Whingeing about us isn’t a business model, ABC boss Guthrie tells commercial TV bosses
TV bosses should stop whingeing about the ABC and focus on serving their own audiences, managing director Michelle Guthrie has said in her most hard-hitting speech since taking the helm last year.
Guthrie: Attacking the ABC is not a viable business model
In the speech to the ABC Friends conference dinner on Friday night, Guthrie focused on News Corp boss Michael Miller, Nine CEO Hugh Marks and Ten chief Paul Anderson, suggesting that in arguing for changes to the ABC’s charter, they were looking for a scapegoat for their own commercial failings.
She said: “There is no evidence that the Charter is impacting on the commercial models of existing local companies. Assertions that the ABC is abusing the Charter or exploiting its confines are just plain wrong. They are hurled at the ABC by executives and media commentators who are simply looking for scapegoats for their own woes in a disrupted landscape.
“I refer them to the comments of a former Communications Minister, Malcolm Turnbull. The Prime Minister, who has some expertise in the economics of the media sector, has consistently pointed out that these media companies are reaching more people than ever before, using new digital platforms to add to their existing distribution channels. Their challenge is monetising those audiences. The ABC is not after their advertising revenue. As Mr Turnbull remarked at the relaunch of the ABC Parliamentary Friends Association in 2014, while Fairfax and News Corp may have many problems in this new landscape, the ABC is not the cause of them.”
And she added: “I would say the same for the commercial free-to-airs and to Foxtel, whose CEOs seem to spend more time whingeing about the ABC than addressing their own audience challenges. My advice to them is that attacking the national broadcaster does not – and will never – constitute a viable business model. Restricting the ABC’s right to use digital platforms, which appears to be the clear intent behind pressuring the Government for a competitive neutrality inquiry, will not protect them from digital disruption. All it does is hurt the community.”
She asked the audience: “Should your children and grandchildren be denied the right to watch Play School and Peppa Pig on an iPad because Hugh Marks, Michael Miller and Paul Anderson are finding life tough?”
Although she did not directly name Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party, which has been investigated by the ABC’s investigative journalism program Four Corners, she appeared to be referring to the political party when she said: “The ABC Act and Charter should not be tampered with simply to suit political or commercial agendas. I go further in relation to the proposed changes to the ABC Act likely to be introduced into Parliament in the next few weeks. Legislation designed to further a political vendetta by one party uncomfortable with being scrutinised by our investigative programs is not good policy-making. ”
Guthrie also predicted that changes to the media ownership laws – justified as giving local organisations the opportunity to bulk up to compete with the likes of Facebook and Google – would not work.
She said: “The objective behind the changes, clearly stated by media CEOs, is to allow existing players to build scale through mergers and acquisitions to compete with the new global giants like Google, Facebook and Netflix. I wish them luck: a viable local commercial sector is also important to diversity. But as a former Google executive, I question whether consolidating the number of local players to build size is the panacea the CEOs are proclaiming it to be.
“The combined worth of the three major commercial free-to-airs is about $2.1bn. Southern Cross and Prime add another $1bn. Fairfax has a market cap of about $2.2bn.
“In stark contrast, Facebook has a market cap of $US500bn; Alphabet, the Google parent, an even higher $US 660bn and Netflix, that rising upstart, is now valued at over $US 70bn.”
And she told the audience that political deal making involved in getting agreement to the law changes was now leading to the ABC being “assailed”.
She said: “The ABC’s role in the media law reform debate was supposed to be as an interested bystander. We had no skin in the game. Or so we thought. We now find ourselves very much impacted by the deal-making and with a real need to ensure that the public interest – as opposed to vested interest – is protected. Diversity on one side is shrinking. While on the other side, the role and ability of the ABC to provide real choice and a vital public good is being assailed.”
Guthrie then focused on Nine boss Marks for a second time, criticising his hostility to Netflix and the ABC’s tie-in with it on the series Glitch.
