Bit creation and bit delivery are linked, but much of the rhetoric of convergence glosses over the distinctive business systems and operating environment in each market. The creative industries are about imaginative authoring, and the things that are formative in this. The downstream communication industries are about the instrumental linkages, by various means or media, between the creators and users of meaning and content. On the other hand, content industries are what stack the shelves of retail stores, or fill the pipes of carriers. Content industries matter, and merit special attention.
Content industries are big enough to matter.
They are, however, one of those service industries whose economic significance has generally been buried or under-represented in sectoral analysis. Multimedia production in Australia is still small, but growing. Existing content industries are changing and new developments in multimedia and electronic delivery will lead to wide scale restructuring. Existing content industries are vulnerable to displacement by offshore on-line services later in the decade. This could impact on the potential balance of trade in services.