Australia Network announces shutdown date and time

[joncl]

FYI ...

Dear Partner,

It is with much regret that, after many years of broadcasting into the region, I must inform you of the termination of the Australia Network TV service.

As you may be aware, the ABC has been forced to terminate the service following the Australian Government’s withdrawal of its funding. The ABC has developed a new service to fulfil its obligations to broadcast internationally however, at this point in time, this does not include a widely available television channel.

We will be terminating the Australia Network service at 12.00 midnight Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) on Sunday, the 28th of September. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

If you wish to know more about accessing blocks of our programming which we are making available for limited syndication to local networks then please address enquiries to Michael Bishay in our International Services department. Michael can be contacted at <removed>

Thank you for your support of Australia Network and the ABC over the years and we hope that one day in the future we may be able to partner with you again.

Yours Sincerely,

Lynley Marshall

CEO ABC International

[canman]

At least they are waiting until after the Aus rules final is played.

Edited September 2, 2014 by canman

[SeaVisionBurma]

Worst political decision made by the Abbot Government out of this year's budget. Not happy about this, the content has improved steadily over the past few years - good current affairs, local asian flavoured biz programs, learning English which my staff love (and it has been helping them improve their English skills)

Who do I write to?

[joncl]

all a moot point now I am sad to say .. you should have done (write a letter) that when the budget was announced ..

[SeaVisionBurma]

all a moot point now I am sad to say .. you should have done (write a letter) that when the budget was announced ..

True, true - I did contact Australia Network via their website, left posts on their social media (rather articulate ones in fact )

But alas! To no avail.

Ah well, at least I won't be subjected to any more My Kitchen Rules

[Chicog]

Abbott's revenge for some negative coverage I hear?

[tlcwaterfall]

So what are the options if any once Australia network closes?

I will miss the news and current affairs a lot and also the AFL matches even more.

You can sign up with http://watchafl.afl.com.au/ and watch all the matches live. This is what I will do next year if there is no alternative.

[Thanet]

I also liked Australia Network.

It's demise is a sad casualty of one of the most unpopular budgets ever.

Joe Hockey will likely fall on his sword sooner rather than later, and it serves him right.

[samran]

I just watch iView. Get what I want from the abc without the endless repeats of home and away.

[bendejo]

It will be sorely missed. Especially in parts of Thailand where the only English-language 'news' is Fox.

I still miss MNet.

[RegularReader]

This is the most spiteful ,small minded decision this terrible Australian government has made, so far.

As an expat I have really enjoyed not just the AFL, but also the excellent news and current affairs coverage of the region.

Now that Tony and his band of merry-men and one woman (the person who sadly signed the death certificate, when she withdrew the DFAT support for the channel) have destroyed one of the few media platforms in the region where one could get fair and knowledgeable coverage of events such the troubles in Thailand and the recent Indonesian elections, all we have left are strange, incorrect and often lazy reports on CNN and BBC.

More, by showing many of the better quality dramas, and popular series, along with Playschool, Bananas etc., our opportunities to show a side of Oz most around her don't see will be greatly diminished.

Shame on Tony Abbott, Shame on Joe Hockey and shame on Julie Bishop.

Pay back time is coming...

[RegularReader]

I just watch iView. Get what I want from the abc without the endless repeats of home and away.

iView is a good service, but a lot of programs such as Dramas and Educational programs are geo-blocked and so not available here via the service.

[samran]

I just watch iView. Get what I want from the abc without the endless repeats of home and away.

iView is a good service, but a lot of programs such as Dramas and Educational programs are geo-blocked and so not available here via the service.

I don't want to break forum rules, but if you look up DNS solutions to geo blocking, you'll find plenty of answers. Suprisingly simple and gives you full access.

[RegularReader]

I just watch iView. Get what I want from the abc without the endless repeats of home and away.

iView is a good service, but a lot of programs such as Dramas and Educational programs are geo-blocked and so not available here via the service.

I don't want to break forum rules, but if you look up DNS solutions to geo blocking, you'll find plenty of answers. Suprisingly simple and gives you full access.

