ABC ‘flabbergasted’ by BBC’s Foxtel move
A new premiere BBC drama and comedy channel to be launched by BBC Worldwide and Foxtel has left the ABC “flabbergasted”, a spokeswoman has told Mumbrella.
Following 50 years of broadcasting BBC content in Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation was not consulted about plans to launch a premium channel on Foxtel in mid-2014.
A spokeswoman for the ABC said the public service broadcaster had been seeking talks with the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide as its three year contract comes to an end on June 30 next year, but had been knocked back before the announcement was made.
“We were pretty flabbergasted,” a spokeswoman said. “We only found out yesterday and we had been asking them for a while to sit down to talk about a new deal, so we were pretty shocked.”
The new premium channel will feature”premiere British drama and comedy, ad-break free and as close to UK transmission as possible,” Foxtel said in a press release.
However the ABC will retain popular shows such as Doctor Who, as it has a contract for the lifetime of the show, and Grand Designs and QI which will not be affected by the deal.
Content used on Four Corners from the BBC’s Panorama will also be unaffected, as will popular children’s programs such as Peppa Pig – the number one program on ABC iView – the spokeswoman said.
But the ABC is likely to lose popular series’ such as Call the Midwife when the contract comes to an end, and new drama and comedy shows, such as The Musketeers, will go directly to the new premium channel.
“I think financial considerations were the real driver for the outcome because it’s really unusual for them not to come to us. We hadn’t even started negotiating a new deal with them,” the spokeswoman said.
Although the choice is likely to drive up revenue for the BBC, it will exclude 70 per cent of Australian viewers, the ABC spokeswoman said.
“It looks like they are basing this deal on the model that they use when they negotiated in the United States with BBC America, but they have 80 per cent paid TV penetration in the US, and we have only 30 per cent here, so they are already losing the majority share based on the fact that most people can’t access it,” she said.
“There have been previous attempts by commercial media to outbid the ABC for BBC programming aired in Australia. In the past, the ABC has been able to point to our audience share, distinctive reach and the unique relationship between the two organisations which has lasted 50 years.”
British dramas such as Midsomer Murders and Doc Martin, which are not BBC productions, will remain on ABC.
The BBC has not always seen the most positive outcome when it goes with the highest bidder. When Nine snatched Top Gear from SBS in 2009, audiences rapidly declined.
The move marks an early content headache for the ABC’s new director of television Richard Finlayson, who starts in July.
However, ABC TV has increased airtime of first-run Australian drama from an average of 20 hours to 80 hours per year since the government started making substantial investments in Australian drama in 2009, thereby lessening its reliance on foreign content, the ABC spokeswoman said.
“ABC TV is now the home of distinctive Australian drama,” the ABC spokeswoman said. “ABC audiences are responding strongly to Australian stories. In 2013, ABC TV has grown its total share, in metro markets, to the highest level since 2008.”
A BBC spokeswoman said: “This was a strategic move. We were looking for an opportunity to grow our brand in Australia and we believe a BBC branded channel for premiere programs is one of the best ways to do this.
“As has been seen recently, Top Gear has done extremely well on BBC Knowledge and in its second window on Nine, so we know that this model can work and reach a healthy audience. We are confident that we can continue to have a productive relationship with free to air broadcasters and in particular the ABC.”
I’m flabbergasted by ‘pubic service broadcaster’.
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Maybe there is a bright side to this… more airtime and money left for the ABC to purchase lower budget Australian feature films that never see the light of day!
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Mumbrella, you spent a lot of space telling us non-BBC programs on ABC Television like, Grand Designs, Peppa Pig, Midsomer Murders, and Doc Martin (BBC’s QI comes to us from FremantleMedia) are safe from this Foxtel deal… Thanks for that breaking news. It’s all still very vague at the moment (eg, is BBC News pulled from News24, etc, etc), but that stuff about the US market and BBC America was interesting. So, it wasn’t all that bad.
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Money talks…
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Hi Louise,
In Mumbrella’s four-and-a-half years, I’d say it’s now in double figures the number of times I’ve made that particular type. Psychoanalyse that…
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Tim clearly believes the Beeb has Aunty by the short and curlies.
