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Programming: Public broadcasters: ABC: Hours broadcast

Hours of local and imported programming broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

Next update December 2010

2007/08–2008/09 | 2005/06–2006/07 | 2000/01–2004/05 | 1996/97–1999/00

2007/08–2008/09

These tables show the number of hours of local and imported programming broadcast annually by the ABC in each program category, and the share this represents of total hours broadcast.

In 2008/09, imported children’s programming again recorded the largest share of broadcast hours on both ABC1 and ABC2 with 17 per cent and 27.6 per cent respectively. This was followed by local entertainment (14 per cent) and local current affairs (12.6 per cent) on ABC1 and local news (10.6 per cent) on ABC2.

On ABC1, the largest increases in local hours broadcast were recorded by drama, rising from 56 to 365 hours, and comedy, up from 14 to 41 hours. Similarly, on ABC2, local comedy went from 4 to 31 hours, and local drama rose from 67 to 141 hours. For the third consecutive year, Australian-produced news on ABC2 continued to gain hours, going from 67 hours in 2005/06 to 655 hours in 2008/09.

Imported programs on ABC2 have experienced steady growth over the four years since the channel’s launch, from 1,804 hours in 2005/06 to 3,518 in 2008/09, while local programs have fallen from 4,364 hours to 2,687 over the corresponding period. Almost all program types, local and imported, experienced significant fluctuations during this time.

Type of programming	No. hours broadcast
	2007/08				2008/09
	ABC1		ABC2		ABC1		ABC2
	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.
Arts and culture	197	149	163	131	153	151	134	260
Children’s	530	1,426	187	1,621	476	1,490	295	1,711
Comedy	14	113	4	192	41	87	31	243
Current affairs	1,093	1	969	0	1,105	1	312	0
Documentaries	183	389	180	323	185	381	60	365
Drama	56	676	67	77	365	559	141	210
Education	134	66	23	0	148	53	0	0
Entertainment	1,122	111	465	318	1,225	92	389	309
Factual	332	65	521	100	372	45	232	252
Features			39	0			4	0
Indigenous	65	0	34	0	59	0	23	0
Movies	4	934	14	168	2	613	6	159
Natural history and environment	20	81	22	3	27	73	4	2
News	366	0	195	0	393	0	655	0
Religion and ethics	34	60	42	0	27	58	32	0
Science and technology	34	4	74	2	40	0	22	7
Sport	314	0	248	0	305	0	134	0
Other¹	211	0	409	0	234	0	213	0
Total	4,709	4,075	3,656	2,935	5,157	3,603	2,687	3,518

Type of programming¹	Share of total hours broadcast
	2007/08				2008/09
	ABC1		ABC2		ABC1		ABC2
	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.
Arts and culture	2.2%	1.7%	2.5%	2.0%	1.7%	1.7%	2.2%	4.2%
Children’s	6.0%	16.3%	2.8%	24.6%	5.4%	17.0%	4.8%	27.6%
Comedy	0.2%	1.3%	0.1%	2.9%	0.5%	1.0%	0.5%	3.9%
Current affairs	12.5%	<0.1%	14.7%	0.0%	12.6%	0.0%	5.0%	0.0%
Documentaries	2.1%	4.4%	2.7%	4.9%	2.1%	4.3%	1.0%	5.9%
Drama	0.6%	7.7%	1.0%	1.2%	4.2%	6.4%	2.3%	3.4%
Education	1.5%	0.8%	0.3%	0.0%	1.7%	0.6%	0.0%	0.0%
Entertainment	12.8%	1.3%	7.1%	4.8%	14.0%	1.1%	6.3%	5.0%
Factual	3.8%	0.7%	7.9%	1.5%	4.2%	0.5%	3.7%	4.1%
Features			0.6%	0.0%			0.1%	0.0%
Indigenous	0.7%	0.0%	0.5%	0.0%	0.7%	0.0%	0.4%	0.0%
Movies	0.4%	10.7%	0.2%	2.5%	0.0%	7.0%	0.1%	2.6%
Natural history and environment	0.2%	0.9%	0.3%	<0.1%	0.3%	0.8%	0.1%	0.0%
News	4.2%	0.0%	3.0%	0.0%	4.5%	0.0%	10.6%	0.0%
Religion and ethics	0.4%	0.7%	0.6%	0.0%	0.3%	0.7%	0.5%	0.0%
Science and technology	0.4%	0.4%	1.1%	<0.1%	0.5%	0.0%	0.4%	0.1%
Sport	3.6%	0.0%	3.8%	0.0%	3.5%	0.0%	2.2%	0.0%
Other²	2.4%	0.0%	6.2%	0.0%	2.7%	0.0%	3.4%	0.0%
Total	53.8%	46.5%	55.5%	44.5%	58.9%	41.1%	43.3%	56.7%

