Commercial broadcasters mull paying ABC to take on kids’ TV obligations

Australia’s commercial TV networks may attempt to drop their obligations to deliver a quota of children’s drama content and instead pay the ABC to it, it emerged today.

The possibility came to light during a session at the Screen Forever conference in Melbourne that was dedicated to the future of the children’s television production sector.

Children's panel

Children’s quotas: From left – Enker, Buckland, Guthrie and Mason

At present, the commercial free-to-air players are obliged to meet content standards which include delivering 96 hours of first run children’s drama content over each three-year period. However, the networks struggle to cover the production costs of the programming through advertising revenue, leading them to spend less and less on making the shows.

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