Nick Tabakoff | April 03, 2008
THE ABC's strategy to become an important player in an increasingly diversified digital world has received a blow, with the broadcaster understood to have lost the lucrative rights to supply news content to Telstra's BigPond.
Media understands the deal to supply BigPond with news content has been won by Australian News Channel, the company that operates the Sky News pay-TV channels. Australian News Channel is one-third owned by each of PBL Media, Seven Media and BSkyB, the British pay-TV subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation (which owns The Australian).
BigPond's decision to award Australian News Channel the rights is understood to cover the primary rights to supply news content to both BigPond's main website, www.bigpond.com, and BigPond-branded mobile services. The right to supply BigPond internet and mobile users with news has been regarded as the jewel in the crown of the ABC's commercial internet and mobile content distribution.
The ABC's deal with BigPond is understood to been worth millions of dollars to the public broadcaster.
ABC general manager for digital development and content Robert Hutchinson could not be contacted for comment yesterday.
BigPond corporate affairs head Craig Middleton said he "wouldn't comment on our arrangements with suppliers".
However, he said BigPond was "committed, in the months ahead, to expanding our news offering because of the tremendous growth we are seeing in our online and mobile portals".
The deal comes at an inopportune moment for the ABC.
In a column in The Australian two weeks ago, ABC managing director Mark Scott pointed to the importance of driving the public broadcaster's audiences to digital platforms so they could access news at any time: "People don't want to wait until 7pm to watch the latest news," he wrote.
"While the traditional television news bulletin will still be a key ABC experience, at 7pm or midday, we will also be offering ABC news to our audiences at any time and in any place they choose."
Mr Scott used the column to compare the ABC's news delivery capacity with Sky's. He also pointed to the launch of a new ABC 24-hour news channel in the near future. "In contrast to Sky News, a niche service available only in the 25 per cent of homes that can afford pay TV, the ABC provides a universal service to all Australians, rich and poor."