ABC doing ‘all the heavy lifting’ as commercial networks abandon local kids’ TV drama

Just $1.75m spent on genre across free-to-air networks as advocates warn of ‘broader erosion’ of cultural investment

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Australian commercial television networks have all but given up on creating local children’s drama, advocates say, with just $1.75m spent on the genre across all commercial free-to-air networks in 2023-24.

But that’s $1.75m more than the previous year, according to the latest report card by the communications regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma).

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