Full stream ahead
Labor’s streaming quotas have handed local producers a long-promised win. But behind the scenes, they have set the stage for a potential showdown.
When Labor swept to power in 2022, Arts Minister Tony Burke wasted little time promising local screen producers that global streaming giants would soon have to make minimum investments in Australian content.
Late on Thursday night — in the dying hours of the parliamentary year — Burke delivered on that, after cutting a deal with the Greens that will see the ABC receive an extra $50 million over three years.
All up, the bill is expected to lock in investment in the ballpark of the $341.5 million that flowed to the local screen industry from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Stan and Paramount in the 2023–24 financial year. It comes with serious penalties for those who fail to comply.
Now, the streamers and their local counterparts are watching closely for the other shoe to drop. The question is what, if anything, the Trump administration will do about it.
