Senior executives from free-to-air networks are buddying up to persuade politicians to give them better visibility on smart TVs.
👉 Background: Australian free-to-air TV channels like Nine, Seven, Ten, and ABC have been struggling over the past 10 years. In fact, between 2012 and 2021, all the main free-to-air channels except SBS saw their viewership drop by over 20%.
👉 What happened: Now, senior executives from free-to-air networks are buddying up to persuade politicians to give them better visibility on smart TVs.
👉 What else: If the free to air networks are successful, it would mean TV manufacturers would need to give local video apps like 9Now and 10 Play preferential placement on home screens. They're calling it the "prominence framework".
💡Free-to-air networks may need more government support to deliver that value over the long-term.
💡Given the rising adoption and popularity of streaming platforms, free-to-air networks need to rely on government intervention to stay in the running. Like this prominence framework … or the quotas on streaming content of the last few years.
💡We’ve already seen government intervention protect local TV in the EU with a a 30% content quota on streamers last year. And more government intervention might be needed to keep Australian news, live sport and reality TV on the air.
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