ABC funding boost in Federal Budget

The ABC has gained an increase of $83.7m in operational funding and $32m for international services funding across the next four years in tonight’s Federal Budget. Radio Australia will expand its transmission footprint using some of the additional money.

Annually the national broadcaster will be better off by $20.9m in operations and $8m for international services each year, allowing “significant investment in services across all platforms helping to fund rising costs affecting the media industry.”

ABC audiences around the country and across the Indo-Pacific region will directly benefit from the increase in funding, which will include 7 additional transmitters for Radio Australia.

ABC Managing Director David Anderson said:

“The additional funding will allow the ABC to increase investment in local content and education services and further improve our critical emergency broadcasting services, particularly benefiting regional communities. It will also help grow reach in Pacific communities at an important time in the history of the region.

“We are always working to identify what we need to provide the Australian public and how we can manage our budget to effectively meet those expectations – especially as audience habits evolve and we transition to digital services, particularly among younger demographics. This budget announcement is an investment in the valuable services the ABC provides and the trust Australians place in us.”

The ABC will also move to a five-year funding arrangement, to be determined in the May 2023 Budget, disconnecting it from the previous three year electoral cycle funding arrangement.

The increase in funding will mean:

  • Greater capacity to deliver emergency broadcasting services. As emergency events become more frequent and severe the need for critical emergency broadcast services is growing. The additional funding will enable the ABC to cover more priority black spots, better respond to escalating events and increase emergency broadcasting services across social and digital platforms.
  • Increased investment in ABC Education to produce unique interactive content to support learning in the classroom and at home for students of Australian History, Literacy, Numeracy, STEM and Media Literacy.
  • Enhanced digital services. The ABC is committed to more content and product development across digital platforms such as ABC iview, ABC Listen and ABC News Digital. This investment will mean more Australian comedy and drama and a renewed commitment to services for younger audiences, such as triple j. We will also engage innovative creatives to develop content specifically aimed at audiences on popular third-party platforms.

The additional funding for international services will allow the ABC to:

  • Expand ABC Radio Australia’s FM footprint, adding up to seven additional FM transmitter locations to the 13 currently running across the Pacific and Timor Leste, and tailor our ABC Australia television service to suit Pacific and Asian time zones.
  • Create more content for audiences across the Indo-Pacific region including establishing a network of full-time local journalists and a pan-Pacific weekly video news program.
  • Enhance the capacity and development of media partners with training and activities covering basic professional development, for cadets through to leadership masterclasses, and in specialised subjects such as elections and emergency broadcasting.

 

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