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“No justification”: producers push for 2021 quotas

Producers ready to work says Australia is falling behind other countries without 2021 quotas reinstated.

Australia is falling behind comparable economies in its support for local production restarting, according to Screen Producers Australia.

SPA research shows that the critical factor holding back recovery in Australia has been the freeze on local commissions, due to the suspension of quotas for commercial free-to-air and subscription television, and the lack of clarity as to whether they will apply in 2021.

“Countries such as the UK, New Zealand, Canada and France are all out-performing Australia when it comes to measures to assist local productions and local screen businesses, whether in terms of direct financing support, more comprehensive insurance support or other industry support initiatives,” said SPA CEO Matthew Deaner.

“As consistently noted by SPA since the suspension was announced in April, this unnecessary demand hand-brake has seen broadcasters back away from shovel-ready projects that could otherwise be greenlit, depriving audiences of quality content and costing jobs and investment at a critical time for the local industry. With the announcement of COVID-safe guidelines and the Government’s temporary interruption fund to assist with insurance challenges, there is no justification for the continued regulatory uncertainty, with producers ready to work and supply broadcasters with the great Australian content that audiences love.

“SPA’s research shows that such a drastic and destructive measure has not been taken anywhere else, with other Governments, such as the UK, instead adopting time-limited case-by-case consideration of actual interruptions to supply, rather than the blanket approach taken in Australia” said Deaner.

SPA also published an analysis of key submissions made by other industry participants to the Government’s Supporting Australian Stories on Our Screens options paper. The analysis, which has been provided to Government as a supplementary SPA submission, takes a close look submissions from bodies such as Free TV, Foxtel, ASTRA, the streaming companies and the public broadcasters, and provides vital contextualisation of key claims.

SPA’s analysis shows in particular the weaknesses in the calls for complete deregulation put forward by licensed broadcasters, and also notes the drawbacks in the streaming companies’ calls for voluntary obligations.

In particular, SPA runs the ruler over Free TV’s claims that current sub quota obligations (for drama, documentary and children’s content) are unduly burdensome and finds that:

· sub quota content represents 1.57% of total annual broadcast hours;
· sub quota content represents 7.04% of overall program expenditure;
· sub quota content expenditure represents 3.37% of annual revenues; and
· children’s content represents 1.34% of overall program expenditure.

Whilst Free TV argues that Australian content costs have been going up, Government figures actually show that Free TV expenditure on sub quota content (ie, excluding genres such as news, sport and entertainment) is stable or trending down. SPA also points to the limited probative value of the international comparisons made by Free TV, noting that deregulation in New Zealand is not seen by all as a success story, and noting that deregulation of children’s content in the UK has actually been reversed in recent times.

SPA has also undertaken modelling of Free TV’s proposal for a revised sub-quota system, concluding it would have damaging impacts on audiences and Australia’s screen industry. For drama alone, the downturn would be, at a minimum, in terms of:

· a reduction of 51% in expenditure, or $165m;
· drop in hours of 141; and
· potential loss of 4,600 jobs.

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