Although Australia is about 9760 miles from the US (about a
21 hour plane ride), their forms of entertainment are very similar to America’s
especially in television.
TV remains number one
source for entertainment in Australia
The citizens of Australia enjoy similar forms of
entertainment as citizens in other countries.
Although the Internet and music are common forms of entertainment,
television still is Australians first choice.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, 63 percent of Australians
preferred watching TV for entertainment.
The Internet and music followed behind in that order. This same study, which was performed by
Deloitte, showed that 64 percent of citizens in Australia prefer watching
television live despite the fact new inventions such as digital video recorders
(DVRs) have come into the picture.
Although it seems that the TV industry is thriving, funding from
advertising might be in trouble.
Research has displayed that even though the citizens are watching TV,
they are doing other things at the same time.
Most of the activity that occurs while watching TV happens on electronic
mobile devices. This may cause a problem for audience-dependent television
networks. Also, advertisers may use this
information and find other ways to reach specific audiences.
Public vs. commercial
television both dominate Australian TV
Sports, news, game shows, and homemade dramas are the genres
with the top ratings in Australia. These
types of show can be shown on a variety of networks. Like many places around
the world, Australia has both public and commercial television. According to BBC, there are three national
commercial television networks that dominate in the country. They include Seven Network, Nine Network, and
Network Ten. In addition to the
commercial networks, there are three major public networks in Australia:
National Indigenous Television (NITV), Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), and
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
National Indigenous Television is the newest public broadcasting
network. It has been on TV since
2007. This network is special because
most of the employees are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
(indigenous Australians). According to
their website, “NITV informs, entertains and educates its Indigenous and non
Indigenous audiences with a rich palate of innovative, unique content. We tell stories and showcase the rich
diversity of culture, languages and creative talent from all over
Australia.” Popular shows on National
Indigenous Television include NITV News, Grounded, Go Lingo and the Barefoot
Sports Show. The Special BroadcastingService launched on October 24, 1980. The
network is on the radio, TV, and online.
SBS mainly broadcasts in other languages besides English as stated by an
article by BBC. On their website, it
states, “Through SBS Radio, SBS Television and SBS Online, we tell the stories
of humankind in more languages that any other broadcaster in the world; at last
count, more than 68 languages on radio, more than 60 on television and more
than 50 online.” The Special
Broadcasting Service shows non-English films, news in foreign languages, less
mainstream sports, and popular American shows such as South Park. Lastly, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
has been on the air since November 6, 1956.
ABC runs national and local public radio and television. A lot of the shows come from British
broadcasting content. Popular content shown on the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation includes local and national news, mainstream sports, and kids’
programming. According to ABC’s website,
74% of all Australians use their services each via television, radio, and
online. Also, ABC TV News reaches 7.6
million Australians each week. Digital TV is also available in the country
through satellite and cable.
American influences
visibly shown in Australian entertainment
You would be surprised by the influence the United States
has on the entertainment industry in Australia.
I was shocked to see that many television shows have been adapted in
their country. Australia’s Next Top
Model, The Biggest Loser, and Australian Idol are a few examples.
Also, American influences are shown in movies to my surprise. My assumption was that movies shown in United States movie theaters would not be shown in movie theaters around the world. Of course I was wrong. Last week, Taken 2 led the Australian box office. Not too far behind, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted was second. Australians tend not to support movies created by their fellow citizens. According to Screen Australia, films under Australian creative control made $42.9 million in 2011, which only makes up 3.9 percent of the total Australian box office.
The Australian entertainment industry has been successful in sending its productions in English-speaking countries. The good news is if you are planning to visit Australia anytime soon you won’t feel out of place as far as entertainment is concerned.
2 comments:
I had no idea how similar the Australian culture was to our own. In your post, you did a great job of establishing the similarities and informing your readers. I also did some research and found that most people think it is terrible that the Australians depend so much on American influence for their entertainment industry. On the website "Americanization of Australian Culture" the author, Andrew Guild depicts how poor Australia’s entertainment economy is due to "Americanization". Guild states, "The Americanization of Australia's culture is a sad and terrible thing. It is a process whereby ordinary Australians are bombarded every day with images of American lifestyle, so much that it merges almost unnoticed into their own lifestyle. It is a process whereby our home-grown entertainment industry is overwhelmed by the enormous powerhouse of the American economy, with drastic effects upon the modern Australian nation." Guild hates the influence of America in his home culture and is embarrassed that Australia has to depend so much on the United States. He also despises the US for partaking in practice dumping in which American businesses sell TV shows to the Australian TV networks for below-cost prices. This causes fewer local productions to be created thus less Australian shows are seen on TV.
I thought the idea of National Indigenous Television was very unique and interesting, so I decided to research it a little more. I found that the network was “absorbed into SBS on July 1 [2012]” in an article called “Mixed feelings over SBS absorbing indigenous TV” (www.theaustralian.com.au). The main reason for the move is that NITV will now be available to over 23 million people, instead of the 7.5 million it used to reach. The hope is that more people will become educated on the indigenous people, but the downside is that SBS has not been a multicultural channel in the past, so it could be tough for the aboriginals to have the same effect.
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