“Some might say I buried the lead.” So says ABC Managing Director Mark Scott who last night announced, almost in passing, what might well be the most important decision of his tenure so far.

At the end of a long speech to the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers Association Conference in Melbourne — unfortunately not yet available online — Scott declared that the ABC had ruled out taking advertising on its core websites.

This has been one of the most urgent and important issues facing the ABC. Legislation rules out advertising on radio and television but the law is silent on websites. There has been speculation for at least five years that a cash-strapped national broadcaster would sell its space.

Just a couple of months ago Scott was answering questions on this issue by saying that nothing was before the Board, and that a comprehensive review was underway of the ABC’s commercial activities. So what changed?

The process isn’t entirely clear. Why has the broadcaster moved from not being close to making a decision to having made one?

Scott told Crikey this morning the reasons were as follows: the aim of the ABC is to make content seamlessly accessible, whether it be on radio, television or the web. Taking advertising on one platform and not on others doesn’t make sense.

Secondly, he said, there is the distinctiveness of the ABC, part of which is that it is free of advertising. This is not only a matter of the content, but also “a whole range of behaviours that follow through from taking advertising, because of the need to maximise audiences.” Not taking advertising frees the ABC to make distinctive programming decisions.

Is this a reflection on SBS, which has taken the advertising bait? Not at all, said Scott. SBS is a different model.

Nevertheless Scott said he was in Canada recently, and reflected that the Canadian Broadcasting Commission, which takes ads, is not as distinctive as the ABC.

Quentin Dempster, the ABC staff-elected director who was not able to take up his position because it was abolished, predictably supports the decision, but is worried by Scott’s caveat that ruling out advertising is contingent on the ABCs funding not being cut.

“Advertising is no way for the ABC to go. It should be ruled out even if that means we have to cut services,” he says. The continuing commercial ventures, such as the Countdown site, are “problematic”.

Meanwhile, Dempster says, Scott needs to police the ABC’s guidelines, and apparent breaches such as those exposed by Media Watch this week.