Sent: Wednesday, 10 August 2011 9:19 AM
To: Mark ScottSubject: Message from the Managing Director
Some colleagues have contacted me in recent days about decisions we have made regarding the television schedule and our resources base.
My response extends beyond the specific television changes made last week. As Managing Director I seek to ensure that within the confines of our budgets and the technology at our disposal, we focus on delivering the best quality service to our listeners, viewers and readers. Change is a necessary part of that process and I on’t underestimate how challenging that change can be. But we have an obligation to remain relevant and the media organisations most threatened in this dramatically changing media landscape are those that stand still.
In television, we have announced the end of New Inventors and Art Nation for the 2012 calendar year, made some adjustments to sports programming and are looking at other elements of the schedule as part of our commitment to deliver, later in the year, a television production strategy for the next three to five years.
Finite resources mean we have to constantly make decisions about the best way to use funding to meet our Charter obligations and engage with audiences. It is never easy to end programs that have hard‐working and committed staff and loyal followings. Just as the original The Inventors reached the end of its cycle, its successor now has – and a decision has been made to invest in fresher prime time content. The Art Nation decision stems from a desire in ABC TV to engage larger audiences for the important arts programming genre.
We have long been in the business of working with the independent production sector in a number of television genres. Today, many of our most popular and distinctive programs on television are done in coproduction.
Recent examples include entertainment programs such as The Gruen Transfer and Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight; drama and comedies such as Paper Giants, Rake, Angry Boys and Laid; documentaries like On Trial, Leaky Boat and Recipe for Murder; children’s programs such as My Place, Dance Academy and Dirt Girl World.
There are a number of reasons why the ABC does co‐productions. In particular, it allows us to deliver more programming by making a smaller financial contribution to the shows we air than if we funded 100 per cent of the budgets. Importantly, in commissioning co‐productions, we exercise strong editorial oversight to ensure these productions meet our Charter and conform to ABC editorial standards.
The Charter specifically calls for us to make programs of wide appeal and specialist interest. Co‐production has helped us to do both, and to work with some of the most experienced and talented people in our industry: producers like Andrew Denton and Julian Morrow; directors like Warwick Thornton, Rachel Perkins and Bob Connelly; actors like Richard Roxburgh and Guy Pearce. When you look at some of the great co‐productions we will be showing later this year ‐ The Slap, Mrs Carey’s Concert, Gruen Planet – or some in development ‐ The Straits, a new series of Rake, a telemovie on Eddie Mabo – you see work that proudly and distinctively meets our Charter and that is right at home on the ABC.
Our Commercial division also works closely with many of these co‐productions securing local and international distribution rights, delivering important returns to invest in television production. Chris Lilley’s Angry Boys is already a commercial success and earning us revenue on‐line and in our shops. The DVDs for Rake were very popular in the lead up to Christmas. Commerical’s three highest earning titles distributed on iTunes are all produced in partnership with independent producers.
We are still making high quality internal productions that also achieve great success. Monday evening’s run of news and current affairs programs on ABC1 from 7pm till 11.30pm are all created and fully funded by the ABC, made by our News and Television divisions.
As I said in my note to you in June, we will continue to have this mixed production model ‐ programs we make, programs we commission and programs we buy – in future. We are building a new television studio in Melbourne to replace the Gordon Street studios that have been home to so much great ABC television for the past 50 years.
This month a new season of Poh’s Kitchen starts in prime time, made by our production team in Adelaide. A new internally made program is under development in Tasmania and Giggle and Hoot, our huge success in children’s television, is an internal production. Other long‐running, successful internal productions include Media Watch, Q&A, At the Movies and Gardening Australia.
While there is understandable disappointment about Art Nation, let’s not overlook all that the ABC does to connect audiences with the arts: 600 live concerts recorded a year, triple j and its Unearthed project, television and radio programs on books, a major arts portal, arts programming on Radio National – as well as a continuing commitment to show arts programs on Sunday afternoon and in prime time on television, including the Tuesday 10pm timeslot on ABC1.
The ABC’s multi‐platform prowess also allows us to service the sports audience. We will continue to look at how best to cover sport within our limited budgets; to make choices about priorities and about where to invest.
That quest for relevance in a fast‐moving media landscape is consistent across the ABC. The launch of ABC News 24 in July last year was the most exciting and important development for ABC News in a generation and a crucial step forward for the public broadcaster. It has completed the transformation of ABC News from a limited, scheduled provider into a true multi‐platform continuous news operation. Without this fundamental shift, the ABC would have been consigned to irrelevance over the next decade, as more and more Australians consume news across all platforms and all times of the day.
Our expansion into digital radio and television and onto mobile platforms has also required significant investment but been greatly appreciated by our audiences, dramatically expanding the reach of the ABC. I don’t underestimate how disappointing and unsettling uncertainty about the future can be for people who have worked hard for the ABC over a long period of time. Where substantive positions have been made redundant, consultations are underway to see if other suitable positions are available at the ABC.
We have lots of ideas, many priorities and new ways we want to enrich what we offer to audiences. We cannot do it all; we need to make choices. While I hope we get most decisions right, invariably some will be criticised. As always on these matters, I welcome your feedback and response.
Kind regards
Mark Scott
Managing Director,
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Mark Scott
Managing Director,
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