Source: Compiled by Screen Australia from Australian Broadcasting Corporation annual reports.

Notes:
Figures reflect hours broadcast from the Sydney transmitter, comprising national and local New South Wales transmissions. Figures may differ slightly in other states and territories as a result of varying levels of local content. Hours have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
Includes repeats.
1. Over the years some categories identified by the ABC have changed, added or dropped. Blank cells in the table indicate where a category has been dropped, or has not yet begun.
2. ‘Other’ comprises program announcements, promotions, ABC announcements and community service announcements.

2005/06–2006/07

Type of programming¹	No. hours broadcast
	2005/06				2006/07
	ABC1		ABC2²		ABC1		ABC2²
	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.
Arts and culture	155	99	161	240	209	107	137	204
Business							11	0
Children’s	578	1,455	257	1,409	508	1,432	184	1,537
Comedy	34	115	2	0	21	118	4	19
Current affairs	895	0	1,454	0	1,094	1	1,373	0
Documentaries	141	335	163	49	177	411	294	65
Drama	127	715	0	0	46	651	0	0
Education	154	87	56	0	132	67	34	0
Entertainment	1,124	48	303	0	1,169	151	461	229
Factual	215	117	697	70	323	62	616	46
Features							72	0
Indigenous	66	0	47	0	62	0	48	0
Movies	14	1,048	0	0	5	762	2	56
Natural history and environment	20	68	13	5	15	87	23	3
News	358	0	67	20	365	0	144	0
Religion and ethics	30	71	76	0	28	84	55	0
Science and technology	34	4	82	0	37	4	94	24
Sport	284	20	853	0	371	13	1,000	7
Other³	349	0	133	11	244	0	84	0
Total	4,577	4,182	4,364	1,804	4,808	3,951	4,634	2,189

Type of programming¹	Share of total hours broadcast
	2005/06				2006/07
	ABC1		ABC2²		ABC1		ABC2²
	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.
Arts and culture	1.8%	1.1%	2.6%	3.9%	2.4%	1.2%	2.0%	3.0%
Business							0.2%	0%
Children’s	6.6%	16.6%	4.2%	22.8%	5.8%	16.3%	2.7%	22.5%
Comedy	0.4%	1.3%	0%	0%	0.2%	1.3%	0.1%	0.3%
Current affairs	10.2%	0%	23.6%	0%	12.5%	0%	20.1%	0%
Documentaries	1.6%	3.8%	2.6%	0.8%	2.0%	4.7%	4.3%	1.0%
Drama	1.4%	8.2%	0%	0%	0.5%	7.4%	0%	0%
Education	1.8%	1.0%	0.9%	0%	1.5%	0.8%	0.5%	0%
Entertainment	12.8%	0.5%	4.9%	0%	13.3%	1.7%	6.8%	3.4%
Factual	2.5%	1.3%	11.3%	1.1%	3.7%	0.7%	9.0%	0.7%
Features							1.1%	0%
Indigenous	0.8%	0%	0.8%	0%	0.7%	0%	0.7%	0%
Movies	0.2%	12.0%	0%	0%	0.1%	8.7%	0%	0.8%
Natural history and environment	0.2%	0.8%	0.2%	0.1%	0.2%	1.0%	0.3%	0%
News	4.1%	0%	1.1%	0.3%	4.2%	0%	2.1%	0%
Religion and ethics	0.3%	0.8%	1.2%	0%	0.3%	1.0%	0.8%	0%
Science and technology	0.4%	0.1%	1.3%	0%	0.4%	0.1%	1.4%	0.4%
Sport	3.2%	0.2%	13.8%	0%	4.2%	0.1%	14.7%	0.1%
Other³	4.0%	0%	2.2%	0.2%	2.8%	0%	1.2%	0%
Total	52.3%	47.7%	70.8%	29.2%	54.9%	45.1%	67.9%	32.1%

Source: Compiled by the Australian Film Commission from Australian Broadcasting Corporation annual reports.

