Oz pay TV nets slow to spend at home
Channels face $4.5 mil deficit in funds for local dramas
The quota applies to 17 drama channels including Disney, Cartoon Network, Hallmark, Showtime/Encore, TV1, UKTV, Nick, Fox Kids, Fox 8 and Movie One.
In the fiscal year ending June 30, they spent $A206.4 million ($113.5 million) on programming and $11.5 million on local dramas.
But of the coin devoted to local dramas, $4.2 million was to cover a shortfall of their obligations from the prior financial year, according to figures released Wednesday by the Australian Broadcasting Authority.
That still leaves a deficit of $4.5 million on what's owing in 2001-2002, and the ABA says that will have to be made up in the current fiscal year.
Among the local productions that benefited from that investment this year were series "White Collar Blue" and "Yakkity Yak" and feature films "The Missing," "You Can't Stop the Murders" and "My Mother Frank."
