Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia's principal public-service broadcaster. It operates across television, radio, and the web to provide news and current affairs, emergency information, and entertainment and factual programming to regional and metropolitan Australia. The ABC is funded by taxpayers and receives grants from the federal government, though it also generates minor funding via ABC Commercial. It is a publicly owned statutory organisation with a government-appointed board of directors, and has a remit to be politically independent and accountable.

The ABC was established as the Australian Broadcasting Commission on 1 July 1932 by an Act of Federal Parliament. It effectively replaced the Australian Broadcasting Company, a private company established in 1924 to provide programming for certain radio stations. The ABC was given statutory powers that reinforced its independence from the government and enhanced its news-gathering role. It was originally financed by a license fee from households with a broadcast receiver, but the Chifley government saw this as insufficient due to Australia's small population and vast area to service, and decided in 1949 that the ABC would be mostly publicly funded. The Commission was renamed to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1983.