Notes:
ABC2 – a digital only, free-to-air TV channel – started broadcasting in 2005 with the first full year of results available for 200506.
ABC’s ‘main channel’ was officially named ABC1 in February 2008.
Figures reflect hours broadcast from the Sydney transmitter, comprising national and local New South Wales transmissions. Figures may differ slightly in other states and territories as a result of varying levels of local content. Hours have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
Includes repeats.
1. Over the years some categories have changed or been added or dropped. Blank cells in the table indicate where a category has been dropped, or has not yet begun.
2. Figures as reported in the ABC annual report in 2006/07. These breakdowns are different to total hours reported for each genre: see Programming: Public broadcasters: ABC: Australian content.
3. ‘Other’ comprises program announcements, promotions, ABC announcements and community service announcements.

2000/01–2004/05

Type of programming¹	No. hours broadcast
	2000/01		2001/02		2002/03		2003/04		2004/05
	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.
Arts and culture	129	187	178	209	244	90	154	122	178	127
Children’s	499	1,247	431	1,214	517	1,260	418	1,465	548	1,436
Comedy	82	176	51	113	26	156	40	201	22	169
Current affairs	823	0	817	0	1032	0	845	0	848	0
Documentaries	230	333	228	320	165	312	119	413	140	301
Drama	349	342	387	429	192	700	133	771	163	688
Education	795	361	485	261	174	155	155	155	171	137
Entertainment	987	17	992	45	867	58	1,048	41	1,104	60
Factual	210	23	269	64	311	136	274	59	192	154
Indigenous	10	0	26	0	40	0	42	0	65	0
Movies	10	748	32	1,115	21	1,185	8	1,084	5	993
Natural history and environment			12	21	2	35	12	55	19	91
News	285	0	295	0	348	0	330	0	353	0
Religion and ethics	34	66	46	68	28	68	45	89	39	76
Science and technology	19	0	34	22	37	6	27	0	35	4
Sport	415	87	242	23	208	5	224	0	283	0
Other²	298	0	331	0	383	0	455	0	358	0
Total	5,175	3,585	4856	3,904	4,594	4,166	4,329	4,456	4,524	4,236

Type of programming¹	Share of total hours broadcast
	2000/01		2001/02		2002/03		2003/04		2004/05
	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.
Arts and culture	1.5%	2.1%	2.0%	2.4%	2.8%	1.0%	1.8%	1.4%	2.0%	1.4%
Children’s	5.7%	14.2%	4.9%	13.9%	5.9%	14.4%	4.8%	16.7%	6.3%	16.4%
Comedy	0.9%	2.0%	0.6%	1.3%	0.3%	1.8%	0.5%	2.3%	0.3%	1.9%
Current affairs	9.4%	0%	9.3%	0%	11.8%	0%	9.6%	0%	9.7%	0%
Documentaries	2.6%	3.8%	2.6%	3.7%	1.9%	3.6%	1.4%	4.7%	1.6%	3.4%
Drama	4.0%	3.9%	4.4%	4.9%	2.2%	8.0%	1.5%	8.8%	1.9%	7.9%
Education	9.1%	4.1%	5.5%	3.0%	2%	1.8%	1.8%	1.8%	2.0%	1.6%
Entertainment	11.3%	0.2%	11.3%	0.5%	9.9%	0.7%	11.9%	0.5%	12.6%	0.7%
Factual	2.4%	0.3%	3.1%	0.7%	3.6%	1.6%	3.1%	0.7%	2.2%	1.8%
Indigenous	0.1%	0%	0.3%	0%	0.5%	0%	0.5%	0%	0.7%	0%
Movies	0.1%	8.5%	0.4%	12.7%	0.2%	13.5%	0.1%	12.3%	0.1%	11.3%
Natural history and environment			0.1%	0.2%	0%	0.4%	0.1%	0.6%	0.2%	1.0%
News	3.3%	0%	3.4%	0%	4.0%	0%	3.8%	0%	4.0%	0%
Religion and ethics	0.4%	0.8%	0.5%	0.8%	0.3%	0.8%	0.5%	1.0%	0.4%	0.9%
Science and technology	0.2%	0%	0.4%	0.3%	0.4%	0.1%	0.3%	0%	0.4%	0%
Sport	4.7%	1.0%	2.8%	0.3%	2.4%	0.1%	2.6%	0%	3.2%	0%
Other²	3.4%	0%	3.8%	0%	4.4%	0%	5.2%	0%	4.1%	0%
Total	59.1%	40.9%	55.4%	44.6%	52.4%	47.6%	49.3%	50.7%	51.6%	48.4%

Source: Compiled by the Australian Film Commission from Australian Broadcasting Corporation annual reports.

Notes:
Figures are for total programming from the Sydney transmitter. Exact minutes are calculated throughout the year; totals here are rounded to the nearest hour and, as a result, the sum of hours in each category may not equal total hours.
Includes repeats.
1. Over the years some categories have changed or been added or dropped. Blank cells in the table indicate where a category has been dropped, or has not yet begun.
2. ‘Other’ comprises program announcements, promotions, ABC announcements and community service announcements.

1996/97–1999/00

Type of programming¹	No. hours broadcast
	1996/97		1997/98		1998/99		1999/00
	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.
Arts and culture	476	197	80	160	79	192	177	198
Children’s	457	1,053	430	1,200	511	1,219	459	1,327
Comedy	58	209	101	168	58	206	128	106
Current affairs	785	21	778	3	795	0	804	3
Documentaries	116	206	157	348	197	355	184	305
Drama	260	312	193	474	157	472	147	478
Education	819	757	792	691	807	607	865	499
Entertainment	697	93	947	52	986	50	941	56
Features	163	1	171	18	153	23	191	20
Movies	3	691	3	441	1	472	2	541
News	492	0	559	11	485	1	366	0
Religion and ethics	41	52	30	81	29	66	36	78
Science and technology					7	0	13	0
Sport	378	61	473	64	510	7	531	0
Other²	366	0	331	4	313	2	303	3
Total	5,111	3,653	5,045	3,715	5,088	3,672	5,146	3,614

Type of programming¹	Share of total hours broadcast
	1996/97		1997/98		1998/99		1999/00
	Local	Import	Local	Import.	Local	Import.	Local	Import.
Arts and culture	5.4%	2.2%	0.9%	1.8%	0.9%	2.2%	2.0%	2.3%
Children’s	5.2%	12.0%	4.9%	13.7%	5.8%	13.9%	5.2%	15.1%
Comedy	0.7%	2.4%	1.2%	1.9%	0.7%	2.4%	1.5%	1.2%
Current affairs	9.0%	0.2%	8.9%	<0.1%	9.1%	0%	9.2%	<0.1%
Documentaries	1.3%	2.4%	1.8%	4.0%	2.2%	4.1%	2.1%	3.5%
Drama	3.0%	3.6%	2.2%	5.4%	1.8%	5.4%	1.7%	5.5%
Education	9.3%	8.6%	9.0%	7.9%	9.2%	6.9%	9.9%	5.7%
Entertainment	8.0%	1.1%	10.8%	0.6%	11.3%	0.6%	10.7%	0.6%
Features	1.9%	<0.1%	2.0%	0.2%	1.7%	0.3%	2.2%	0.2%
Movies	0%	7.9%	<0.1%	5.0%	<0.1%	5.4%	<0.1%	6.2%
News	5.6%	0%	6.4%	0.1%	5.5%	<0.1%	4.2%	0%
Religion and ethics	0.5%	0.6%	0.3%	0.9%	0.3%	0.8%	0.4%	0.9%
Science and technology					0.1%	0%	0.1%	0%
Sport	4.3%	0.7%	5.4%	0.7%	5.8%	0.1%	6.1%	0%
Other²	4.2%	0%	3.8%	<0.1%	3.6%	<0.1%	3.5%	<0.1%
Total	58.3%	41.7%	57.6%	42.4%	58.1%	41.9%	58.7%	41.3%

Source: Compiled by the Australian Film Commission from Australian Broadcasting Corporation annual reports.

Public broadcasters:: ABC: Australian content