The future of the ABC - Guthrie sacked

[Footy Smarts]

It seems sections of the Liberals are pushing for reform of the ABC. In today's party room meeting of the coalition, discussion over the ABC was extensive with one MP describing it as "not our ABC".

In recent weeks the ABC has been criticised, mainly in the Murdoch sections of the press, for working with The Guardian to publish the leaks about spying on Indonesia. Now Malcolm Turnbull has called Mark Scott to criticise the "error of judgement".

Today there was even the vomit-inducing suggestion that Sophie Mirabella be put in as Managinc Director in place of Scott.

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-po...tics-live-december-3-2013-20131203-2ymsd.html

So what's the future of the ABC? Were they right to run the story?

 

[midorigreenwood]

Sold if the coalition gets a second term is my guess. They have too much stuff on the table at the moment to lose sight of the game by targeting Aunty.

Best hope for the ABC is if the SBS takes the bullet of the hostile government. Can't see both channels surviving in government hands if it truly is a new golden age of conservatism.

 

[noddy]

Was always on the cards & i know i have said it before but i would not be surprised if the ABC was reduced to a station with a lot less clout & independence.

Channel 024 will probably be the first to feel Rupert's wrath.

 

[DeanoT]

Can't see the government selling off the ABC or the SBS. The political fallout would be significant, and I can't see who would pay anything substantial for it. Death by a thousand cuts would be more likely, and would minimise the political backlash.

 

[Pessimistic]

Maybe im not a true leftie but perhaps i can just get my re runs of other countries programming via the internet ?

At least i can see them within five years of them being released


Maybe the abc needs to be online based

 

[clogged]

Maybe the abc needs to be online based

I think you'll find that's Murdoch's number one problem with them.

 

[Mofra]

Maybe the abc needs to be online based

The ABC is arguably leading the field in terms of online content - the days of monolithic, single-source media are over.

Traditional media - CTV, radio & print - are all losing advertising revenue share due to online gowth, and the trends look set to continue according to consultant reports I've had the fortune (or misfortune) of reading.

 

[Pessimistic]

Great ideas guys

 

[Dont be a lemon]

Coalition will cut funding no doubt, and greatly encourage it to do more commercial ventures to justify future funding cuts. But there's not enough political will to get rid of something that polls tremendously well.

The Conversation and other lesser known media sites who get government grants and do highbrow news are probably in for a much rougher time.

 

[Norwegian Blue]

The ABC's politics aside, it could certainly use some reform because it needs to learn to exercise some fiscal discipline. This is the organisation that bought and paid for 27 episodes of "Randling" before anyone noticed it was total shite and no-one was watching it. It would have been axed after two episodes on a commercial network. Maybe one.

 

[midorigreenwood]

But there's not enough political will to get rid of something that polls tremendously well.

According to the sydney morning herald, we're looking at 10 years in the red if the structural deficit isn't fixed.

So far the only revenue raising ideas we've heard from the right is broadening the GST (which is even more unpopular) and privatisations (Medibank, Auspost, HECS etc)

We may be reaching a unique time in history where targeting the ABC and the SBS may be possible if they market it as reducing the debt. A tv license is still a valuable commodity in such a protected industry.

 

[Caesar]

The Coalition will never sell the ABC. There is a high correlation between the rural and wealthy metro voters who make up the Coalition's core demographics, and the ABC's biggest audiences.

They need to monetise their online content though. The costs of running iView have exploded over the last couple of years, to the point where it's becoming unsustainable.

 

[poller]

ABC looks to be safe

Hockey in question time conceded defeat , he let this slip

China can wait for 3 years for labor to get back in

the internal polling already must be bad

 

[tandino]

How many countries around the world operate two separate and independent national television broadcasters?

I can think of only Australia and the UK. (BBC & Channel 4)

 

[Admiral Byng]

SBS doesn't really count as mainstream though. It's just a bit of soccer and late night soft-pr0n, and a few foreign language shows popular in their home countries.

 

[tandino]

SBS doesn't really count as mainstream though. It's just a bit of soccer and late night soft-pr0n, and a few foreign language shows popular in their home countries.

Why can't both services be delivered by one national broadcaster?

 

[Admiral Byng]

Why can't both services be delivered by one national broadcaster?

Because the ABC won't do it properly.

 

[midorigreenwood]

Because the ABC won't do it properly.

There's a strong argument that SBS is obsolete in the era of multi-channels.

Most of the public service aspects of the channel (multi-language news) can be hosted on ABC3.

Otherwise there is alot of overlap between the two public broadcasters.

eg: Dateline and 4 corners/Foreign Correspondent, Q & A and whatchamacallitSBSAudienceShow

Just recently, Dateline had a story about the asylum seeker boat tragedy and the Lebanese perspective and 4 corners broadcasted a similar story several weeks later.

 

[yibbida]

The ABC is worth every cent and more.

 

[clogged]

SBS doesn't really count as mainstream though. It's just a bit of soccer and late night soft-pr0n, and a few foreign language shows popular in their home countries.

It hasn't been that for a while. In fact in prime time the content is very similar to the ABC (British docos, cooking shows, etc).

Could easily be rationalised into one channel.

 

[Admiral Byng]

It hasn't been that for a while. In fact in prime time the content is very similar to the ABC (British docos, cooking shows, etc).

Could easily be rationalised into one channel.

Is it? To be honest i don't even watch SBS any more apart from Le Tour de Frog. I look up the documentaries section on their SBS on Demand once or twice a week to see if they've got anything interesting up. As for sitting down and watching TV according to the time published in the TV guide, haven't done that for ages with SBS.

 

[clogged]

Is it? To be honest i don't even watch SBS any more apart from Le Tour de Frog. I look up the documentaries section on their SBS on Demand once or twice a week to see if they've got anything interesting up. As for sitting down and watching TV according to the time published in the TV guide, haven't done that for ages with SBS.

Yeah, the days of a foreign language TV show like Inspector Rex being on in prime time are long gone. Aside from news and current affairs, it's basically US or UK content between 6-9pm.

 

[The Speaker]

It hasn't been that for a while. In fact in prime time the content is very similar to the ABC (British docos, cooking shows, etc).

Could easily be rationalised into one channel.

Would there be something to offset the loss of SBS's advertising revenue?

 

[clogged]

Should SBS be competing for advertisers?

 

[telsor]

Should the ABC be competing with commercial operations?

Let's face it, all indications are that Fairfax is going to the wall, and it's main competition for left-leaning news/information is the ABC.

No problem with them being there to do the stuff others wont/can't.

Also, if the ALP can appoint it's friends into senior ABC positions, I have no problem with the Libs doing likewise (assuming they have similar levels of qualifications to the ALP appointees).