Scrap ABC3 plans say experts
- Published by David Knox
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Play School, Bananas In Pyjamas and overseas childrens programs are exploited by the ABC for merchandise revenue, say industry leaders.
Australian children, says Patricia Edgar and Barbara Biggins, deserve a better model than the ABC3 proposal being pushed by the national broadcaster.
Writing in today’s Sydney Morning Herald, the two women who served on the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal’s children’s program committee want to see multi-platform media delivered via broadband, that allows children to “access, manipulate, create and share multimedia content.”
They argue the $82m ABC3 model is an outmoded approach to the needs of children.
“The amount of money suggested over four years – $82 million – won’t go far if spent on new quality programs, so the new channel will show many repeats of programs children already see.”
Edgar and Biggins argue strongly for the Rudd Government to reconsider the ABC3 proposal and incorporate the array of media that comprise the lives of Aussie kids. A model of government subsidy and merchandise to finance a children’s TV channel is seen as antiquated and inappropriate.
“There will still need to be a subsidised, contestable fund for Australian dramas and programs produced by professionals as part of the mix. Broadcasters that have never accepted responsibility for children’s programming could relinquish their programming role, but only if they are levied to support a well-financed development and production fund.”
So far the federal government has not thrown its support behind ABC3, and will not comment until the Federal Budget.
Both Edgar and Biggins have a long history in children’s television. Edgar was the founding director of the Australian Children’s Television Foundation. Biggins is a former president of the Australian Council on Children and the Media.
Their stance today will certainly ruffle some feathers in the industry. But that’s exactly what the piece seems intent on doing.
“No education revolution can succeed unless it encompasses all the media that dominate children’s lives,” they say.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
18 Responses
This article is old but it promotes a valid point.The sad thing is unless you have a Pay TV Service Kids Shows for after school are practically non existent in this day and age.4:30PM News or Bold and the Beautiful is hardly suitable viewing for the younger generation so this is where ABC 3 fills a void for the too old for ABC 2/4 shows and then there’s the 6:30 to 7:30pm line up.Soaps Aside on 7 and 11 not much exists for them anymore.it’s silly they close it off at 9pm though
ok please understand that pretty much all of you have no kids or are single or dont watch this genre of tv but you all may want more drama, news, sport ect ect but what about what the children want? or are you all going to complain about it on the computer where most kids wont see it, please and i say again please television is not just for adults….
ABC3 is for the familys that cannot afford to get “foxtel or austar” that facilitate nick jr or cartoon network, ABC is doing what most channels should of done ages ago, hopefully ABC makes ABC4 for music or channel rage, i say once again allmost all of you have no idea because you are single, no kids or have foxtel, you have ABC1, channel 7, channel 9, sbs1 and Ten so please you have enough channels and ABC is making a children channel because there are no others
Ben
For children in the middle years, television is still important but it is often background noise while they play on their Nintendo DS or with other electronic gadgets that they reach for in the morning and take to bed at night. Yet we neglect the educational potential these media offer and allow the hucksters almost free rein.
THATS BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE A DEDICATED KIDS CHANNEL.
ARE THESE WOMEN THICK OR WHAT?
Obviously most of you don’t know, but an ABC kids channel has existed on the digital network previously. It was called “ABC Kids” or something like that. There was also a channel for teenagers called “ABC Fly TV”. Both of these channels were scrapped years ago due to lack of federal funding. It’s about time Australia has more selection of what to watch, particular channels just for children. Stop complaining, and start supporting the move to increase the number of free-to-air channels. ABC1 can remain the same. ABC2 can become more like ABC1 but with increased content just for ABC2. And ABC3 can be a channel dedicated to children. When the government finally pulls its finger out and lets the commercial networks start to use the potential of multi-channels, Australians will have an even wider selection of viewing material. It’s about time the digital TV area started truly expanding, rather than waiting for those to change from their analogue TV sets. If some people do not wish to change, that’s fine. Let them have 5 channels, and 5 channels only. For the people on the other hand who are making the switch, make it truly worthwhile. ABC3 is another initiative expanding the digital TV market, and it should not be stopped.
Being a person who still enjoys watching childrens shows i would say that this channel is a great idea. During the day there is nothing on except informortials and american talkshows. This leaves nothing for the children at home, either not yet at school or at home during the holidays.
As for the merchandising it is reasonable, the ABC doesn’t have enough funding to continually buy/produce new shows therefore they need a source of income are there are two options, merchandise or ads
I know which one i perfer
I didnt mention this before, but merchandise is going to happen, as long as a % of that is invested back into the channel, then it can be made a good thing.
I dont know the ABC 2 format, but if you air kids content on it from 6am – 6pm, then regular content in primetime, it might work
if it stops @ 9pm, they should show teenage cartoons eg. daria at night or something. a 24h channel would be awesome
Everyone seems to be missing the most hypocritical part of the SMH story. The ABC is said to be relentlessly merchandising it’s children’s programs, and airing these programs to serve producers and not children.
The apparent cure to this Moloch worship is to create a service to be funded more directly be commercial interests, and and would include advertising. More government money would be given to private companies to make programs.
While all the advertising would have to be “ethical” (though surely would be less ethical than the non-ads on the ABC at present), there’s no mention of how the controllers of the proposed service would force private companies not to produce licenced products.
