Australian Content Production
The subscription media industry is committed to producing and providing high quality and diverse Australian content, producing thousands of hours of Australian content each year across all program genres.
Australian drama content expenditure requirements
Under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cth), investment in new Australian drama must represent at least 10% of program expenditure for STV drama channels. The new eligible drama expenditure (NEDE) scheme operates under an accrual system where obligations that arise but not acquitted in one reporting period must be fully acquitted in the following period. Each year STV licensees and channel providers report their drama expenditure to the ACMA, their expenditure must be at least sufficient to acquit any obligation left over from the previous year.
Australian content funding
The main Government funding initiatives for Australian content are through direct funding by Screen Australia, and the Producer Tax Offset for drama and documentary production (also administered by Screen Australia). Funding is also available through State and Territory screen bodies.
Screen Australia provides direct funding for Australian film, television and games producers. Television funding is provided under a number of funding initiatives, focusing on drama, children’s programs and documentaries.
The Producer Offset is a refundable tax offset (rebate) for producers of Australian feature films, television and other projects. The value of the Producer Offset is calculated based on a project’s qualifying Australian production expenditure (QAPE), and is worth 40% of QAPE incurred on a feature film, or 20% of QAPE incurred on non-feature film programs (such as TV series, mini-series or telemovies, short-form animations, non-feature documentary, or direct-to-DVD or web-distributed programming).