[LINK] ABC/Telstra deal

[Stewart Fist]

There is quite a remarkable bit of weird inverted logic here:

It is apparently wrong for Telstra to suffer from majority government control,
because it wants to buy into Fairfax which is a private media company -- and
the government may then be in a position to influence the media.

So the government says it mus sell its 50.1%, making Telstra independent of government.

However it is apparently OK for Telstra to then to have a five year deal with
the ABC, which was, on my last viewing, a public media corporation.

Apparently public corporations (like a privatised Telstra) are viewed by the
Howard government as more trustworthy in exerting influence over the media,
than his government is.

The only possible solution to the problem of Telstra now, is to split the
organisation into two, with the shareholders taking the profit-making
high-tech parts with mobile phones, Big Pond, Foxtel programming, etc. --- and
with the government keeping the monopoly wireline network elements.  

Then Telstra Networks can be a non-profit-making, common-carrier, flogging
bandwidth to any ISP, media-company, broadcaster, and telephone user which
wants to use its services without any special mergers, takeovers, exclusive
deals, etc.  Telstra Networks should be what used to be called
"infrastructure", like the main roads.
 

-- 
Stewart Fist - writer and columnist
See http://www.australianIT.com.au/
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