They call for more public subsidies for privately produced programs, yet this (if you include the government mandated C-classification forced commercial investment) is exactly what is producing most non-ABC Australian kids programming as things are.
A strange idea that may find strength in the near future is adults choosing and purchasing particular TV programs for their kids. Like they do now with DVDs, but with programs that have never screened on a channel. Not unlike what was done in the past with books. I hope this possibility eventuates.
ABC3 would of course see the children’s programs removed from ABC2. ABC3 would run longer than the children’s slots on ABC2, and contain more new programs.
To make the most of the situation, ABC2 would need a similar injection of funds to make or purchase programs for the newly created hole, and perhaps to fill in the midnight-dawn gap.
The biggest hurdle for ABC3 would be how on earth it’s going to get to people’s homes for free. Sure, it will be available via the pay TV networks. It may even be available via the FTA Aurora satellite service (though even ABC2 is not yet available this way).
But unless ABC HD is scrapped, it cannot be broadcast from the ABC’s existing digital terrestrial transmitters. It would have to be broadcast on new transmitters, most likely those of the upcoming “Channel A” group. Were this to be the case, it would take a number of years before those outside the major capitals could receive it this way.
Alternatively, it would require a whole new mux, which would be incredibly expensive to establish, and would require many more new channels to make justifiable.
Australia NEEDS an ABC Kids channel. I recently watched nickolodeon for the first time. I was shocked. EVERY programme was from the US, none had any educational value, and ever ad (and there were many) was for junk food. Every single one. I was astonished (in that it was not split between junk food and mattell toys!, but there you go). We need ABC3. I think the authors simply misunderstand the situation (and Ms Edgar is in decline, sadly)
The initial announcements mentioned the ABC3 channel would cover content for kids aged between 1 – 14.
Younger kids might not mind watching the same episodes/shows again and again.
But I doubt older kids wouldn’t want to be watching the same episodes/shows again and again.
Why doesn’t the ABC just expand their current children programming on ABC2 to run during the day and of a night time swap over to more adult focused programming. During the day on ABC2, most of the programs are repeats anyway.
I also have to agree that kids don’t know if a show is a repeat or not. My goddaughter can watch a Maisy DVD over and over and over. She watches the same one nearly every day and she never complains its a repeat. It sounds like these two “experts” are pushing their own agendas – I bet you they were knocked back for a government funding grant
Have these women ever met a child? Ever studied their viewing habits? My son would gladly watch Charlie and Lola back to back followed by Arthur and he won’t care if it’s the same one over and over. Tack Spongebob on the end and he’d pass out.
Quality has nothing to do with the fact they’re repeats. Play School is quality gear, as is B1 and B2 etc. Roll on ABC3 and get a move on. This rubbish about kids being able to ‘manipulate and share broadband content’ is utter tosh and if the ABC websites are anything to go by, it will only work on WIndows with IE6 and service pack blah blah blah and get updated thrice millenially (is that a word?).
I reckon those two should put a sock in it and let the ABC finally get this channel out the door. After a recent trip with aforementioned son to the UK, we are missing a lot…
And by the way, there’s this word that starts with ‘n’ and ends with ‘o’ if a kid is harassing their parents to buy some toy. If these women lack this self-control, that’s not my, or my son’s, problem.
The ABC doesn’t use their programming for advertising of items, they simply sell related merchandise to various shows. They should check out the many cartoon series on commercial networks, created solely to sell merchandise over the years.
Why focus solely on the educational content? if too much programming is focused solely on education content, it can put kids off watching. It is just as important to offer other interesting shows for kids to watch, so they won’t be just used as background noise.
In terms of live action kids series, the quality of many Australian kids series is poor, and I’m tired of these series been frequently repeated by TV networks (For their Australian content requirements).
The ABC channels can be access by anyone with a television, while internet access is an additional cost per month. Many people don’t have access to the internet, and other people are still limited to slow speeds on internet.
I hope the ABC3 channel does go ahead, offering kids more variety of good quality programming. Since the advent of pay-tv, the amount of kids programming on commercial network seems to be less each year, especially in terms of cartoons series.
Well, the ABC has to make their money from SOMEWHERE. So good for them by merchandising some of their top programs instead of throwing ads in our face. Besides, there are children out there who might just WANT a Bananas in Pyjamas plush toy. 😛
I agree with what wamdue said i’m sure they could use merchandising revenue to make new shows for ABC3 but the one thing I don’t understand why they are doing a ”station close” 9pm when they could continue showing other shows or what about a two hour delay of ABC2 after 9pm or just time-shifted programs.
I’d rather have that 82 million spent of quality drama on the ABC. Wouldn’t it be great if the ABC was sparked off a new wave of Australian quality dram?a
Also do we really need 24 hours of kids programming when the potential of ABC2 is yet to be utilised yet?
I don’t see the problem in mainly recycling quality kids programing. Every decade you get a new generation and it’s not like teaching practises change that frequently.
oh for god sakes, ABC 3 seems like a great idea to me.
yes there is merchandise, but thats always going to happen.
as for it only being on TV, well ABC has a respectable website, no reason they cant include some of the ABC 3conent on that website
would it be to easy to compare this to CBBC & the CBBC website?