I didn't come down in the last shower.

I've been living outside Oz for the past 20 years and know many ways to get "around" problems.

But this closure will mean having "to do" things again, so I can watch programs.

I only wish "to do" also meant to get rid of Tony & co.

Edited September 3, 2014 by RegularReader

[samran]

I just watch iView. Get what I want from the abc without the endless repeats of home and away.

iView is a good service, but a lot of programs such as Dramas and Educational programs are geo-blocked and so not available here via the service.

I don't want to break forum rules, but if you look up DNS solutions to geo blocking, you'll find plenty of answers. Suprisingly simple and gives you full access.

I didn't come down in the last shower.

I've been living outside Oz for the past 20 years and know many ways to get "around" problems.

But this closure will mean having "to do" things again, so I can watch programs.

I only wish "to do" also meant to get rid of Tony & co.

Sorry I wasted my time to bother to try and help.

[RegularReader]

Sorry I wasted my time to bother to try and help.

Apologies if I offended you.

Wasn't meant that way.

It wasn't a waste of time.

Your suggestion does offer a partial solution.

But, it would have been better of they didn't shut the channel

Don't mind offending the current Oz gov't though...

[kkerry]

Kevin Rudd also wanted to get rid of Australia Network a few years ago.

The price for online streaming rose this year so with maybe no alternative it could get expensive to watch AFL next season.

[Spoonman]

Struth, how am I gunna get my daily home and away fix now ?

[RegularReader]

Kevin Rudd also wanted to get rid of Australia Network a few years ago.

The price for online streaming rose this year so with maybe no alternative it could get expensive to watch AFL next season.

And remember, Hawke and Keating both had their "moments" with the ABC.

So, the animosity is "bi-partisan".

[samran]

I've always found abc international product an inferior service. It was nice for a bit in the 90s when overseas and it was a good link home but the channel hasn't kept up with competition and it is a pretty much last choice for where I'd go on anything australia wise from a Entertainment and news perspective. On demand is the future and iView is a superior product by far.

They'd be better off spending the 20 million a year they use now to sort out rights issues and broadcasting abc news 24 on the satellite, and freeing up access to iView. Better use of money I reckon.

[Tomtomtom69]

It cost just $20 million a year, and NO ONE, not even billionaires like say Clive Palmer have offered some of their hard earned cash away (for him that amount would be pocket change anyway) to keep the channel afloat?

Doesn't the Australian government realise, that for all intents and purposes the Australia Channel is basically a mouthpiece for Australia in the international community, a TV broadcaster that much like the BBC and CNN represents Australian culture and the country as a whole? Doesn't it realise that there are very far wide-reaching positive outcomes related to beaming a TV station internationally? Consider the case of CCTV China, which only began international broadcasting a few years ago (as far as I know), with more and more hotels and businesses around the world broadcasting their channels. CCTV 4 is their Chinese language channel (it features many programs with English subtitles and some Chinese learning programs), while CCTV 9 is their English language channel. Both are increasingly being beamed to the outside world and of course this means that China is able to send a message to the international community that it's a serious global power and we can see how they think and how they feel about the rest of the world, shown through their eyes, by watching their programming.

It seems all the Australian government and economy keeps on doing is cost cutting. Entire industries have left Australia, jobs are leaving, unemployment is up, government spending on essential social services have been cut, or at least they want to make those cuts, there is a proposal for all Aussies to start paying a small amount to visit a doctor, which would signal the end of free medical care as we know it and so many more things I don't have the time to mention here.

Does anyone else think that in 20-30 years time, Australia could become another irrelevant country that produces nothing like say Papua New Guinea? I certainly don't think it's far fetched, given the decline of so many things in the country. I hope it never becomes as bad as that, but the last time I heard anything slightly positive about the Australian economy was that it didn't go into recession during 2008-9.

[RegularReader]

I've always found abc international product an inferior service. It was nice for a bit in the 90s when overseas and it was a good link home but the channel hasn't kept up with competition and it is a pretty much last choice for where I'd go on anything australia wise from a Entertainment and news perspective. On demand is the future and iView is a superior product by far.