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PS Tim, Mumbrella still has WAY fewer typos than any given edition of the SMH!
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This is very bad news for the ABC but should not come as a surprise given the BBC’s funding freeze. However it will be compounded if the Coalition gets into power. It is likely to reduce the ABC’s funding which means it will be unable to maintain its local production which already probably costs about five times more than the BBC acquisitions. There is a further problem in that the proliferation of digital free to air channels has already pushed up the price of foreign acquistions. The last scenario rather begs the question why the Federal government gave these licenses for nothing to the incumbents and why it has halved the free to airs licence fees.
If I was Mark Scott I would embark upon an efficiency drive and vastly reduce the number of middle managers at the ABC and really establish a meritocracy there. I would also take a hard look at some of their poor performing shows, particularly in Entertainment.
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@Jack B Nimble
Aunty has Aunty by the short and curlies?
Don’t you mean ‘Aunty has Niecey’…?
There is only one Aunty and that is the Beeb!
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The ABC could save a bucket of money by shutting down the News24 channel. Though that would likely displease the IPA, who would lose one of its main platforms for dispersal of Liberal-aligned Spin. .
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Harry is dead right.
The consequences for the ABC are going to be catastrophic. Poor or repeat programs will further reduce audience share leading to the justification of the IPA’s suggestion (in the eyes of Tone and his Gang) that the ABC and SBS be fully privatised. And who would the likely buyers of these channels’ FTA spectrum? Probably Murdoch, Rhinestone or that ilk.
If one were minded to propound a conspiracy theory one could suggest that Cameron was prodded by Tone on his recent UK visit to suggest to his placemen at the Beeb that they play nice with Murdoch in Australia and eviscerate the ABC’s content thereby giving Tone the opportunity to kill off the ABC once and for all.
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Alberto if only Tone was smart enough to orchestrate this. Saddest thing with the ABC is that the Nationals are so piss weak at defending it. Its local news and extensive rural networks are such an asset to country people and in the city it actually has a huge Coalition audience, small l Liberals with a middle aged female skew. If the Coalition was smart they’d defend the ABC in principle and then attend to ensuring its management was efficient. Unfortunately there are many Coalition politicians who in their complacency have been at the wrong end of good ABC journalists (and a lot of Labor politicians too) who can’t separate their self interest from the national interest.
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I have long held the ABC in the highest esteem and admire them for their great efforts over the years. However, I am more than a little depressed by the outcome of their commitment to drama and comedy production.
This BBC/Foxtel situation shouldn’t be concerning the ABC in the slightest, they have had ample time and experience to have lifted the standard of Australian drama production to the highest levels.
I have worked in the Australian television drama industry since 1973, and I have been hearing the same claptrap for years; the whining complaints that “the standard of Australian drama is low,” that “the BBC has such a high standard that we could never hope to compete”, that “the USA produces the bench mark of excellence in both film and television drama and music shows” etc etc and so forth.
The production of drama and comedy by the ABC has long been a hit and miss process. Some years ago it was building beautifully, but for some reason (perhaps internal squabbling) it simply collapsed.
The quality comedy of Max Gillies and the superb execution of The Damnation of Harvey McHugh and Janus among others, once signaled a significant elevation in the standard of production. Series of excellence such as Rake (Essential Media Entertainment) should have been produced in house and should be the norm, not the exception.
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As much as it saddens me to see BBC programming ‘disappear’ to pay TV, the reality is that this move has been coming for for a while now.
The BBC is building a global network and a channel on the Foxtel platform suits their rollout – for now. As internet speeds increase, so does the ability to stream HD video into peoples lounge rooms which will eventually allow the BBC to cut out the middle men (ABC and Foxtel) and go it alone.
As global streaming services build momentum, all local broadcasters, not just the ABC, will lose access all to foreign programming. As producers and sporting administrators start to ‘sell’ their content directly to viewers, local broadcasters will have no choice but to specialise in Australian content as there will be nothing left to fill the schedule.
The good news is there will be more local content. The bad news is that individual program budgets will have to be squeezed even further.
