Media owners are pressing for regulation which forces them to produce a certain amount of Australian drama, children shows and documentaries to be scrapped.
Industry body Free TV, which has members including Seven West Media, Ten and Nine, has submitted to the government’s options paper, Supporting Australian Stories on our Screens, asking for the deregulation of quota obligations, as well as robust production support and incentives.
The group argues that they need greater flexibility to meet audience demand and compete with streaming services such as Netflix.
Instead Free TV proposes a simplified points system for TV broadcasters that gives them greater flexibility in how they meet regulated obligations.
“We need to get away from a regulatory approach that compels broadcasters to compete with each other, not only in relation to the same type of content, but in the same time-slots, and regardless of whether there is an audience for that content or not,” Free TV CEO Bridget Fair says.
“The regulatory framework should incentivise broadcasters to provide a more diverse slate of content in response to audience demands.
“A strong production sector needs a healthy and sustainable commercial broadcasting industry. As advertiser funded businesses, we have to be able to deliver the programs that audiences want to watch.”
Fair argues that despite changes to the landscape, which has seen TV audiences decline as viewers move to other entertainment platforms such as Netflix, there has been no fundamental changes to content regulation for almost 20 years.
“Australians love watching Australian programs on their Free TV services,” Fair says.
“But the current rules are undermining our ability to invest in the local content that our audiences want to watch, and locking us in to delivering quota mandated programs that are increasingly failing to find an audience.
“Children’s quota programming is now attracting average audiences of less than 1000 children and costs continue to rise at a rate that inhibits investment in other Australian content that audiences want to watch.”
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