Australian TV

Analysis and Comment (12)

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Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s response to the Convergence Review includes significant benefits for commercial free-to-air broadcasters. AAP

Free-to-air broadcasters win big in government’s media reforms

Late on Friday 30 November, the day after the last parliamentary sitting day for the year, the government released its first official response to the Convergence Review. Seven months after the Review…
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Most of us cringe, but the type of Australia portrayed in the new show, The Shire is very telling. AAP Image/Supplied by Network Ten, Nigel Wright

Botox, McMansions and whitewashing: the glossy neoliberalism of The Shire

The first episode of The Shire ran last night on Channel 10. Described as “dramality” – a combination of drama and reality television – the show purports to show the lives of young people living in Sutherland…
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ABC’s The Slap investigates the complex and very personal views of those at the heart of a smacking case. ABC

The legality of ‘The Slap’

In last night’s ABC program, The Slap, an impulsive slap changed everything. A man struck someone else’s child at a barbecue provoking a legal challenge. In real life, that would be an assault, though…
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Australia’s classification system has been updated to ensure the audience can judge whether content is appropriate for them. Flickr/kennymatic

Bringing media classification into the digital era

Media classification in Australia is being dragged into the digital world. At the moment it’s based on analog legislation, unsuited for today’s convergent media. But proposals unveiled today will transform…
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The Murdoch crisis in the UK raises many questions about media ownership in Australia. AAP/William West

Media ownership matters: why politicians need to take on proprietors

The Gillard Government’s media inquiry is to disregard the crucial issues of bias and concentration of media ownership, despite Bob Brown’s demands for wider terms of reference. This is, at best, misled…
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At Home With Julia follows the tradition of poking fun at politicians' personal lives. ABC Television publicity

Getting personal in At Home With Julia: The tradition of satire

I was waiting for her to say “he touched me in nooks and in unexplored crannies I never knew I had” but it was not to be. For the rest of the episode, however, the lead in At Home With Julia sounded like…
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The AFL may bypass broadcasters altogether and stream games live to fans. AAP

Non-stop AFL: Andrew Demetriou has an app for that

Interesting to read AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou’s thoughts on the next broadcasting rights deal, given that the league has yet to work out how to divvy up the money from the deal it recently negotiated with…
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AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou announces the league’s record TV rights deal. AAP

Too much live sport is never enough

The lucrative broadcast rights deal signed earlier this year by the AFL demonstrates the pulling power of “live” sport in a TV market which is increasingly becoming fragmented by more choice on more platforms…
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Participants in “Go back to where you came from” had their attitudes towards refugees challenged. SBS: Go back to where you came from

Go back to where you came from: Reality TV encounters the refugee crisis

Tonight, during World Refugee Week, SBS One premieres Go Back to Where You Came From. Over three nights the series plunges six Australian participants into the intense fear and desperation of the refugee…
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The Australian media landscape is undergoing another wave of consolidation.

WAN horse town just the beginning for media mergers

West Australian Newspapers' $4.1B proposed purchase of the Seven Media Group to create the country’s biggest listed media group is correctly viewed by industry insiders as the start of a wider consolidation…