Broadband Innovation, Australian Content Policy, and the ABC

Brisbane.
We're back to keynotes here at the CCi conference now, and I'm in a session with Kim Dalton, Director of Television at the ABC. His main theme here, however, is broadband. He begins by noting the overall audiovisual policy framework in place in Australia, which arises from the perceived and real influence of the broadcasting media. A critically important goal of this policy is to achieve social and cultural outcomes - delivering diverse, quality, and engaging content. Elements of this are Australian content regulations, Australian drama productions, children's programmes, and content reflecting the nature of the Australian community. This even applies for pay-TV and advertising. Additionally, there are funding bodies for film, TV, and new media industries, and various other support structures.

The new federal government, like others before it, is committed to maintaining at least a minimum level of Australian content and standards; what, though, happens in a context where broadband is increasingly central? Access to Australian content is important, and changes in technology have outpaced policy development - our analogue policy framework is letting us down.

Australian content remains important - there is a need for diversity and Australian content quotas with high levels of instructive and innovative content. There is spirited debate about the technological aspects of broadband rollout, but limited debate in terms of what Australian content may be featured here. There was debate in the Creative Australia section of the 2020 Summit, though, which highlighted the role of Australian content.

Convergence means that more people are doing more different things on different platforms, but also that there are doing the same thing (like accessing and engaging with TV content) across different platforms. Agencies which measure these audiences have yet to developed effective means of measuring audiences across such a variety of platforms. That said, within the ABC there are very clear indications of the success of its online platform - especially also of its vodcasts (and here, especially The Chaser, which had 9.9 million downloads last year, as well as other programmes especially for younger audiences - but gardening and cooking programmes were also highly popular).

There is a need to distinguish between content and the platforms through which it is delivered. Policy frameworks need to recognise this distinction, and (like the ABC) need to recognise the primacy of content over platform. 'TV' content remains a focal point and a crucial driver, but what has changed is how this content is accessed. Audiences have a whole range of news expectations about this content and what they are able to do with it; user-generated content growth is important in this, but should not happen at the expense of professionally produced content.

During the past 50 years of governments regulating television content, not much has changed. The history of Australian content on Australian screens has been a history of regulation. Where such regulation has been absent, so has been Australian content. Existing policy frameworks have been established under clear conditions - a large nation with a small audience, and the dominance of foreign-produced content. Analogue business models were built around aggregating eyeballs and delivering advertisers. But the business models of the digital world operate differently, charging access fees, targetting niche communities, and counting audiences as they pass by. The digital arena remains largely unregulated.

Pay TV offers one example for some of this, with relatively poor levels of Australian content (except for sport) and an abundance of US content. (There is also a new deal to deliver six BBC channels to Foxtel subscribers.) Pay TV exacerbates the age-old problem of market failure in Australia. In a world of increasing choice, the price paid for content will be driven down, privileging US content. This puts Australian content at further risk in the absence of a government policy response.

Additionally, time available for TV viewing is being compressed by the rapidly evolving new media market. Media is everywhere, fighting for viewers' and users' attention. Free-to-air television continues to attract the largest audiences, but even here, audiences are fragmenting, and the audiovisual content that is most readily available to Australian audiences is anything but Australian. Users remain loyal to favourite programmes nonetheless, but a growing number now want to watch these programmes on demand. The availability of more home electronics options also increases their viewing options.

ACMA suggests that television (on TV or elsewhere) remains the most time-consuming leisure activity for children and young people; it remains the most pervasive and influential media form in the lives of children and young adults. It also continues to perform important educational and citizenship roles. Television content is part of how we define our reality, and again, Australian content is crucial for that reason. Australian television will increasingly consist of subscription and view-for-fee items delivered through various platforms; this framentation of audiences is a significant challenge.

All television licencees last year exceeded their Australian content quota requirements, which is encouraging, and Pay TV is very slowly developing a more solid economic foundation. Online, the government is moving to provide universal high-speed broadband access, and the use of online video content (if largely in the form of cheap overseas material) is rising.

Kim proposes that in this environment it is time to reshape the Australian content policy framework. It is necessary to address the issue of ensuring that Australian content remains available in this environment, and to do so could also address the need to innovate and grow the creative industries.

Options here are standard policy mechanisms to provide additional funding for Australian content, to require more Australian online content (a demand which is difficult to implement, however), but also to follow the Canadian example of providing substantial funds for multiplatform innovation and content creation. Possible intervention in the new media market could translate broadcast policy to the new media environment; in some cases, incentive measures would benefit from regulatory intervention. Diversity regulation could be applied to broadband Internet content, perhaps especially in the context of trade agreements. Existing new media funding could be increased to the level of broadcast media funding.

The UK regulator Ofcom also highlighted the need for new forms of funding - such as direct public funding from spectrum auctions and charges. The Australian Film Commission has done similar research, pointing to moves to regulate so far unregulated areas. Public broadcasting, too, becomes an even more important policy tool to deliver Australian content in the digital era - and the ABC also has a critical role to play as an innovator.

"Summer Heights High", as a successful multiplatform series, is one example of this. It used social networking sites, viral marketing via YouTube, as well as more conventional television and online offerings; it has managed to capture a significant audience share especially amongst younger viewers. The DVD of the series has also sold exceedingly well, even in spite of such free-to-access content offerings.

What is possible here is for the ABC to act as a connector between various institutions, audiences, and practitioners, and this ties into the government's commitment to support Australian cultural entrepreneurs, including a creative industries strategy to which the ABC could contribute. All of this is bread and butter to the ABC, Kim says, which is already committed to partnerships that contribute to the creative industries and contribute to new and innovative business models.

The ABC can facilitate innovation and encourage entrepreneurial activities; it has the capacity to do so and to provide access to interested audiences for the outcomes of this work. It is third on the list of Australia's most trusted organisations, and highly regarded by the Australian population. In the digital space, this national asset is invaluable, and Australian policy initiatives can build on this. Initiatives such as the user-generated content elements on the "Gruen Transfer" Website or the crowdsourcing elements of "Good Game" indicate this, as does Triple J TV. Many other multi-platform projects are also in the pipeline.

A revised national policy framework which builds on and mainstreams such initiatives could deliver a great deal more for Australia. This would also involve offering greater access to existing repositories of Australian content in Australian cultural institutions and archives; this could lead to innovation in content creation, the creation of Australian intellectual property, and a strong Australian flavour to young Australians' first experiences in the broadband space. The communal aspect of people coming together around content does not change, but becomes even more important and can be further amplified through multi-platform access and participation. What we need now is to develop an Australian content policy framework that is fit for purpose in the Australian digital content environment. It must ensure that Australian creative industries can prosper as they create and deliver Australian content for domestic and international audiences.

Overall, an interesting and encouraging presentation - though how it sits with ABC Managing Director Mark Scott's much more conventionally broadcasting-centred 'vision' for the future of the ABC isn't clear to me, I'm afraid...

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