Speaking to ABC Radio’s AM program on the 75th anniversary of the ABC’s creation, Managing Director Mark Scott sees a strong future for the national broadcaster.

He told presenter Tony Eastley the ABC has “a stellar track record of achievement” and is “very well positioned for our future” as a great public broadcaster in the digital age.

“I think there’s strong support from the community for the ABC and I think our political leaders understand that the ABC provides a unique service and is much loved by Australians and they want to continue supporting it through.”

Scott sees the ABC’s future far more as a digital broadcaster rather than as a traditional radio or television broadcaster.

“What the commercial competitors have to deal with is often it is less profitable to be delivering niche programs to niche audiences than it is to provide mass programs to mass audiences. But at the ABC it really doesn’t matter to us if someone is listening to a Radio National program on Radio National or they’re listening to it in a podcast in some other form at some other time, because at the ABC we just want to reach Australians with the content they want, in the form they want.”

Mark Soctt thinks the corporation is very well positioned to be able to provide that content without it threatening the core business.

When asked whether future changes may require the ABC to “chop off” some of its existing services, Scott was non-committal: “I don’t think we really know the answer to that yet. I don’t think we will continue to do everything that we’ve always done forever in the future, I think you do have to make choices, but those choices need to based around your audience experience.”

On the question of advertising he was more definite about the corporation’s core output divisions: “No plans for advertising on radio and television.”

To listen to the AM interview, click the link below.