TLDR
The ABC is cancelling The Business, its nightly 15-minute business program, after 20 years. The final episode airs on 10 December, and the ABC says the resources will go to business reporting online, on the news channel, in podcasts and on YouTube.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The decision
The ABC is cancelling The Business, the 15-minute business program that has run in some form for 20 years. ABC News director Simon Robinson told staff on Friday that the broadcaster had "made the difficult decision to discontinue the Business TV program" at the end of its current season.[1] The final episode airs on 10 December.[2]
Robinson said business remains a key reporting round. The ABC's argument is that the time and money spent on a 15-minute program would go further across its website, the ABC News channel, podcasts and YouTube.[1] The ABC has not said how many staff are affected.[1]
Twenty years on air
The program launched on 14 August 2006 as Lateline Business and was later renamed The Business. Its presenters have included Ali Moore, Ticky Fullerton and Elysse Morgan.[3] The ABC's program page was still publishing segments in the week of the announcement.[4]
David Chau, the business journalist recently named to replace Alan Kohler on the 7pm news finance segment, broke the news on LinkedIn. "I'm a little sad to say that after 20 years," he wrote, and confirmed the last episode would air on 10 December.[2] He is expected to stay at the ABC.[2]
Where business news goes next
Robinson said the ABC is working on ideas for the new year, including a visualised version of the ABC Business Daily podcast and a possible daily afternoon markets wrap.[1] Chau pointed viewers to the ABC's markets blog, the Business Daily podcast, near-hourly market updates on the news channel and his own finance reports on the 7pm news.[1]
What it means
The ABC is following its audience out of the late-night timeslot and into video clips, podcasts and live blogs. For advertisers and publicists, business news on the national broadcaster becomes less a single nightly program and more a stream spread across formats.
SOURCES & CITATIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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James Dore is founder and editor of Prompt the Market and Strategy Director at Bushnote, a Sydney strategy, SEO and AI search agency. He has a background in strategy, media and financial services, and led consumer product marketing at MONEYME. He writes on AI search, answer engines, technology policy and media economics.
