Are they?
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The ACMA obligations are in adequate
And the only way they will change is if the broadcasting act is changed - the likelihood of that happening at the moment is probably less then zero given changes very rarely happen that donât have industry backing
Unless they change - there is potentially little impetus for stations to want to exceed the current requirements
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@jason120au what legal obligations are WIN not meeting?
Or are you talking about moral / social obligations - which are not legally enforceable?
Itâs a social moral obligation they take money from advertisers in the regions they operate in and as thus they need to put back into the community and not just take. Whether it is legally enforceable is irrelevant. The government should be enforcing better content in these regional communities and this does not only apply to WIN it applies to all media outlets including radio and TV. They clearly canât do it themselves adequately so the government should intervene
Iâm all for local news on regional networks and ideally I think all of WIN, SCA and Prime could do more, but realistically itâs a shrinking market and weâre also now in a recession so advertising revenue is taking a hit, while expenses are going up. Itâs all very well for the government to invoke extra commitments to regional news but at the end the day it has to be sustainable for the business.
Southern Cross Ten (as it was then) used to do a good local news/magazine show in the Goulburn Valley market called Weeknights. It was a different take on local news and was presented out on location, so it didnât use a studio. It never really caught on, though and they had to pull the pin.
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Your argument makes no sense. Whether it is enforceable is very relevant. Your second sentence âthe govt should be enforcing betterâ contradicts your first completely
Moral And social obligations are not enforceable.
Win would argue the service it provides is providing 6 million aussies free access to 3 networks and some of Australia s most Loved series: Masterchef gogglebox masked singer Im a celebrity.
This is the free service it provides to its viewers.
Not many tv networks around the world world provide programming unless it translates to revenue
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Providing access to metropolitan networks is only part of their obligation. Providing news service and employing locals in all regions also forms part of their obligations of holding a license to broadcast which is the whole point of this discussion, a point which u are missing. Yes we are in a recession but they still need to meet their obligations. Yes they are meeting their inadequate government requirements but not their social moral obligation to the communities they serve. It should form part of the cost of doing business that is not negotiable.
It should. But it doesnât. And it is negotiable. Because they decide not to.
Iâd like to see you be CEO of a company in a small profit margin business and tell your board or shareholders that youâre going to spend $5m out of a $25m profit on social obligations
Youâd be fired and out of a job in a day.
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The point you are missing is that the regional stations in the aggregated areas in the eastern states and Tasmania all have an obligation to provide news, weather and community service announcements. They have to regularly report to ACMA on how they are meeting the quota. If any regional television licence wasnât meeting the quota we would have heard about it.
WIN in Wagga Wagga have obviously still been meeting their quota despite the axing of the full news bulletin.
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This discussion is becoming circular - youâre not understanding what at least 4 people are pointing out to you.
Its extremely difficult (ney impossible) to enforce something that is not codified in some form (legislation, licence requirement etc) and while many people here agree that the regional networks could be doing more, the reality is that they are meeting their enforcible requirements.
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Will people stop acting like WIN owe you a nightly news bulletin.
There is not much revenue around in these regional towns with 100k people to generate a profit whilst running a local news bulletin at the same time. This is why networks like Imparja, which broadcast into areas where no one lives, is about to collapse into a pit of fire because their business model is so bad.
The regional networks also have themselves to blame for their outdated business models which they have been using for decades. Itâs now come to bite them in the ass.
I am a massive advocate for local news where necessary but at the end of the day, the regional networks are businesses and they WILL restructure so they can actually continue running with an ROI. But on a side note, WIN have done almost everything they can to keep the bulletins they still have on-air. The whole operation has been centralised with minimal staff across the board.
Itâs not on the broadcast license that they must broadcast a 30-minute news bulletin alongside employing a newsroom in each area?
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It saved them money⌠nothing else to understand
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WIN News doing a report in Charleville which isnât anywhere near the Darling Downs and is in the Remote Central region where WIN doesnât have a presence.
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Save Our Voices have a campaign on change.org. Bruce Roberts 10 sec ad:
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WTFâŚ
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