They'd be better off spending the 20 million a year they use now to sort out rights issues and broadcasting abc news 24 on the satellite, and freeing up access to iView. Better use of money I reckon.

Not sure I agree with it being of "inferior quality".

Also back in the 90s the channel was run by the 7 Network.

As for "keeping up", there's not really anything to compare it to, except perhaps the French and German channels.

It is a hybrid of News, Education, "soft diplomacy" programs, Documentaries, Australia Dramas and of course the AFL.

This is most certainly a wide spectrum, much of it being content the ABC was required to carry, both under its charter and the deal with DFAT.

Now that has finished, it seems the way they have extended their news coverage especially by taking more from ABCNews24 and changed The World program into basically a 60 minutes bulletin with some commentary, is perhaps an indication as to where it might be heading - if the channel stays on air in some form, or another

I'd be happy if they put more into the online development and providing access to programs currently geo-blocked. But, one issue that needs to be addressed is the requirement to service local communities throughout Asia. Remember that once you get outside the major population centres in many countries, the internet speed/quality is not much better than dial-up

[Tomtomtom69]

This is the most spiteful ,small minded decision this terrible Australian government has made, so far.

As an expat I have really enjoyed not just the AFL, but also the excellent news and current affairs coverage of the region.

Now that Tony and his band of merry-men and one woman (the person who sadly signed the death certificate, when she withdrew the DFAT support for the channel) have destroyed one of the few media platforms in the region where one could get fair and knowledgeable coverage of events such the troubles in Thailand and the recent Indonesian elections, all we have left are strange, incorrect and often lazy reports on CNN and BBC.

More, by showing many of the better quality dramas, and popular series, along with Playschool, Bananas etc., our opportunities to show a side of Oz most around her don't see will be greatly diminished.

Shame on Tony Abbott, Shame on Joe Hockey and shame on Julie Bishop.

Pay back time is coming...

Like the Liberal Party with the likes of Bishop, Hockey and Abbott care about Australia, the Australian economy or it's people. They don't.

Let's look at some of the damage (mostly with negative economic consequences towards Australia) that has taken place under the current government, in office for less than a year now:

Julie Bishop - she immediately parroted the US response to the Thai coup (looking for some extra approval from the US perhaps?) and rather than taking a more measured, understanding diplomatic approach she decided to bad mouth what happened without any regards to how this may be perceived here. Sure, there is an FTA known as TAFTA in place between the two countries and strong economic and social ties have been in place for decades. But all it takes is one foul-mouthed politician to damage a relationship, which may take months or years to repair. Although politicians are not diplomats, when it comes to international relations, there is a diplomatic way of dealing with things and Bishop obviously doesn't know what diplomatic language is.

Hockey. What a shameful budget. So while just a couple of years ago everyone was saying how lucky Australia was (both inside and outside of Australia), taxes were lowered almost every financial year for a while, there was the mining boom, the economy did quite well during the economic slump of 2008-9 and was one of the few advanced economies not to go into recession and now he delivered a budget that seemingly borders on austerity, with the most absurd proposal being to charge a co-payment fee to see a doctor. The decline of free medical care is nigh and it's not that the amount proposed ($7 per visit) would be a fortune for most people, but rather the principal. And yes, $7 per visit could be prove to be quite expensive and budget breaking for say an unemployed, elderly, disabled or other unfortunate person that happens to have some medical issues and needs to regularly see a doctor. Those costs could add up greatly over time. And as if universities don't charge enough, but giving them the green light to charge even more and withdrawing federal funding in a number of key areas is another negative outcome.

Abbott. Overseeing thousands of job losses in a number of industries and not doing anything about it. Just all talk, talk, talk. He certainly doesn't walk the walk, he only talks the talk.

