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SUMMARY OF FINDINGS


INTRODUCTION

This publication presents data, in respect of 1999-2000 financial year, of businesses mainly engaged in television broadcasting (excluding community broadcasting). While television broadcasting data in this publication mainly relates to commercial free-to-air and pay television broadcasters, data on in-house productions also includes Australia's two public television broadcasters. These businesses are classified to Class 9122 (Television Services) of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC).

Data contained in this publication has been derived from two sources. Financial information for the commercial free-to-air broadcasters is collected annually by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA), part of which is reproduced in this publication. Other data contained in this publication was collected as part of an ABS census of businesses in the television services industry.

This publication methodology is different to the methodology used in the 1996-97 ABS survey of the television services industry, so care should be taken in comparing with historical data. In order to assist with historical comparisons, the 1996-97 statistics in table 1 have been revised using ABA data.


SIZE OF INDUSTRY

At the end of June 2000, there were 41 private sector television broadcasters and two public television broadcasters. The 41 private sector television broadcasters comprised 34 commercial free-to-air television broadcasting businesses operating 48 television stations and 7 pay television broadcasting businesses operating 7 television stations. By comparison, in June 1997, there were 44 free-to-air commercial television and 7 pay television stations.

During 1999-2000, the private sector broadcasters had total income of $4,182 million, employment of 10,668 persons and a net worth of $2,810 million. Data for the 7 community broadcasters have been excluded from this publication and in 1996-97 community broadcasters generated $2 million in income and employed 30 persons.


SOURCES OF INCOME

The total income of $4,182 million of private sector broadcasters comprised $3,271 million from commercial free-to-air broadcasters and $911 million from pay television broadcasters. This total income represented a 38% increase since 1996-97. The three main networks accounted for 98% of the income of the commercial free-to-air broadcasters.

The largest proportion (86%) of the income received by commercial free-to-air broadcasters was from the sale of airtime ($2,821 million, which has increased by 19% since 1996-97).

The main income of pay television broadcasters was subscription and membership fees of $789 million, which represented 87% of their total income. Income from subscription and membership fees has risen significantly from $311 million received in 1996-97.


EXPENSES

Total expenses of the private sector broadcasters were $4,083 million, of which $2,468 million was accounted for by commercial free-to-air broadcasters and $1,616 million by pay television broadcasters.

The major component of expenses of commercial free-to-air broadcasters was program rights used ($864 million), which accounted for 35% of total expenses.

The main pay television expenses were payments to channel providers ($470 million), depreciation and amortisation ($390 million) and wages and salaries ($159 million).


PROFITABILITY

During 1999-2000, the private sector broadcasters recorded an operating profit before tax of $128 million. However the profit position of the two types of broadcasters was vastly different with commercial free-to-air broadcasters recording an operating profit before tax of $804 million and pay television broadcasters an operating loss of $676 million.

The operating profit of $804 million of commercial free-to-air broadcasters represented an operating profit margin of 24.6% which was an increase on the operating profit margin of 19.0% recorded in 1996-97.

While pay television broadcasters recorded a loss of $676 million in 1999-2000, this was a reduction of 36% on the loss $1,058 million recorded for 1996-97. This change resulted from a 120% increase in income compared to a 10% increase in expenses over the same period.


EMPLOYMENT

At the end of June 2000, there were 10,668 persons employed by commercial free-to-air and pay television broadcasters. Of these, 7,807 were employed by the commercial free-to-air broadcasters, which was a 16% increase since June 1997.
A large majority (82%) of the commercial free-to-air employees worked on a permanent full-time basis.

The 2,861 employees of pay television broadcasters represented a 37% increase since June 1997. A large proportion of these employees (83%) were employed on a permanent full-time basis.


ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

The value of total assets of commercial free-to-air broadcasters at the end of June 2000 was $9,896 million. This, combined with total liabilities of $6,278 million, resulted in a net worth of $3,618 million for commercial free-to-air broadcasters.

On the other hand, the total net worth of pay television broadcasters was a negative $808 million, with total liabilities of $3,343 million exceeding total assets of $2,535 million.

	Commercial free-to-air television(a)			Pay television			Total Commercial/Pay Television
	1996-1997	1999-2000	Percentage change	1996-1997	1999-2000	Percentage change	1996-1997	1999-2000	Percentage change
Businesses at end June (no.)	34	34	-	7	7	-	41	41	-
Stations at end June (no.)	44	48	9.1	7	7	-	51	55	7.8
Employees at end June
Permanent full-time (no.)	5,986	6,392	6.8	1,810	2,379	31.4	7,796	8,771	12.5
Permanent part-time and casuals (no.)	n.a.	1,415	. .	n.a.	482	. .	n.a.	1,897	. .
Total (no.)	6,758	7,807	15.5	2,085	2,861	37.2	8,843	10,668	20.6
Income
Gross income from the sale of airtime ($m)	2,374.6	2,821.1	18.8	n.a.	n.a.	. .	2,374.6	2,821.1	18.8
Subscription and membership fees ($m)	n.a.	n.a.	. .	311.4	789.1	153.4	311.4	789.1	153.4
Other ($m) (b)	237.6	449.9	89.4	103.2	121.7	17.9	340.8	571.6	67.7
Total ($m)	2,612.2	3,271.0	25.2	414.6	910.9	119.7	3,026.8	4,181.9	38.2
Expenses
Wages and salaries ($m)	326.0	302.2	-7.3	258.6	159.4	-38.4	584.6	461.6	-21.0
Program rights used/Payments to channel providers ($m)	761.7	863.9	13.4	249.2	469.8	88.5	1,010.9	1,333.7	31.9
Depreciation and amortisation ($m)	65.8	68.9	4.7	216.8	390.0	79.9	282.6	458.9	62.4
Other ($m)	963.6	1,232.5	27.9	748.6	596.4	-20.3	1,712.2	1,828.9	6.8
Total ($m)	2,117.1	2,467.5	16.6	1,473.1	1,615.7	9.7	3,590.2	4,083.2	13.7
Operating profit/loss before tax ($m)	495.1	803.5	62.3	-1,058.4	-675.8	36.1	-563.3	127.7	. .
Operating profit margin (%)	19.0	24.6	29.6	n.a.	n.a.	. .	n.a.	n.a.	. .
Total assets ($m)	5,072.6	9,896.2	95.1	1,356.9	2,535.1	86.8	6,429.5	12,431.3	93.3
Total liabilities ($m)	3,162.9	6,278.4	98.5	946.4	3,342.8	253.2	4,109.3	9,621.2	134.1
Net worth ($m)	1,909.7	3,617.9	89.4	410.5	-807.8	. .	2,320.2	2,810.1	21.1

• deficiencies in the register of units from which the census was taken;
• errors in the reporting of data by respondents;
• errors in the capturing or processing of data;
• estimation for missing or mis-reported data; and
• definition and classification errors.