ABC's outgoing managing director Brian Johns said Saturday the ABC had approached Telstra several months ago about the proposed licensing deal, as part of a push to expand its online presence and beef up revenue. "This proposed agreement is an important opportunity for the ABC to significantly increase its revenue, at the same time as preserving the integrity of the ABC's own Internet sites," he said. "We want our quality online material to be available to as many Internet users as possible, and ensure that the ABC has access to new and emerging platforms for media distribution."
Mr Johns said there was no prospect of advertising being run on the ABC's own website, but if the board ever approved ads on third-party sites it wanted to be eligible for a share of the action. Opposition communications spokesman Stephen Smith said the ABC would not have to seek commercial funding if it was properly resourced. "There's no doubt the ABC has been driven to this by the government's budget cuts and the refusal of the government to give the ABC adequate resources and funding certainty for the new digital era," he told reporters in Perth.
He said he also feared the ABC's independent newsgathering would be compromised by deals with commercial operators to provide tailored services. But an ABC spokeswoman said the deal was no different to the ten other Internet distribution deals the broadcaster had in place - "just bigger". "If we sell `Mother and Son' to a commercial network, they run ads and factor that advertising revenue into the price they pay us," she said.
The only tailoring involved in the deal would be of format, to allow ABC content to be read on mobile phone screens using new Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technology, the spokeswoman said. A Telstra spokeswoman said discussions were at an advanced stage and the company was excited about the deal's potential. "We are really looking forward to doing this work together because our two organisations have a lot to offer each other," she said. The ABC board last year rejected a proposal from board member Michael Kroger to float its online arm.
