I’ve been intrigued to see the debate about the funding and direction of the ABC go underground since last year’s election. Although Kevin Rudd only promised “adequate funding”, the defeat of a government that expended so much energy on critiquing “bias” and whose acolytes in the commentariat never tired of denouncing the ABC in hyperbolic terms has probably served to siphon off much of the intensity of the public broadcasting budget wars. That may or may not be a good thing, but lots of interesting things are afoot at the ABC, and I think it would be beneficial for there to be more of a debate about them. I’ve taken a look at the issues in my column for New Matilda this week.
1 Response to “The ABC’s (digital) futures”
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The ABC would have a fairly significant carbon footprint. The transmitters round the nation and the other hardware to get transmissions out are significant – plenty of megawatts there.
So ABC will need to be spending up big on reducing its carbon footprint. Or reducing transmission time.
So even if the Govt gives it more $$ it will need to be spending lots of that to meet those 60% reduction target by 2050. About 4% by the end of the Government’s term.
Oh well, the technical wonks will love it of course.