A proposed “simplified” quota system for Australian drama and kids’ TV would result in more than half of that content disappearing from free-to-air television, producers have told an inquiry.
Screen Producers Australia say a fallback proposal by the commercial television lobby – which wants all quotas scrapped in the first instance – is so “aggressively deregulatory” it would mean commercial networks would spend $161m, or 51%, less on Australian drama, documentary and children’s TV than they do now.
Under current regulation, free-to-air commercial broadcasters are required to air a set number of hours of original content in each category each year to keep their licence, but they are pushing to have all quotas abandoned.
The modelling is based on Free TV’s own submission to the Supporting Australian Stories on Our Screens inquiry.
The fallback position is still a “dramatic abandonment of their cultural obligation” and would result in the potential loss of 4,600 jobs in the production industry and 141 hours of culturally important content, Screen Producers Australia says in a supplementary submission obtained by Guardian Australia.
“The proposal would also likely remove children’s content from the platform, save for potential minimum investments from Network 10 given the announced rebrand of 10 Shake, but with no assurance of any ongoing investment or commitment,” the submission says.
Network 10 will launch a new multichannel, 10 Shake, next month which will carry kids’ programming until 6pm and then target under 40s in primetime with comedy.
Free TV says children’s quotas, which dictate that networks must produce children’s and preschool programs, are irrelevant in 2020 and cause “significant commercial harm”, but the industry says they’re vital.
“Commercial FTA television continues to provide a free, safe environment and child audiences would lose out significantly if this environment were removed completely,” the submission says.
“There is clearly some benefit for broadcasters in addressing the child audience, given the welcome news that Network 10 will be launching a new multichannel designed specifically for young audiences.”
Producers also point to what they say are “contradictions” in the Free TV submission, which represents Seven West Media, Nine Entertainment, Network 10, Southern Cross Austereo, Prime Media Group, Win Network and Imparja Television.
Free TV says it spends $1.6bn every year on Australian content despite declining revenues as a result of digital disruption and 85% of what they screen is Australian, and that the cost of production is rising.
But Screen Producers Australia says the cost of drama, kids’ and documentary is stable while the cost of reality TV or entertainment is rising, and that category is not covered by quotas.
Screen Producers Australia says the quotas make up a fraction of overall program expenditure (7.04%), with the cost of children’s content particularly small in context of overall program expenditure (1.34%).
“[Screen Producers Australia] therefore queries the extent to which Free TV’s data supports an argument that the subquotas are unduly burdensome,” the submission says.
Producers say that all content providers, including Seven, Nine, 10 and their regional affiliates, national broadcasters ABC and SBS, subscription television Foxtel, and streaming services Netflix, Stan, Disney+, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime, Facebook Watch and YouTube Premium should be made to produce a certain amount of new drama, documentary and children’s content.
