ABC forced to compete for continued international role


From www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/abc...frg6nf-1225959718998

The ABC will be forced to bid for the right to remain Australia's international television broadcaster.

The federal government has put the $200 million, 10-year Australia Network contract to competitive tender.

The decision is a blow for ABC managing director Mark Scott, who lobbied heavily for the contract to be retained by the broadcaster. It will allow Australian News Channel's Sky News -- a joint venture of PBL Media, Seven Media Group and British Sky Broadcasting, which is partly owned by News Corporation -- to bid for the right to broadcast news and entertainment services into the Asia-Pacific region.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd also announced the contract to run the Australia Network would be extended from five years to 10 in the next tender, which will open before the end of the year. The ABC's existing contract, worth about $20m a year, expires in August next year.

Mr Rudd said a competitive open tender process for the 2011-2021 contract would "provide greater certainty to the service provider".

The ABC and Sky News have lobbied vigorously for the contract to run Australia Network, which broadcasts a satellite TV service.

Mr Scott raised eyebrows this year with his suggestion that the service should be used as a federal government means of "soft diplomacy". He told the ABC's Media Watch program in August: "We don't put our embassies out to tender, we don't put our defence force out to tender and other countries don't put their public broadcasting and their international broadcasting out to tender."

Both Mr Scott and Australian News Channel chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos issued statements welcoming the competitive tender.

Mr Frangopoulos said he was "very excited to put forward a new vision for the Australia Network". Mr Scott said the tender would give the ABC an "opportunity to identify some of the areas where we believe the service can expand".

The government will already be aware of much of their tender pitches after then foreign minister Stephen Smith called for submissions in June from interested parties on the network's future and possible new technologies.

The only issue that could upset the process is a third interested party, such as the Ten Network with its beefed-up news focus, swooping in.

The Australia Network, established in 1997 and formerly produced by the Seven Network, sends "an Australian perspective to the world".

[we told them this but they never listened, just like the IS7/10 promises they made and again never did anything]

Rudd to vet Asia TV guides

From www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/...frg8mf-1226005380659

The federal government-owned international television service, Australia Network, will undergo an overhaul authorised by Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd.

The highly ambitious strategy gives Mr Rudd sweeping powers to influence program selection for this service that broadcasts to 45 markets throughout the Asia-Pacific region on a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week basis.

Tender documents released by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade reveal that future operators of the service will have to comply with strict guidelines on programming and other operational issues.

Potential tenderers for a new 10-year contract to run this service will have to provide DFAT with a programming schedule for every timeslot over a seven-day cycle, which will be assessed by the department to determine whether it represents an " intelligent mix of the best of Australian content".

This includes news and current affairs where DFAT will require a detailed quality and quantity breakdown to enable it to decide whether this and business programming supports the government's regional objectives.

The operator will also have to pay an annual "contribution" to the government and agree to running it on a non-exclusive basis.

Meanwhile, it says China is a high-priority potential market for the government and the operator of the service must report regularly to DFAT on opportunities to penetrate this target.