Delivers a far superior product than the alternative media outlets at a far cheaper price. Can't get much better value than that.

Rupert Murdoch has got his way.....

The government claimed that cuts were necessary due to the budget position worsening by $1 billion compared to pre-election forecasts. They of course neglected to mention that approx $900 million (90%) of this downturn was due to the government instructing the ATO to stop pursuing News Ltd for unpaid taxes. They then use this as an excuse to decimate one of Rupert's main competitors. Nice payback for all those appallingly biased articles and front pages of the Hun and the Tele.

 

[Chief Ten Beers]

Delivers a far superior product than the alternative media outlets at a far cheaper price. Can't get much better value than that.


View attachment 94156

Cheaper? Commercial TV is free mate, not a $1 Billion dollar public expense on the taxpayer. The thing that gets me is ABC's coverage of the ONLY existing 100% unique Austalian sport/culture is non existent compared to the commercial alternative in Fox Footy, with their Foxtel cup, all the games, extra shows, draft night etc...they have nothing on Seven either which says something.

I'd be upset if they were cutting something worthwhile but its no big loss. ABC are more interested in soccer and high school union than footy so looking forward to the VFL coverage next year. Good riddance

 

[Black_White]

They haven't been able to do anything they don't have controll over the senate.

What a lame excuse.
Plenty of Governments don't have control of their upper houses. Yet Govern.
And that is the true test of a Government. To be able to negotiate their policies through a hostile upper house.
Abbott will always fail at such endeavours because at his heart he is a man who does not want to bend.
His record, in two short years, speaks for itself.
Broken promises, and weasel words to try and justify those broken promises.

 

[cleomenes]

Cheaper? Commercial TV is free mate, not a $1 Billion dollar public expense on the taxpayer. The thing that gets me is ABC's coverage of the ONLY existing 100% unique Austalian sport/culture is non existent compared to the commercial alternative in Fox Footy, with their Foxtel cup, all the games, extra shows, draft night etc...they have nothing on Seven either which says something.

I'd be upset if they were cutting something worthwhile but its no big loss. ABC are more interested in soccer and high school union than footy so looking forward to the VFL coverage next year. Good riddance

Fox is anything but free. ABC doesn't do the sports that can get big money from the commercials. The step into minority sports that can't command big dollars, often nurturing them until they can go commercial. The VFL is a case in point. Also netball, basketball and soccer. That is one of the points in their favour. If they have to pull out of local sport because of funding, then it is the funder who has failed.

 

[Quicky]

And up tp 400 job cuts. Dont agree with Apex36 reference to the ABC 'wasting money on stupid s**t'. Maybe he could be more specific, but I highly value the national broadcaster. Am very concerned.

I'm a big supporter of the ABC and disagree with the cuts to funding. But I know people who have seen first hand some of that largesse in action.

 

[Art Corvelay]

I do feel for those losing jobs but I'm also uncomfortable with abc presenters earning over $300,000 too

Why shouldn't they be paid what they are worth? How is the ABC expected to attract talent if they can't pay market rates?

 

[Ant85]

Cheaper? Commercial TV is free mate, not a $1 Billion dollar public expense on the taxpayer. The thing that gets me is ABC's coverage of the ONLY existing 100% unique Austalian sport/culture is non existent compared to the commercial alternative in Fox Footy, with their Foxtel cup, all the games, extra shows, draft night etc...they have nothing on Seven either which says something.

I'd be upset if they were cutting something worthwhile but its no big loss. ABC are more interested in soccer and high school union than footy so looking forward to the VFL coverage next year. Good riddance

Do you work for Rupert Murdoch?

 

[Kilmo]

Really sad for the ABC. Incredibly short sighted and stupid move by the government. You have to feel for those that have lost their jobs.

Agree, but I feel it is more of a planned attack than a shortsighted move. The government knows exactly what they are doing: that amount of money is meaningless to the budget but huge to the ABC.

 

[76woodenspooners]

Has the Abbott Government even done anything Right?

Yes

Abbott squeezed the nuts of the TGA to make them reform the medical device approval process to stop the crazy nonsense of Australian manufacturers being disadvantaged compared with overseas manufacturers.

 

[Maggie5]

They haven't been able to do anything they don't have controll over the senate.

Aren't we lucky?

 

[Baltimore Jack]

Cheaper? Commercial TV is free mate, not a $1 Billion dollar public expense on the taxpayer. The thing that gets me is ABC's coverage of the ONLY existing 100% unique Austalian sport/culture is non existent compared to the commercial alternative in Fox Footy, with their Foxtel cup, all the games, extra shows, draft night etc...they have nothing on Seven either which says something.

I'd be upset if they were cutting something worthwhile but its no big loss. ABC are more interested in soccer and high school union than footy so looking forward to the VFL coverage next year. Good riddance

Yes I guess it is all subjective because I firmly believe we should save over $100 billion a year by cutting all spending on the Military.
I know you will understand my position because its the same as yours is with the ABC

 

[Maggie5]

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-11-26/aok-for-abc

At first I only thought about VFL but note that three commentators have been made redundant from AFL broadcasts. One, Drew Morphett I really liked and hope he is picked up by the commercial channels. The are currently in negotiations for the next radio rights for AFL, I hope that they continue as I really like listening to ABC (except Whately).
I think most people take ABC for granted and only think of it terms of TV but it does an enormous job in radio especially in the country, when there are bush fires, floods and other natural disasters.

 

[Chief Ten Beers]

Yes I guess it is all subjective because I firmly believe we should save over $100 billion a year by cutting all spending on the Military.
I know you will understand my position because its the same as yours is with the ABC

Wait, you're comparing a public broadcaster vs national defence in terms of public expenditure...really?. Thanks for quoting me with that. Ignored.

Why shouldn't they be paid what they are worth? How is the ABC expected to attract talent if they can't pay market rates?

I'll just leave this here:
"
the public broadcaster spent 46 per cent of costs on wages last year, compared with 10.7 per cent for the free-to-air commercial television industry…

SBS spent 31.2 per cent of its budget on wages, according to the leaked IBISWorld report, published last December…

"

 

[Maggie5]

Wait, you're comparing a public broadcaster vs national defence in terms of public expenditure...really?. Thanks for quoting me with that. Ignored.



I'll just leave this here:
"
the public broadcaster spent 46 per cent of costs on wages last year, compared with 10.7 per cent for the free-to-air commercial television industry…

SBS spent 31.2 per cent of its budget on wages, according to the leaked IBISWorld report, published last December…

"

I agree with you to a point, but I don't think that takes in account radio and their on-line presence. Therefore difficult to compare with commercial TV.

 

[Dynamics]

Offseason. We don't have guys like Beams, Dids, and Heater crashing cars, betting etc... anymore. So we are left to let our minds wander with great results.

Consider it a sign of a squad now free of trouble makers and headline writers... Nice.

Coincidentally, I now regularly drive through a street called Howard St and EVERY time I do I hear Kel Knight in my head muttering "bloody Howard" as he tries to do his quarterly taxes.

 

[speedytiger]

Why shouldn't they be paid what they are worth? How is the ABC expected to attract talent if they can't pay market rates?

I dont think the abc should be paying market rates. Im happy for the abc to be a breeding ground for talent and less popular sports. That's what I want it to be.

 

[Art Corvelay]

I'll just leave this here:
"
the public broadcaster spent 46 per cent of costs on wages last year, compared with 10.7 per cent for the free-to-air commercial television industry…

SBS spent 31.2 per cent of its budget on wages, according to the leaked IBISWorld report, published last December…

"

ABC run a 24 hour news channel for a start, plus produce a lot of their own content. Not to mention radio + online. It doesn't particularly surprise me their wage costs are higher, they don't have the luxury of running a 24 hours infomercial channel.

 

[Chief Ten Beers]

ABC run a 24 hour news channel for a start, plus produce a lot of their own content. Not to mention radio + online. It doesn't particularly surprise me their wage costs are higher, they don't have the luxury of running a 24 hours infomercial channel.

You won't win anyone over with your supposition, I'm afraid. The facts are that ABC is quite bloated in the wage department compared to every other station in the country. I'm not sure running a 24 news channel is the answer to the 40% discrepancy nor the funding of lateline or q&a.

Seeing all this reaction, it is curious that over 1000 jobs were cut last year from Fairfax and News Corp but no one really cared since its private... its just only when the public servants get the chop and a 1.5% budget cut per year (iirc), it seems mass protests on the street and people become "quite concerned"!

I'm done. Time to spend time on something more productive.

This thread has become more derailed than Geelong's finals campaign.

 

[Apex36]

ABC run a 24 hour news channel for a start, plus produce a lot of their own content. Not to mention radio + online. It doesn't particularly surprise me their wage costs are higher, they don't have the luxury of running a 24 hours infomercial channel.

Are you trying to convince us or yourself?

Paul Barry (host of Media Watch) earns $191k per year to present 15 minutes of television per week. And on top of that he has a full team of people to get the stories and fact check them (often poorly) for him.

A commercial network would have less than half the amount of people on their team to produce an equivalent program, likely to a higher standard, and there's no way in hell they would pay the host close to $200k per year for 15 minutes of tv per week.

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

LOL when Bob Hawke cut ABC funding by 7% in the 1980s no one cared, but all of a sudden a Liberal PM does it and everyone goes nuts

 

[Prestigerrycomo]

Are you trying to convince us or yourself?

Paul Barry (host of Media Watch) earns $191k per year to present 15 minutes of television per week. And on top of that he has a full team of people to get the stories and fact check them (often poorly) for him.

A commercial network would have less than half the amount of people on their team to produce an equivalent program, likely to a higher standard, and there's no way in hell they would pay the host close to $200k per year for 15 minutes of tv per week.

There's no way a commercial station would ever make Media Watch

 

[Apex36]

There's no way a commercial station would ever make Media Watch

That's completely irrelevant to the point I was making.

 

[motr]

There was an article I read yesterday (can't remember where now) that was written by a former senior manager of Radio National. She had also worked for Fairfax etc in the past. Anyhow, the article was about how she couldn't believe the waste at the ABC and the complete lack of accountability when it comes to spending etc.

While it is the view of only one person, you'd think that there is a bit of truth in what she wrote. If I can find the article I'll post a link.

Edit (here it is): http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-abc-has-flab-to-be-cut-20141122-11rtki.html

I've heard her interviewed twice. When it came to quantifying the waste, all she had was anecdotal stories and throw away lines like lifers.

Wait, you're comparing a public broadcaster vs national defence in terms of public expenditure...really?. Thanks for quoting me with that. Ignored.



I'll just leave this here:
"
the public broadcaster spent 46 per cent of costs on wages last year, compared with 10.7 per cent for the free-to-air commercial television industry…

SBS spent 31.2 per cent of its budget on wages, according to the leaked IBISWorld report, published last December…

"

Perhaps if the government published the Lewis efficiency review we could make something of these figures. Given that the commercial stations outsource a sizeable chunk of their labour force, these types of comparisons are only useful for propaganda purposes. Release the review and then we could have a decent debate. Until then it's just deceit piled upon deceit.