Although Russia is currently no friend to the west, but being one of the strongest critics of Russia in response to the unfortunate MH17 tragedy, blaming Russia for what happened so soon after it happened (without knowing the full story or at least, taking a more measured approach) has cost Australian agricultural, dairy and processed food industries hundreds of millions of dollars in lost markets because now Russia has also decided to ban Australian agricultural product imports, the same as it has done with EU and US imports. I think that given the many losses Australia's economy has recently suffered, this is just a further nail in the coffin and is largely self-inflicted. On the other hand, maybe "doing business with the enemy" is not in anyone's interest but unless the relationship between Russia and Australia deteriorated to such a low level, it is still viable to have a separate political and economic relationship with a country if you are tactful. However, obviously Abbott is not known for being tactful. He talks out of his *** before he gathers his thoughts, not realising the damage that may be done if you don't think before you speak.

As I've mentioned in my other reply, but the axing of the Australia Channel, which was a way of showcasing Australia's uniqueness, in a way even promoting Australian businesses/industries and of course culture, in the form of such shows as Landline, Luke Nguyen's culinary adventures, Playschool, and many, many more, some of which are just for entertainment but others clearly show Australian wineries, restaurants, processed food products, tourism operators/tourist sites, hotels and many other types of businesses, both directly and indirectly to a potential audience of well over a billion in east and south-east Asia has now been lost unless a replacement is soon offered.

[Tomtomtom69]

Struth, how am I gunna get my daily home and away fix now ?

It sucks I know, but maybe it's time to start learning German so you can watch DW world's Tagesschau or perhaps Chinese so you can watch some biased and "informative" historically inaccurate documentaries about how China claims it won the 1979 border war with Vietnam or how the "Vietnamese savages" enroached on "Chinese territory", i.e. the Spratly islands in the 70s over on CCTV 4.

[joncl]

Humphy B. Bear, never worried about the politics of it all, nor should we in this thread about their closure as it is the politics that is closing it.

[Spoonman]

Struth, how am I gunna get my daily home and away fix now ?

It sucks I know, but maybe it's time to start learning German so you can watch DW world's Tagesschau or perhaps Chinese so you can watch some biased and "informative" historically inaccurate documentaries about how China claims it won the 1979 border war with Vietnam or how the "Vietnamese savages" enroached on "Chinese territory", i.e. the Spratly islands in the 70s over on CCTV 4.

I like some of the german stuff, they make some awesome XXX fetish movies... no need to learn the lingo though as I watch em with the volume turned down.

[samran]

I've always found abc international product an inferior service. It was nice for a bit in the 90s when overseas and it was a good link home but the channel hasn't kept up with competition and it is a pretty much last choice for where I'd go on anything australia wise from a Entertainment and news perspective. On demand is the future and iView is a superior product by far.

They'd be better off spending the 20 million a year they use now to sort out rights issues and broadcasting abc news 24 on the satellite, and freeing up access to iView. Better use of money I reckon.

Not sure I agree with it being of "inferior quality".

Also back in the 90s the channel was run by the 7 Network.

As for "keeping up", there's not really anything to compare it to, except perhaps the French and German channels.

It is a hybrid of News, Education, "soft diplomacy" programs, Documentaries, Australia Dramas and of course the AFL.

This is most certainly a wide spectrum, much of it being content the ABC was required to carry, both under its charter and the deal with DFAT.

Now that has finished, it seems the way they have extended their news coverage especially by taking more from ABCNews24 and changed The World program into basically a 60 minutes bulletin with some commentary, is perhaps an indication as to where it might be heading - if the channel stays on air in some form, or another

I'd be happy if they put more into the online development and providing access to programs currently geo-blocked. But, one issue that needs to be addressed is the requirement to service local communities throughout Asia. Remember that once you get outside the major population centres in many countries, the internet speed/quality is not much better than dial-up

when I say inferior quality, I meant that it didn't really show the full gammet of what was available on the ABC proper. And what you get on the current channel compares poorly with other satellite offerings. Al Jezera, BBC, Bloomberg etc.

As for soft diplomacy - no one watches it apart from expats who wanted their AFL/NRL. It wasn't even put on True Visions so I don't think even educated Thai's wanted it. And you get some crap on True Visions which says alot for where ABC stood in the pecking order.

I'm not sure somone up country in any asian country is really watching it apart from expats. Which sucks if you are an expat upcountry with a crappy internet connection.

