The ABC will receive an extra $50 million over three years to spend on new Australian content including children’s programs and drama thanks to an amendment to the government’s streaming quotas bill, which was passed in federal parliament on Thursday.
The amendment was proposed by the Greens in exchange for not opposing the bill in the Senate, allowing Arts Minister Tony Burke to introduce legislation that was meant to be in place by July 1 last year.
The surprise funding boost could help the ABC unearth the next Bluey.Credit: ABC
The amendment to the Broadcasting Services Act – under the title Australian Content Requirement for Subscription Video on Demand (Streaming) Services – had been presented to the House of Representatives on Wednesday. The government used its majority in that chamber to vote down amendments proposed by independent MPs Allegra Spender and Zali Steggall, and opposition arts spokesman Julian Leeser.
The new rules, which come into effect from January 1, impose for the first time a local content obligation on streamers with more than a million subscribers.
Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and Paramount+ will be obliged to dedicate either 10 per cent of their program expenditure for this country, or 7.5 per cent of their Australian revenues (from subscriptions, advertising and any other sources) to the commissioning and production of Australian drama, comedy, children’s, documentary, arts or educational programming.
Apple TV+ and HBO are expected to cross the threshold soon.
All streamers with more than a million subscribers will be required to fund Australian content.Credit: The Age
Those levies, or investment obligations, are significantly lower than the 20 per cent the production sector had originally sought, and to which the Greens had remained committed. However, negotiations became embroiled in concerns about possible breaches of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement. Those concerns have only intensified since US President Donald Trump embarked on his tariff campaign after returning to office in January.
Responding in the lower house on Wednesday to the proposed amendments – which addressed a range of issues including discoverability of Australian content, sub-quotas for specific genres, and the streamers’ access to the producer offset – Burke acknowledged their validity but insisted “we’re not in a position to be amending the bill at all”.