Australia is making great TV right now. Too bad it's all behind paywalls.
In 2020, amid the industry shutdown of the pandemic, the Morrison government suspended the quota regulations introduced during Keating's time as PM. These specified a minimum number of hours of locally produced content, with sub-quotas applying to drama, documentary and children's television.
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From 2021, the overhauled regulations specified more broadly that 55 per cent Australian content had to be broadcast between 6am and midnight annually on primary channels as well as 1460 hours on non-primary channels. Foxtel's required spending on drama was reduced from 10 per cent of revenue to five. These services haven't been required to make more drama, so they haven't. And producers have migrated to the streamers because that's where the opportunities are, even if they're limited.
Local industry bodies have campaigned for the streamers to be required to spend a percentage of their revenue on producing local content. And these services have lobbied vigorously against this, maintaining that they'll invest in Australian production without it being mandated. With the exception of local streamer Stan, that investment has amounted to tokenism.
According to Screen Australia's latest drama report (for the 2023-24 financial year), Stan already invests considerably more than its giant global counterparts, supporting 11 local productions in that period. That's in contrast to Netflix with four, Binge/Foxtel with three and both Paramount+ and Amazon Prime having just two.
The Albanese government initially announced plans for a national cultural policy to be released last July, with local content quotas to be the centrepiece. The deadline passed, without an announcement.
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Earlier this month, amid global tensions over the Trump administration's trade tariffs, Albanese reaffirmed the government's commitment to quotas, declaring, 'We strongly support local content in streaming services so that Australian stories stay on Australian screens.' The statement came after mounting pressure from the US citing Australia's national cultural policy as damaging to its interests.
The issue continues to be hotly debated, while Australian audiences suffer the effects. A 2024 study by the Queensland University of Technology revealed that, between 1999 and 2023, the broadcast hours of adult drama fell by almost 50 per cent. 'Reducing commercial broadcaster obligations over recent decades has been disastrous for the Australian community in terms of their access to freely available Australian drama,' the report concluded.
There have never been more content providers yet the situation has been steadily deteriorating.
Compounding that sobering situation, the streamers have been unreliable with the content they have. Significant series simply disappear when the service that holds the licence opts not to renew it. Offspring was recently unavailable anywhere, only to pop up on Stan a couple of weeks ago. One Night, made for Paramount+ in 2023, vanished within months of its premiere and is now on Netflix, with no guarantee of it staying there.
The upshot of all of this instability and the dismaying lack of oversight is an industry under increasing stress and viewers with frustratingly limited access to local drama, most of which they have to pay for. It's unsatisfactory for the embattled industry and for viewers.
We shouldn't have to pay $50 a month for a trickle of Aussie content on subscription platforms while commercial FTA gives us nothing but soap.
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