She said: “Moreover, it isn’t going away, no matter how much Hugh Marks and company rail against it. I have no problems doing deals with Netflix, as we have done with Glitch and with the exciting series now going into production called Pine Gap.The financing that Netflix supplies enables us to create world-class programming without having to make upfront investments that would drain our entire drama budget.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Well said. Its always been a load of crock for commercial media to constantly whinge about the ABC competing unfairly and sucking the life out of their businesses. How ridiculous given the ABC is categorically not competing with them for ad dollars/revenues. As Guthrie says, it’s the big tech platforms that are doing a mighty fine job on that front. Sure, the ABC competes for audience, but as Guthrie, Malcolm Turnbull and the media companies themselves have pointed out, between traditional and digital channels, these businesses have bigger audiences now than they ever did. AUdience is not their problem. Monetising those audiences is — and on this, they are not competing against the ABC, they are competing (not too successfully) against FB and Google.
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“I would say the same for the commercial free-to-airs and to Foxtel, whose CEOs seem to spend more time whingeing about the ABC than addressing their own audience challenges. My advice to them is that attacking the national broadcaster does not – and will never – constitute a viable business model. Restricting the ABC’s right to use digital platforms, which appears to be the clear intent behind pressuring the Government for a competitive neutrality inquiry, will not protect them from digital disruption. All it does is hurt the community.”
It’s the taxi industry and soon to be Harvey Norman in play here. These fossils are disrupting themselves because they have never had to give great service. I don’t think they understand what service or dare I say it community values are. They focus on the $’s first and not the user.
As for TV: FFS there is a drinking game for when there is a weather catastrophe, when watching the commercial news networks; they are so painstakingly sensationalist. The issues with airing programs that have already been aired months ago overseas, (resulting in addicted viewers pirating the content…) well think long and hard about what the solution is, (it doesn’t take a rocket scientist does it)?
Truly, when will the old school learn what business is all about in 2017? That is the issue here. I do not think they are business people. What they are, are greedy, privileged bullies, who fenced off where they did business and didn’t let anyone else in. That is exactly what they did. Licenses, barriers to entry, most spending daddies or grandads fortunes. (If they couldn’t make it work, they just invested in casino’s – ooh how lovely of you…) Well tough, new world now and unless they change they will be forgotten, not because they are being disrupted; because their service and offering and value is today inferior.
The ABC rocks. You actually get journalism on the channel, as opposed to drinking games…
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I mean look at the uttter load of crap that is commercial TV in this country…it is an utter disgrace. Boring puerile garbage. They deserve everything they get. Channel 10 is going broke because it is crap…not because it is good but because it doesn’t resonate with audiences. Tech companies are going to continue to wipe the floor with commercial TV while they sit around whinging
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Oh it’s so easy to indulge in bullying totalitarian talk and dress badly when you’ve got a grossly overpaid job for life, isn’t it? There’ll never be any consequences.
For the poorly informed like Michelle Guthrie, a quick lesson. When one party forcibly takes money from (taxes) another, then uses that money to destroy the other’s business, that is not only unethical and stupid, it’s called racketeering. The commercial sector is right to fight this attempt at de-facto nationalisation of our communications industry and there’s a rapidly growing undercurrent of ordinary people who agree that it’s a case of “time’s up” for the ABC.
It’s time to reduce it to news and weather services, and a minimal online presence. The $1Bn saved can go to worthwhile purposes, like supporting the disabled, the elderly and others in genuine need. Not paying Michelle Guthrie over $800,000 a year to trash-talk those who pay her wages.
Guthrie has dwelt inside the bubble for too long, and hears only the ABC groupthink.
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it would be nice if the ABC presented a balanced debate though, rather than being the mouthpiece of the left
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Bravo Michelle! Needed to be said. Viva la ABC!
