ABC Australia Unveils Digital Strategy, Restructures International Division

SYDNEY, February 7: Mark Scott, the managing director of the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), today unveiled a new digital media
strategy as well as a restructure of its international broadcasting division
and a new commercial arm.

Scott announced that ABC’s international division would
encompass three operations: Radio Australia, Australia Network and
International Projects. Australia Network reaches more than 20 million homes
across Asia, Pacific and the Indian sub-continent with a mix of news, current
affairs, education, lifestyle, drama and sport.

“There are opportunities to improve the effectiveness of our
services to Asia and the Pacific through greater collaboration and this new
division will help to achieve that,” he said. “Our aim is to both grow our own
audiences; and to ensure the ABC makes a positive contribution in working with
other broadcasters to develop effective media in the region. This division will
build on the success of Australia Network and Radio Australia in delivering
content to international audiences that builds an awareness of Australia and
Australian attitudes.”

ABC’s director of corporate strategy and communications,
Murray Green, will become the director of ABC International, corporate strategy
and governance. The current chief executive of Australia Network, Ian Carroll,
will become the director of ABC Innovation, a new division formed to bolster
ABC’s digital media initiatives.

Of the new digital strategy, Scott noted: “Digital media is
now integral to everything we do. It is not an add-on, it is not a novelty, it
is the present reality as well as the future. The proposals I am announcing
today reflect the shift of digital and new media from the fringe of our
operations ten years ago to the very centre of our television, radio and news
and current affairs output today. They will better equip us for a world where
our audiences increasingly want ABC content on demand—when they want it,
not just when we want to schedule it.”

Scott’s proposals include the creation of an Innovation
division to serve as an incubator for digital development across the ABC.
Further, he is calling for the integration of the ABC News Online unit with the
news and current affairs team. ABC TV and ABC2 will be integrated into the
television division to improve the synergies between the two channels and
create a structure that can sustain additional digital television channels in
the years ahead. ABC is also aiming to derive new revenues from VOD and a
digitized archive.

Further, the public broadcaster has formed ABC Commercial, incorporating
all of the current activities of ABC Enterprises. Lynley Marshall, previously
director of ABC new media and digital services, will become the director of ABC
Commercial. With this new structure, ABC Enterprises’ director, Robyn Watts, is
stepping down after almost 7 years with the broadcaster.