Want more Swamp People? Then drop the local content quota

The short-sighted idea of dropping TV networks’ local content quota obligations was put back on the agenda today with ad agency CEO Mat Baxter claiming the safety net can now be removed, because we’re all loving local content.

But Australian programs rating well, and the Australian TV industry thriving are completely different.

Despite the high ratings of Packed to the Rafters and The X Factor, what is the likelihood commercial programmers would keep investing in Australian shows? Slim, considering FTA industry body Free TV’s two cents to the convergence review was a request to ease local content rules.  It doesn’t fill me with confidence that they’d keep investing.

To buy a pre-packaged program from the US can be one-tenth the price of making something local, so it’s just straight business sense for programmers to buy internationally.