ABC ups arts TV coverage after chair Ita Buttrose demands review
The ABC is expanding its arts coverage and shifting Q&A’s timeslot in the hopes of better competing with streaming services.
The ABC is expanding its arts coverage with a new weekly program, documentaries and live performances, amid mounting concerns about the sector’s diminishing profile on the public broadcaster.
The new weekly arts program, which is currently casting for hosts, will premiere next year on a rebadged ABC TV Plus digital channel, which is currently running as ABC Comedy. Feature-length documentaries and live performances of music, ballet, musical theatre, film and opera will also be broadcast on the new-look channel.
Continuing the arts theme, on ABC’s main TV channel, actor Rachel Griffiths will feature in a show about portraiture in Finding the Archibald, which has just started filming. Claudia Karvan will also host a three-part book series and Play School host Justine Clarke will feature in a two-part program about Australian country music called Going Country.
Michael Carrington, director of entertainment & specialist at the ABC, said increasing the broadcaster’s arts coverage had been on his radar for a year, but he had been “frustrated” by its TV schedule.
“It’s been very tricky to get some big arts and science and history documentaries into the schedule, and they have been pushed out to the shoulder - so 9pm to 9.30pm - on the main channel,” Mr Carrington told The Australian.
“A year ago I started planning rebranding the second channel, which was called ABC Comedy, and making that a much more flexible space so that we could actually premiere content in prime time for the arts and culture.”
The Australian reported last month that ABC chair Ita Buttrose had demanded a review into the ABC’s arts coverage, which is part of the broadcaster’s charter.
The unusual intervention followed the unveiling on June 24 of the ABC’s long-awaited five-year strategic plan, which included up to 250 staff being laid off — with as many as 50 from the “entertainment and specialist” unit.
In recent months, former ABC board members Simon Mordant and Michael Lynch have hit out at the sharp fall in arts programming on ABC TV.
New arts programming on the ABC’s primary TV channel dropped from 114 hours in 2008-09 to just 15 hours a decade later. Its latest annual report for 2019/20 doesn’t measure the amount of time dedicated to specialist content such as arts coverage.
Mr Carrington said the new weekly art show, which is likely to run between 30-60 minutes an episode, will be a “kind of key stalwart to the week”. He hopes the show will be on the small screen by early April, noting it’s still in development as the idea only came to him a couple of months ago.
“I am desperately trying to get up and running by Easter if not before.”
The ABC, which receives more than $1bn annually from the federal government, also announced on Wednesday that TV panel discussion program Q&A would be moving from its current Monday night slot to Thursday night at 8.30pm AEST.
Mr Carrington said Q&A’s schedule move was aimed at competing more effectively against streaming services, noting TV audiences start to switch to them around 9pm to 930pm.
“It’s a challenge for any content to break through after 9pm or 930pm for linear television,” he said.
“I just wanted to ensure that it was in prime time, and so by coming through to Thursday I think it gives us a real opportunity to find new audiences and potentially younger audiences on the main channel.”
The public broadcaster announced the changes at the Upfront event previewing its 2021 line-up.
During last year’s Upfront, the ABC announced journalist Hamish Macdonald would take over hosting Q&A from Tony Jones, who had been in the chair for 12 years.
The ABC plans to air up to 15 new shows next year, including new drama Wakefield, which will premiere on its streaming service iview at Easter. Plus, Fires, The Newsreader and Superwog, alongside long-running programs Gardening Australia, Gruen and Landline.
For children, it will have two new series, The Wonder Gang and Kangaroo Beach, together with favourites Bluey and Play School.
The ABC’s 2021 program line up comes five months after the broadcaster announced plans to dump its controversial lifestyle website ABC Life and TV comedy channel. It also announced it would cut independent production by about $5m annually, primarily from the factual and entertainment slate, and axe its 7.45am broadcast-only radio news bulletin.
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