Submissions for ABC / SBS review roll in
Over 2400 submissions have been forwarded to the government review of the ABC and SBS.
- Published by David Knox
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This year we have a government review of the ABC and SBS, looking at how well they fulfill their charters, whether they are reflecting contemporary society and assessing their financial status in the lead up to the May budget.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has received more than 2400 submissions.
In its submission, the ABC has rejected an SBS proposal to share transmission services, but has left open the possibility of merging parts of the its operations.
The ABC says there is little overlap in the two organisations’ contracts for providing transmission, meaning “few, if any efficiencies” could be gained.
But in today’s multi-channel, multimedia environment, the ABC believes there is “clear scope for achieving operating efficiencies” across the two bodies while ensuring they maintain separate identities. That’s likely to mean some behind the scenes cuts in administration and delivery of technical services.
Meanwhile in its submission, SBS argues for merging its transmission and distribution arrangements with the ABC.
Transmission and distribution comprise almost a quarter of the annual budget provided by government to the national broadcasters.
The ABC’s submission also asks the Government to amend the organisation’s “clearly dated” charter, which was framed in a pre-internet age and refers only to radio and television, even though the ABC has been distributing material online since the mid-1990s.
Source: The Age
One Response
Don’t you love how losing some control brings out the worst in people. Sharing transmission services is an apparent worthless exercise yet back end operations could be merged if lets say one organisation had ownership of the function and costed it back to the other. A nifty way of creating a bigger merged group. I’d hope all basic administration is outsourced and sold back to each entity rather than merge it. That way no one can have illusions of grandeur. I mean one massive ABC has already learnt the harsh lesson of getting too big too quick