ABC television have issued a press release to announce that as of this coming Monday Q&A will be broadcast live on ABC News 24. As such, viewers in QLD/WA/SA/NT will now be able to view the show at the same time as those in NSW/VIC/TAS and interact with it via Twitter at the same time. For viewers of the show, this is very good news as the value of the show really comes from its live and interactive nature.
I’ve complained about the situation previously on White Noise. Q&A is an agenda-setting TV show that is of significant vaue to the Australian political discourse. It is in the nations interest that the show be broadcast live across the entire country and not just live to whichever states sync up with the ABC’s head office in Sydney.
This is a positive move and kudos to ABC Television for making this happen.
The press release:
Q&A TO BE SIMULCAST LIVE ON ABC News 24
ABC News 24 is pleased to announce that the Q&A program will be simulcast live across Australia on ABC News 24, starting from Monday 25th October.
The program will continue to be shown on ABC1 at 9.35pm local time across all Australian time zones.
The first program to be simulcast on ABC1 and ABC News 24 will be Q&A’s special edition with former Prime Minister John Howard.
Q&A Executive Producer, Peter McEvoy, said the simulcast will allow for more viewer engagement across Australia.
“Q&A is all about live interaction between our audience and the political leaders who shape our country. Simulcasting Q&A on ABC News 24 will cut through the time zones that have prevented TV viewers in Queensland, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia from watching Q&A live.”
“Q&A on ABC News 24 will give all Australians the opportunity to get involved in the Q&A discussion and debate by submitting their questions live on the web and their comments live on twitter to a truly national Q&A.”
Head of Continuous News, Gaven Morris said that Q&A is a perfect addition to the ABC News 24 schedule.
“Q&A has established itself as Australia’s premier political discussion program. Having Q&A simulcast on ABC News 24 will certainly enhance viewer engagement with both the program and Australia’s first free-to air 24 hour television news channel,” Mr Morris said.
Can we get a HELL YEAH!?
Hell yeah!
HELL YEAH … bout time
I live in Queensland and we have Austar – the only benefit each year of Daylight Saving over the past years has been the benefit of having ABC2 on Austar from Sydney. I loved it. I could watch all the ABC programs ONE HOUR EARLY but this year with Daylight Saving, the ABC have somehow managed to have all their programs on at a delayed time. I Don’t Like it!! Good that Q&A will be on ABC24. Cheers littlehero