NOW about the cost of the ABC ?

Australians really have to bite the bullet on this issue and keep it on the burner on cross party lines.

With cable TV rapidly covering the country , WE DON'T NEED A NATIONAL BROADCASTER. The whole concept is out of date.

Shut it down or sell it or put it out to tender, and as a consequence tax on business profits could be lowered. (significant money I saw 2 billion in Alston's press release).

In reality the ABC serves about 10% of the electorate. The very same 10% who make up the voters for parties like the Greens, Democrats and other self-centred, left-leaning, utopian-seeking, out-of-whack fringe groups. Unfortunately this 10%, although completely devoid of logic, are highly vocal (chatterers) and are not about to allow the demise of their propaganda machine.

The ABC is irrelevant to the other 90% and it's bias and lack of balance is overwhelming. Some give it a credibility it does not deserve.

It has to happen - now. Someone like News Ltd could bid for the existing ABC network ( it dissapears) as a fouth free to air tv channel with a ready made network of ABC transmitters. (how to turn $700 million into a profit - the abc want $250 million more! )

The creatvity will come from a new funded australian programing foundation to make and sell programs for commercial television.public television and sbs..... like NZ On Air.

They could even buy time on commercial tv to air their programs so that shows seen on the ABC reach a wider and more diverse audience.

If the ABC was privatised, the current format might still be followed. 10% of the viewing audience could be really commercial. And it would save us $760 million dollars a year.

It would be still good business if the Federal government gave the new owners $100 million a year to preserve the basic tenants of ABC style of presentation.

I am sure that ABC personel would support this concept to the hilt. AND the friends of the ABC also.

10% of the audience australia wide is more than the average audience to Channel 9 sydney. Very viable indeed. It should bring a good selling price someone like DMG could pick up JJJ.

To subsidise the ABC faithful to the tune of $150 per year for every family of four, is just unfair.

Australia needs the money to fund medicare, defence and social securiuty payments.. If I have to choose as to continue to be able to pay pensioners or give the ABC a billion dollars a year, I'll choose that beautiful silver haired granny of mine.

And another thing, when was the last time or first time the ABC ever bought a movie to show that wasn't of world war 2 vintage or earlier in black and white and from the UK? Why no US movies? It is like they want to keep us in the forties when they were needed... not now.

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2003

Answers

As I'd said in a previous post, the ABC could save heaps by closing down midnight - dawn (like it used to), scrapping Newsradio,Radio Australia & Asia TV network enitrely and merging Radio Regional/Radio National. Why not take the pick of the best shows from both networks & create an even better network?

With the money saved, networks like Triple J and Classic FM could be improved with features such as RDS (Radio Data System).

The ABC since the late 80s has been trying to play it with the big boys of broadcasting like the BBC & VOA by trying to be one of the biggest broadcasting networks in the world - quanity, not quality, hence the huge blowout in costs to run it (like $44 million to install JJJ alone & heaps more to install Regional & national everywhere).

Was there ever many complaints about the costs before the 80s/90s??

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2003

Keitha and Geoff, and general readers of this discussion forum,

If you have a look at www.friendsoftheabc.org, you will note facts and figures which support strong arguments for ABC efficiency, despite severe underfunding. (Note the 2001 study by the Macquarie Bank which found that the ABC's per capita revenue was at that time the second lowest of 18 Western public broadcasters, with its per capita revenue being just over half the average. This study is relevant in 2003, since there have been no significant increases to ABC funding since that time.)

Margaret O'Connor President, Friends of the ABC (ACT and Region)

-- Anonymous, June 03, 2003