ABC gets kids’ channel promise
Fighting a forthcoming election, Australia’s governing Liberal Party has pledged A$82 million extra to public broadcaster the ABC for a new digital children’s channel.
Should it be re-elected, the Liberal Party would give the ABC A$82 million over four years for the channel, with half of that going on original production and half on acquisitions. The channel would be advertising-free and would help drive uptake of digital TV.
The ABC has been lobbying for cash to fund a channel for a while, but the promise has drawn accusations of bribery of the electorate from certain quarters. Lobbying organisations the Friends of the ABC called the announcement “a misuse of the ABC for pork-barrelling in an election.” But the ABC said that it had been talking to both the government and the opposition for some time over new services.
Previous digital childrens' channels, ABC Kids and ABC Fly, were closed in 2003 with the ABC complaining of a lack of government support for the services, particularly financially. The ABC is funded through direct taxation and is at the mercy of successive governments to have enough cash to meet its budget requirements.
Regards Satdude. :thum:
Fighting a forthcoming election, Australia’s governing Liberal Party has pledged A$82 million extra to public broadcaster the ABC for a new digital children’s channel.
Should it be re-elected, the Liberal Party would give the ABC A$82 million over four years for the channel, with half of that going on original production and half on acquisitions. The channel would be advertising-free and would help drive uptake of digital TV.
The ABC has been lobbying for cash to fund a channel for a while, but the promise has drawn accusations of bribery of the electorate from certain quarters. Lobbying organisations the Friends of the ABC called the announcement “a misuse of the ABC for pork-barrelling in an election.” But the ABC said that it had been talking to both the government and the opposition for some time over new services.
Previous digital childrens' channels, ABC Kids and ABC Fly, were closed in 2003 with the ABC complaining of a lack of government support for the services, particularly financially. The ABC is funded through direct taxation and is at the mercy of successive governments to have enough cash to meet its budget requirements.
Regards Satdude. :thum: