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Ben Fordham has slammed the ABC over a deal involving TV hit Bluey and the BBC, which he claims cost the national broadcaster billions.
Originally commissioned by the ABC in 2017, the animated children's series about a family of blue heeler dogs has since become a global hit.
Now, critics say that the ABC made a terrible mistake negotiating the merchandising rights with the UK's national broadcaster.
'This is the story of one of the biggest stuff-ups in the history of the ABC,' the 2GB broadcaster said on his Ben Fordham Live podcast on Friday.
Fordham said it was a 'financial fail' that could have funded the entire ABC budget twice over.
He continued, 'Here's what happened; the ABC commissioned Bluey, they had control, but then the BBC in London offered to pay roughly 30% of production costs, and in return, the ABC handed the BBC the total global distribution and merchandising rights.
Shock jock Ben Fordham has slammed the ABC over a deal involving TV hit Bluey and the BBC, which he claims cost the national broadcaster billions. (Pictured)
Originally commissioned by the ABC in 2017, the animated children's series about a family of blue heeler dogs has since become a global hit. Now, critics say that the ABC made a terrible mistake over the merchandising rights to the UK's national broadcaster.(Pictured)
'That's the entire commercial engine behind Bluey, and the ABC just gave it away.'
An angry-sounding Fordham said that every time the fan-favourite 'kicked a goal' internationally and every time merchandise was sold, it was the BBC who 'banked the cash'.
'The Australian taxpayer helped create Bluey by the ABC, and yet the BBC is making the money from it. It is the world's worst deal,' he added.
Fordham was responding to a claim by entrepreneur Charlie Gearside, who posted a video to YouTube in which he estimated that Bluey could generate $2.5billion each year for the ABC.
Meanwhile, on X, economist Cameron Murray shared Gearside's clip and commented, 'Bluey royalties could have funded the ABC twice over.
'Instead, we just gave them away to the BBC in a dud deal. Now the BBC is rolling in cash.'
The 'dud deal' was raised as an issue this week at a film and TV conference on the Gold Coast by ABC managing director Hugh Marks.
'We’ve spoken a lot about Bluey since I arrived [at the ABC], and we can all look back as to what happened in that particular situation,' he said at the Screen Producers Australia conference, according to Mumbrella.
The broadcaster called the deal one of the biggest 'stuff-ups' in the history of the ABC he said on his Ben Fordham Live podcast on Friday. Pictured: A scene from Bluey
'There are always reasons why things happen. But that’s probably $300 million of income that’s going to the UK,' he said.
'If it was coming to Australia, [it] actually would change a lot of the people’s lives in this room.'
It comes after Bluey once again triumphed in the US ratings, becoming the most-streamed show in America in 2025.
This is the second year in a row that the ABC's beloved children's animated series has topped the charts.
Fans logged onto Disney+ to consume a whopping 45.2 billion minutes of the heartwarming show about a family of blue heelers over the past year.
The figures, compiled by Nielsen, show that viewership was down from the previous year, when Bluey was streamed for 55.65 billion minutes.
Viewers can binge all 154 10-minute episodes of Bluey on Disney's platform.
Meanwhile, BBC Studios and The Walt Disney Company are currently producing Bluey's first-ever animated feature film for release in 2027.
English (US) ·