BANFF – The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and CBC have announced a new creative and commercial collaboration aimed at enhancing the reach and impact of the broadcasters’ content across both countries.
The two national public broadcasters said Monday at the Banff Media Fest they have signed a three-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) to co-develop English-language drama, comedy, factual, children’s and podcast content to try and maximize the value of their public funding for audiences. The deal will also provide further opportunities for co-financing and format sales of drama and children’s content.
“At a time when public broadcasters are competing with the best content in the world, partnerships like this will ensure we can nurture and develop more distinct storytelling and co-finance ambitious projects with greater global reach,” said Catherine Tait, president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada in the press release.
“In a world of global media giants, the outstanding and accessible content produced by like-minded public broadcasters is more important than ever,” added David Anderson, managing director, ABC, in the same release. “This collaboration between the ABC and CBC will drive our limited resources further, leveraging our strengths to create and share distinctive local content that connects with audiences at home and overseas.”
The MOU’s initiatives will include, as per the release:
- Children’s content: Co-development of children’s programs across television, audio and digital services, including two new proposed TV projects for 2 to 6-year-olds and 8 to 14-year-olds, and ABC’s acquisition of CBC Kids’ original commission Big Blue as well as CBC co-productions Kiri and Lou and the upcoming Sinking Ship sci-fi epic Endlings.
- Drama, comedy and factual content: Collaboration on comedy, drama and factual programs through co-development, finance or acquisitions that promote the core values of the public broadcasters.
- Educational content: Co-development of a media literacy initiative to equip schools and educators across both countries with the analytical skills and tools to combat misinformation and disinformation.
- Audio content: Expansion of radio program exchanges between ABC RN and CBC Radio, plus the sharing of creative ideas and expertise between ABC Audio Studios and CBC Podcasts to create new podcasts.
- News content: Sharing of technology and tools to improve tracking and verification of the accuracy of news content.
- Local and regional communities: Collaboration on initiatives to better serve local and rural communities, including local journalism projects.
- Employee exchange: To ensure the success of such initiatives, the ABC and CBC will facilitate employee exchanges where appropriate and feasible.
The new MOU will build on an existing relationship which includes CBC’s acquisition of the broadcast rights to various ABC programs, such as its original series You Can’t Ask That. CBC’s Canadian version of the award-winning format launches on CBC Gem this month.
The broadcasters also already have a strong history of sharing audio content such as CBC Podcasts Alone: A Love Story and Someone Knows Something and ABC podcasts Trace and Ladies and We Need To Talk. With more than 20 million downloads each month, the CBC is Canada’s number-one podcaster. The ABC is Australia’s leading podcast producer, adds the release.