The flip side for clever local producers is that the cable that brings in the world’s television can also send it in the opposite direction…
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Obviously LNP Propaganda Unit, aka ABC News 24, is too costly and draining money from everywhere in the ABC, For example, ABC1 is repeatsville, lost count of HM times Midsomer Murders has been screened, New Tricks is currently repeating, even Miniscule has repeated heaps of episodes.
Mark Scott should resign as CEO so a new boss can get the ABC back on track.
Not just money either—7.30 Report plummeted in quality and audience after O’Brien left. Sales and Uhlman are not a patch on Kerry!
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Let me see, the IPA versus every parent of children who watches Play School. Whatever you think of Abbott and Turnbull, they aren’t that stupid.
I like the IPA. I disagree with most things they say, but I know why they say it because they stand for a particular belief system, like the Greens. Like Philip Adams – you may hate what he says but you know exactly why he says it.
However the Libs are not the mouthpiece of the IPA for the very reason a lot of what the IPS would want would be unpopular and unworkable. And the Libs want to get elected and stay there. There will be no destruction of the ABC without going to an election and they won’t take that to an election.
And besides do you really think the Nats would let them get rid of the ABC, with Landline and the Country Hour and the cricket radio. Find that Philip Adams episode where regional Australians on farms praise the ABC. The Nats wouldn’t let it.
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Since I go direct via VPN to the BBC (amongst silk the other channels I watch direct) this doesn’t affect me in the slightest, I can’t understand anyone paying to watch television at the rates Foxtel charge, when for less than 10% of an average cable package, a VPN subscription service like the one I use exists, allowing me to choose exactly what TV I want to watch, when I want to watch it without advertising or editorial opinion or owners’ politics getting between me and the screen – join me in the revolution and tell these dinosaurs where to get off and stop being made hostage to the dollar (or pound as the case seems to be here)
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@Simon What a great idea. Let’s all break the law and starve the production industry of its income. You have perfectly captured the core issue behind content piracy. Your revolution will only result in no TV or TV funded by the tax payer. Biting. Nose. Face.
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News 24 gives Liberal spin does it? Not in WA it doesn’t so perhaps there’ s different editions for different states. Ever watched The Drum? Insiders? Q&A? Remember Kerry O’Brien that well known ex Labor staffer as is Barrie Cassidy. David Marr a spin merchant for the Libs? Liberal spin my foot
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VPN? Please enlighten me, can I just Google it?
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Since when has the BBC owed the ABC anything? If the ABC wants UK content, there’s Channel 4, which has no interest in launching international channels. Now that the BBC owns UKTV in Australia and New Zealand, it should ditch non-BBC programming and rebrand it as a BBC channel, bringing it into line with sister channels like BBC America and BBC Australia. ‘BBC Entertainment’ is used in most markets, but there’s already a booking agent in Perth called that, so ‘BBC Australia’ would be a better choice.
Hal G P Colebatch of IPA fame has advocated abolishing the BBC, which is strange since, as an Australian resident, he doesn’t have to pay for it. It’s a pity that Television New Zealand (TVNZ) isn’t available in Australia, as that would give ABC-bashers an idea of how bad the alternative to the ABC (and BBC) would be.
I agree with Simon about VPNs – however, IPTV will always be limited in Australia for as long as broadband there is capped.
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Hi Ken,
Unless the system has changed since I was last covering media in the UK about eight years ago, Channel 4’s content all comes from external production houses, so there would be no single deal to be done.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Hi Tim,
That is indeed the case – and why Channel 4 is not as well placed to launch international channels as the BBC. I was talking more about non-BBC content generally. ITV, which used to be made up of different companies, has now largely merged into one production company. It has an entertainment channel in Asia called ITV Granada, which used to be called UKTV Granada (not to be confused with the UKTV owned by BBC Worldwide) which was available in New Zealand until 2002. Unlike Australia, the BBC-owned UKTV doesn’t carry Coronation Street in New Zealand, as that’s a mainstay of TVNZ’s programming.
It will be interesting to see if TVNZ will be the next long-standing partner to be snubbed by the BBC (although it has a stake in terrestrial pay-TV service Igloo, which carries BBC World News and UKTV).
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Most of the British TV series are from ITV or channel five anyway. Coronation Street, which is on 7Two, is an ITV production.
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