[kookaburra]

I was busy yesterday and just skimmed the previous pages, and I just wanna reply to some of them...

It comes down to internal choices by the BBC. The ABC has endured decades of this culture war stuff with regular funding freezes and cuts from conservative governments, but they continue to run a domestic news channel on what would be a fraction of the cost for a much smaller audience! 

In addition to that, ABC is also operating the ABC Australia channel, which they consider as their "international channel", although it is broadcasting only in the Southeast Asian region. The channel mostly simulcast ABC News channel, but also airs Pre-school, Aussie football and Drama (including 7's Home and Away).

The channel's previous incarnations, ABC Asia-Pacific and Australia Network, was funded by the Foreign Affairs department and commercial advertisements, but the Abbott government cuts its funding and forced to close the channel. I believe the current channel is funded directly under ABC, considering that it has zero adverts now.

Can anyone see the Asia Pacific version? What is seen on same promos in that area? Thanks

AET typically refers to the time in New South Wales, I think. Aussie timezone is a bit confusing sometimes, since QLD is AEST all year-round but NSW, VIC and TAS observes AEDT.

ABC Australia has a larger reach than just Southeast Asia. It also has its own iview service www.abcaustralia.net.au  

It was previously called the Australia Network and was funded through the Department of Foreign Affairs, which was cut by the Liberal (Tory) government in 2013. It had regular OTH bulletins which actually fed a lot of content to the ABC NC in its early years.  

The new ALP government is restoring funding with a particular focus on the pacific parlinfo.aph.gov.au 

Among other things to protect the ABC www.theguardian.com 

Again, the ABC has endured culture war nonsense and conservative cuts for decades and is seemingly quite adept at ‘posting through it’. The BBC doesn’t seem to have quite the same nous.

Also AET is Australian Eastern Time, so consistently Victoria, NSW, Tasmania and the ACT. It’s not used much anymore with AEST and AEDT the common styling.