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Data quality statement: Spending on subscription TV drama report

Information about the data quality of the TV in Australia: Spending on subscription TV drama report is summarised in this statement.

Purpose

The ACMA uses data quality statements to clearly communicate the main impacts relating to data quality. This helps potential users decide whether the data is fit for their intended purpose.

These statements:

  • assist in the interpretation of data
  • provide a method for recording strengths and limitations of data consistently across time
  • assist data stewards to communicate the quality of data assets to users
  • determine how applicable the data is when sharing or promoting re-use
  • allow for quality comparisons of data.

Data quality statement

Data asset name

TV in Australia: Spending on subscription TV drama

Date

November 2022

Business data steward

ACMA Content Safeguards Branch

Purpose

To report on the subscription television licensees (STV licensees) new eligible drama expenditure information by type of expenditure for the previous financial year.

Description of data asset

Data in the file format of .xlsx provided to the ACMA on behalf of STV licensees or STV licensees themselves.

Legislation and authority

Section 103 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992

Scope and coverage

To report on compliance and observe trends in STV licensees and pass-through providers about expenditure on new eligible drama programs.

Reference period

Annual (reporting for financial years)

STV licensees and pass-through providers report to the ACMA details about new eligible drama programs as they report on their annual compliance obligations.

Frequency and timing

Data is collected by 29 August each year for the previous financial year.

Formats available

.xlsx files

Other notes

The ACMA uses the data to report on the STV licensees’ program expenditure information by type of expenditure for the relevant financial year. The data also allows the ACMA to observe trends across reporting years.

Data quality description

Accuracy

ACMA staff review the data provided by the STV licensees. Where errors exist and cannot be reconciled, they are queried with the relevant licensee to ensure accuracy of data.

Completeness

All STV licensees are required to report to the ACMA on their eligible drama expenditure and total program expenditure on drama channels for the relevant financial year. The number of licensees and drama channels can vary year to year.

Relevance

The data informs stakeholders about expenditure on new eligible drama programs on subscription television. The data is divided by type of expenditure. The data allows for analysis of spending, amount of content available and trends over time.

Timeliness

Data is collected by 29 August each year for the previous financial year. The ACMA Corporate plan KPI is to report on the data within 6 months of its receipt.

Collection

Owners of subscription TV licenses and channel providers are required to lodge annual returns about their program expenditure by 29 August each year for the previous financial year. This is achieved by completing and returning the B43L Licensee and B43CP Channel Provider forms. The data collected includes information on program name, type of program (i.e., Australian or NZ), format, series number and number of episodes, program duration per episode, whether the program has been released, amount of expenditure and type of expenditure (i.e., acquisition, designated script development, investment, production, or pre-production).

Consistency

The ACMA has documented processes and procedures for the handling, storage and analysis of data provided to it, including confidential information, by STV licensees and channel providers.

Fit-for-purpose

Drama is a broad category of Australian television that attempts to capture a wide variety of programming. The acquisition and production of new drama programs is vital in making sure subscription television licensees are fulfilling their obligation to produce new Australian content and that modern Australian stories are being told. Expenditure can differ greatly due to different methods of program acquisition and production; it is important to capture these distinctions in the data. This data is fit for purpose as it reports on the subscription television industry’s expenditure on new drama programs by type of expenditure for the relevant financial year.

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