Mobile public service media in Australia: Ubiquity and its consequences

This article examines the roots and consequences of public service broadcasters’ strategic commitment to digital universalism and the ‘anything, anywhere, anytime’ paradigm of mobile media delivery. Using policy analysis, expert interviews and case studies it traces the adaptation of national public service broadcaster to global information capital, linking broadcasters’ pursuit of multiplatform ubiquity with competition policy, the rise of ubiquitous computing and its commercial realization in global mobile media markets. It then analyses the challenges of implementing a public sector mobile agenda in the Australian context, where the scope of mobile broadband uptake is internationally significant. The analysis explores the dynamics of mobile media planning and investment at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Special Broadcasting Service, identifying new expressions of universalism in online access and accessibility, new costs in research, design, development and delivery, and significant debates emerging around the prioritization, privatization and commercialization of public resources.