Most locals up bush can't really afford the satellite dish you need. And if they could, they werent going to watch it. So for me the soft diplomacy argument, while a good aim, was always a stretch. Old fashioned as it sounds, I reckon scholarships etc are better forms of soft diplomacy.

[RegularReader]

I've always found abc international product an inferior service. It was nice for a bit in the 90s when overseas and it was a good link home but the channel hasn't kept up with competition and it is a pretty much last choice for where I'd go on anything australia wise from a Entertainment and news perspective. On demand is the future and iView is a superior product by far.

They'd be better off spending the 20 million a year they use now to sort out rights issues and broadcasting abc news 24 on the satellite, and freeing up access to iView. Better use of money I reckon.

Not sure I agree with it being of "inferior quality".

Also back in the 90s the channel was run by the 7 Network.

As for "keeping up", there's not really anything to compare it to, except perhaps the French and German channels.

It is a hybrid of News, Education, "soft diplomacy" programs, Documentaries, Australia Dramas and of course the AFL.

This is most certainly a wide spectrum, much of it being content the ABC was required to carry, both under its charter and the deal with DFAT.

Now that has finished, it seems the way they have extended their news coverage especially by taking more from ABCNews24 and changed The World program into basically a 60 minutes bulletin with some commentary, is perhaps an indication as to where it might be heading - if the channel stays on air in some form, or another

I'd be happy if they put more into the online development and providing access to programs currently geo-blocked. But, one issue that needs to be addressed is the requirement to service local communities throughout Asia. Remember that once you get outside the major population centres in many countries, the internet speed/quality is not much better than dial-up

when I say inferior quality, I meant that it didn't really show the full gammet of what was available on the ABC proper. And what you get on the current channel compares poorly with other satellite offerings. Al Jezera, BBC, Bloomberg etc.

As for soft diplomacy - no one watches it apart from expats who wanted their AFL/NRL. It wasn't even put on True Visions so I don't think even educated Thai's wanted it. And you get some crap on True Visions which says alot for where ABC stood in the pecking order.

I'm not sure somone up country in any asian country is really watching it apart from expats. Which sucks if you are an expat upcountry with a crappy internet connection.

Most locals up bush can't really afford the satellite dish you need. And if they could, they werent going to watch it. So for me the soft diplomacy argument, while a good aim, was always a stretch. Old fashioned as it sounds, I reckon scholarships etc are better forms of soft diplomacy.

We live in Udon Thani and apart from maybe a few other crazy Aussies, and a couple of bars in town, what you say about Thais and the dish is true. However, at my mother in law's house (also in Udon) they used to subscribe to a local cable company who carried the Australia Network.

But, let's not get bogged down in Thai viewing habits. They are rather unique.

I doubt an Australian Drama - with so many words and subplots - such as "A Place To Call Home", or even the "Rafters" (both could be regarded as "quality" soaps, I guess), would be able to compete with the melodramatic clichéd story lines, side ways looks of the about to be ravaged, damsels in distress and the ever present slap stick maids of the Lakhon series.

But there is an audience apart from expats in many other places, such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and India, as well as in the Pacific region.

More, the ABC was beginning to develop an interest for its children's and educational programs in China.

AFL is sport - not the sort of "soft diplomacy" programming I was referring to - no matter how much I enjoy watching it. I was meaning the soaps, such as Home and Away, the cooking shows and some of the adventure and nature programs.

I think under the pressures from pollies and the charter requirements, they did a fairly good job of fitting a lot of square pegs into round holes.

Change it. Make it more relevant to the region by all means. But. don't destroy the work of the last 15 years or so, because of some petty polly ego centric carry on like we have seen.

[Tomtomtom69]

I've always found abc international product an inferior service. It was nice for a bit in the 90s when overseas and it was a good link home but the channel hasn't kept up with competition and it is a pretty much last choice for where I'd go on anything australia wise from a Entertainment and news perspective. On demand is the future and iView is a superior product by far.

They'd be better off spending the 20 million a year they use now to sort out rights issues and broadcasting abc news 24 on the satellite, and freeing up access to iView. Better use of money I reckon.

