The Wire

The words ‘ABC’ and ‘commercial’ are not ones you would normally expect to hear together in a sentence, but the public broadcaster’s Managing Director, Mark Scott, changed all that today. He announced a structural reshuffle which will see the introduction of ‘ABC Commercial’ – a department in charge of paid downloads of radio and television programs over the internet. He’s also considering commercials on the ABC’s website – something which is not illegal under current legislation. Scott’s facing tight budgets and unrelenting authorities – but is this latest money venture swaying too far from the ABC charter?