THE ABC and SBS broadcasters should relocate their Sydney headquarters to Newcastle. Sounds like a far-fetched idea, but we can use the highly successful BBC move from London to Salford, near Manchester in the UK, as the blueprint.
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By moving out of London, the BBC identified it could better serve audiences in the north, improve the quality of content for audiences across the UK, improve efficiency using new technology and ways of working and provide economic benefits to the region, including up to 15,000 jobs.
After the move, Salford City Council states on its website that it's already contributed $1.95 billion to Salford's economy, creating more than 25,000 jobs, and supporting almost 1000 businesses.
In the Abbott government's recently released Lewis efficiency review of the ABC and SBS public broadcasters, Mr Lewis identified substantial savings from back office matters, administration, and use of properties.
But rather than taking a leaf out of the BBC's book and look to the regions, he recommended selling off TV studios and moving ABC and SBS into the same Sydney headquarters, as well as scaling back regional TV and radio production.
Speak to local film-makers here and they'll say Australia's broadcast and film-making industry is very Sydney and Melbourne-centric.
Australian broadcasters are being disrupted by affordable, fast fixed and wireless broadband. Consumers can now view and experience programs and live sporting events at their own leisure, not bound by a free-to-air or pay TV programmer.
In other words, the old Australian film and TV distribution models are broken. Globally, free-to-air TV broadcasters and pay TV companies are being replaced by a new generation of streaming services such as Netflix, Apple TV and others.
This poses a huge threat to incumbent Australian free-to-air TV broadcasters and pay TV companies because of the popularity of shows like House Of Cards, commissioned by giants of the streaming world, and their growing hunger for signing up exclusive global content deals. And don't forget the low price.
Recently, Apple's chief executive Tim Cook announced an exclusive partnership to show HBO's back catalogue of TV shows, movies, and original programming, including popular shows such as Game of Thrones, Girls, The Sopranos, Sex and the City, and The Wire.
All you need is a good broadband connection and an Apple device.
Could channels 9, 7 and 10 compete with the likes of Microsoft or Apple for the exclusive global rights to the Olympics or FIFA's World Cup? Or even the broadcast rights to the NRL or AFL?
Once the rights for individual shows or live events expire, the future content deals could go anywhere.
Moving the ABC and SBS headquarters to Newcastle has obvious cost savings, but it could also help them compete globally. Moving has the potential of transforming their old headquarters into one of the most modern facilities in the world, as well as tapping into regional and rural creative innovators and entrepreneurs.
It may surprise you to learn we have a very vibrant local independent film-maker and TV industry sector.
Newcastle boasts a number of live streaming services. BarTV provides live and on-demand internet streaming services, broadcasting local sporting events including rugby league and union, Aussie rules, athletics and much more. Hunter Community Television live streaming service covers local news, music, children's and other community events from around Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, and Port Stephens.
The second season of The Cleanists, a Newcastle-produced comedy video series that had success on YouTube, will be released in 2015. The first season was picked up by UK broadcaster Showcase TV and InfoTV.
Cycle Torque is back on free-to-air and pay TV with its highly praised show which is based around its motorcycle magazine, weekly from Thursday, March 5.
And hidden away in the old Gamers warehouse, Final Post has one of the only cinema theatres in Australia which allows post-production colouring for feature films.
It makes sense to me.
The Lunaticks Society invites you to an entertaining evening showing off local independently produced content at The Edwards Bar, on Tuesday Mar 31, 2015 at 6.30pm.
Gordon Whitehead is founder of the Smart Cities and Startups public relations consultancy
