Foreign TV content hurts Australia

Australians are watching less home-made television as networks favour cheaper foreign productions over local content, reports The Australian.

The proportion of Australian content screened has fallen from 52% to 38%, according to a report released by Screen Australia. Since 2008, foreign content has increased by 154% while Australian content has grown by only 59%.

Encore Magazine says Screen Australia released the federal government's convergence review called 'Convergence 2011: Australian Content State of Play' which reveals Australian local content is diluted by international products across the digital, multi-channel networks.

However, B&T says industry body Free TV Australia has lashed back at the report, citing misleading methodologies and misguided conclusions.

Julie Flynn, CEO Free TV Australia told B&T, says: “It identifies the challenges of continuing to produce Australian content in a converged media environment but it comes up with the same old solutions of the analogue world which is more regulation on commercial free-to-air broadcasting.

“Three quarters of viewing is still done on the main channels; the multi-channels have helped bring back viewers to free-to-air TV but they're niche channels making much smaller amounts of revenue and they're already subject to licence fee of 9% of their gross revenue.”

Free TV Australia has also called into question the viability of a report which does not consider the growing presence of IPTV.

“In an environment where you have connected TV, IPTV and a government investing $35 billion to build broadband infrastructure to facilitate IPTV, focussing on multi-channels seems to us to be a bit odd,” says Flynn. “If you are genuinely concerned about dilution of voice, then you have to look at the whole picture, not part of the picture.”