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Complaining in the Murdoch Press and to the Government (for protection) with regards to the ABC, SBS, Netflix, Facebook and anybody else that gets in their way is pointless, the world has fundamentally changed, all incumbents globally are being challenged with even companies like Disney and CBS recognizing this and are now making changes to their business model to compensate.
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Mouthpiece for the left? Alan Kohler every other night,. Uhlmann and wicked old leftie Gerard Henderson..
Mate, you’re pissing in my pocket
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I don’t even know how to start with this one. I half suspect it’s trolling, not a real viewpoint.
1. I could search and replace Michelle Guthrie with any commercial CEO and the comments would still make sense:
– Totalitarian talk. Have you watched [insert any Murdoch owned media outlet] lately? Subservience to person interests is probably more worrying than subservience to the state.
– Forcibly taking money from the state? What about TV licence fee relief. That’s a $200M annual gift to broadcasters from the taxpayer. Probably more if you factor in what that spectrum would be worth to Teltra, Optus and others.
– Rapidly growing undercurrent of people who think the ABCs time is up. Did you read this in The Australian, watch it on Sky News or listen to this on 2GB? Shame to let facts get in the way of a personal view, but I’d suggest taking a look at audience and ratings data and then a good hard look at the demographic profile of Australia through the latest census. I’d suggest your personal view doesn’t stack up with the data.
– I’d love to pay [insert commercial media CEO] less than $800k…. But wait, they all earn +$2M and have all got pay rises in the last 12mths, ostensibly because they are good at lobbying MPs, not growing audiences or revenue.
– Michelle lives in a bubble. All the commercial CEOs, Paul Anderson and Peter Tonagh aside, have worked thier whole careers in a narrow field of media, with many years at the same organisation. Michelle has been at the ABC for 18mths, at Google for 5 years and NewsCorp for 13 years. Say what you want about Michelle, but saying she lives in a bubble is ridiculous.
My final point is on Michelle’s dress sense. The fact this was even deemed worth of inclusion says a lot. Though let’s benchmark. I’m looking at a photo of all Australia’s media CEOs in Canberra earlier this year lobbying for a change to media laws. It’s tough to compare dress styles, when all but one of Australia’s commercial media company CEOs are old, white, greying men who’s only sartorial decision is “what colour tie today?”
The utter lack of diversity in that photo says a lot about the history and prospects of the commercial media sector, and why they fear Michelle particulalry. Without diversity of opinions and experience, you keep doing what you’ve always done…. and when that doesn’t work, you focus on blaming someone else or kicking the can down the road for the next old, white guy to fix. Sound familiar?
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@Fleshpeddler Don’t let facts get in the way of a sensationalist headline… The ABC has been proven many times to be neutral or slightly right wing in regards to the coverage they give each political party. if you want an example of the anthesis of “fair and balanced” Fox News is now available on 604
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Your’e comment is pure ignorance fleshpeddler
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Your*
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Hmmm, any point you is let down in the very first line by using the word “bully” and then indulging yourself in the classic bullying technique of criticising someone’s appearance instead of using analytical argument. Bully is as bully does – and we know from school experiences the bullies were usually the one’s who struggled with the complexity of an argument.
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@Nomis I was waiting for a bite.
I have considered my rant and I stand by it unequivocally.
I also agree with David’s comment below:
‘Complaining in the Murdoch Press and to the Government (for protection) with regards to the ABC, SBS, Netflix, Facebook and anybody else that gets in their way is pointless, the world has fundamentally changed, all incumbents globally are being challenged with even companies like Disney and CBS recognizing this and are now making changes to their business model to compensate.’
Wow in responses to Mike’s comment is also on the money.
Let us consider the definition for bully: ‘use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force them to do something.’ Who is putting pressure on the government again..??
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Wow Mike, what a coincidence.
Your IQ matches the number of letters in your name.
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Fleshpeddler, I’d kill to find a left-leaning mass media outlet, instead of the centrist, centrist-right and right-wing media landscape that dominates and yells down anyone who has any divergent views.
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