Not sure I agree with it being of "inferior quality".

Also back in the 90s the channel was run by the 7 Network.

As for "keeping up", there's not really anything to compare it to, except perhaps the French and German channels.

It is a hybrid of News, Education, "soft diplomacy" programs, Documentaries, Australia Dramas and of course the AFL.

This is most certainly a wide spectrum, much of it being content the ABC was required to carry, both under its charter and the deal with DFAT.

Now that has finished, it seems the way they have extended their news coverage especially by taking more from ABCNews24 and changed The World program into basically a 60 minutes bulletin with some commentary, is perhaps an indication as to where it might be heading - if the channel stays on air in some form, or another

I'd be happy if they put more into the online development and providing access to programs currently geo-blocked. But, one issue that needs to be addressed is the requirement to service local communities throughout Asia. Remember that once you get outside the major population centres in many countries, the internet speed/quality is not much better than dial-up

when I say inferior quality, I meant that it didn't really show the full gammet of what was available on the ABC proper. And what you get on the current channel compares poorly with other satellite offerings. Al Jezera, BBC, Bloomberg etc.

As for soft diplomacy - no one watches it apart from expats who wanted their AFL/NRL. It wasn't even put on True Visions so I don't think even educated Thai's wanted it. And you get some crap on True Visions which says alot for where ABC stood in the pecking order.

I'm not sure somone up country in any asian country is really watching it apart from expats. Which sucks if you are an expat upcountry with a crappy internet connection.

Most locals up bush can't really afford the satellite dish you need. And if they could, they werent going to watch it. So for me the soft diplomacy argument, while a good aim, was always a stretch. Old fashioned as it sounds, I reckon scholarships etc are better forms of soft diplomacy.

Maybe, but I thought that the "soft diplomacy" approach did work with some educated Filipinos, Singaporeans, Malaysians and others getting some amusing entertainment in the form of "Parliment Question Time", which to them was like an intellectual comedy show, with politicians ripping each other apart using (to non-Australians) such colourful language as "what a bunch of galahs".

As for it not being on Truevisions, well, maybe the Thais who subscribe to it are more interested in entertainment channels (often for their children), such as movie channels like HBO, Star Movies, or children's channels such as Disney, Cartoon Newtork and perhaps even Natgeo and Discovery Channel (both of which have some genuinely educational shows/documentaries) rather than the Australia Channel or even DW TV, TV5, CNN, BBC or CCTV etc. (even if some of these channels are offered).

Not sure which providers hotels in Thailand are partnering up with, but I've been able to watch the Australia Channel in hotels ranging from Centara Mae Sot to hotels in Khon Kaen and Chiang Mai, so there has traditionally been good coverage so far. Similar story in neighboring countries - plenty of hotels in Cambodia, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos and Vietnam with the Australia Channel.

I'm not sure if these other international broadcasters consider their programming in foreign countries to be a form of soft diplomacy, perhaps they do or perhaps they don't. But in an indirect way at least, I feel it is. Either way it's a loss for Aussies and anyone who was interested in watching Australian programming abroad.

As for Al-Jazeera and the BBC, I get the former here but rarely watch it. It's not bad, but as a news channel you'll quickly realise that recurring news broadcasts become very dull and monotonous after just an hour or so of watching. There are the occasional documentaries, but for the most part it's repeating the same news over and over again or an in-depth analysis on what's happening in the Middle East, a region of the world not particularly relevant for me. As for the BBC, well, their programming is much more boring and with less variety than anything the Australia Network has been able to show. Although again, since the BBC is a news channel you can't expect much variety in terms of programming, it's just basically news and news related stories. The main international news channel I watch is Channel News Asia, which is Singaporean. Their Asian-centric programming is exactly what is relevant and interesting for me, but again, you can't watch it all day, you watch it for the news and maybe a half hour documentary or something and then switch to another channel.

[sustento]

As an aside 'BBC World' is absolute &lt;deleted&gt; compared to the breadth of programming that's available from the BBC in the UK. You can listen to BBC radio without needing to mess around.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4