Business of Media
AFL heads for $1.25bn income bonanza as record-breaking grand final looms
The AFL will be a $1.25bn business by next year, cementing its status among Australia’s biggest private operations as chief executive Andrew Dillon embarks on a strategy to expand into property development and hunt for acquisitions, reports News Corp’s John Stensholt.
The league should break though the $1bn revenue barrier for 2024, capped by Saturday’s historical grand final between the Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions at the MCG.
The league’s TV deal is its biggest revenue source and from 2025 onwards broadcasters Seven West Media and Foxtel have agreed to pay $4.5bn over seven years – or $170m more each year than their current deal.
That will give the AFL more spending power and build on what is already the most impressive balance sheet in Australian sport, boasting $441m in net assets, including ownership of Marvel Stadium in Melbourne’s Docklands.
Revenue should hit $1bn this year, and then about $1.25bn in 2025 with the new TV deal, making the AFL bigger in income terms than businesses such as Mecca Brands and Melbourne Airport, and likely within the top 60 private companies in Australia.
AFL boss warns against reform that would eradicate local bookies
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon has warned against the introduction of heavy-handed gambling laws that could force bookmakers to exit the market, claiming it could cost sports codes millions of dollars in fees and create issues with offshore match-fixing, reports The AFR’s Zoe Samios.
Dillon said the AFL was working with the federal government on regulatory changes, but said finding the right balance was critical.
“We understand the need for regulation. We just want to … have a regime that is fit for purpose, but balances the community expectation to the amount of advertising and also makes sure that we still have an incentive for wagering operators to remain licensed.
“If there is going to be wagering on AFL or any sports in Australia, we want that happening within Australia, in a regulated framework, not going offshore.”
AFL chief Andrew Dillon also spoke to The Age about gambling and TV ads
“We support the policy positions of the government about over-saturation, normalisation, problem gambling – so wanting to minimise that,” said Dillon, who took over as AFL CEO from Gillon McLachlan, who is now CEO of Tabcorp, reports Jake Niall.
“We think there should be – there has been too much advertising, so we’re a supporter of regulation, we’re a supporter of frequency caps – so every hour having a limited number of ads on TV.”
Dillon said the volume of sports betting on TV during AFL broadcasts was “very small,” adding: “Most of the advertising occurs during news and other times … it’s really a matter for the sports betting companies and the free to airs. That doesn’t impact the AFL at all.”
News Brands
Peter Greste spent 400 days in jail. Now he wants a register for journalists in Australia
Former journalist Peter Greste spent 400 days in an Egyptian jail on terrorism charges while working for news outlet Al Jazeera. Now, he has co-founded Journalism Australia, a body he hopes can define professional journalism, journalistic standards and press freedom in Australia, reports Nine Publishing’s Calum Jaspan.
The move goes hand in hand with a proposed bill by the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom, where he is the executive director, alongside chair Peter Wilkinson, a lobbyist and former journalist. The “media reform bill” proposes enshrining press freedoms in Australia’s constitution.
Journalism Australia aims to become a professional association that recognises ethics, standards and processes to address public trust and confidence in media, Greste says.
Under his plan, “member journalists” would pay to register and become part of Journalism Australia if they met certain standards. In return, they would gain the protections offered under the bill. Defining member journalists would help law enforcement agencies and courts identify who is producing trusted journalism to a particular standard, according to documentation seen by this masthead.
Coming up next on CNN: A paywall
The most-visited news website in the United States is trying out a paywall, reports The New York Times.
In early October, CNN will begin experimenting with charging some readers for digital access as part of a bid to shore up its business as cable television erodes industrywide, according to two people with knowledge of the decision.
The company is planning a so-called metered model, which will require the site’s habitual users to pay after reading a certain number of articles, the people said. Many other publishers, including The New York Times and The New Yorker, have used metered paywalls to generate subscriptions over the past decade.
This isn’t the network’s first foray into digital subscriptions in recent years. Under Jeff Zucker, CNN’s former top executive, the network started CNN+, an expansive streaming service with exclusive content from boldface anchors like Jake Tapper, Chris Wallace and Anderson Cooper. The service was ultimately shut down after leaders of CNN’s new parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, decided it was too expensive.
Walkley-award-winning journalist to investigate ABC’s Line of Fire reports
The ABC has appointed veteran journalist and media executive Alan Sunderland to undertake an independent review of the broadcaster’s Line of Fire reports about an Australian military operation in Afghanistan, reports Guardian Australia’s Amanda Meade.
The Line of Fire reports concern an online article and 7.30 story by one of the ABC’s most experienced journalists, Mark Willacy from the ABC’s Investigations unit.
The ABC has admitted a video clip of Australian troops firing from a helicopter in Afghanistan in 2012 was “incorrectly edited” and later also expressed concern about the reporting and the use of helmet cam footage.
Willacy has won seven Walkley awards including a Gold Walkley in 2020 for exposing alleged war crimes by Australian special forces in Afghanistan.
Television
Author of Boy Swallows Universe Trent Dalton honoured by USQ
As a young man fleeing a turbulent upbringing in Brisbane’s Bracken Ridge, Trent Dalton enrolled in a media studies bachelor at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba in the ’90s looking for a way to better understand the life he was born into, reports Toowoomba Chronicles’ Michael Nolan.
Both of his parents had served time in jail, and were scarred by drug addiction.
“I was trying to work out why certain people did certain things, why people made the choices they made,” he said.
In one of his first classes he was handed a tape recorder by lecturer Neil Mudge and told to hit the streets and find a story.
Dalton has carried that lesson through his career, first as a Courier-Mail feature writer and later as the author of the three critically acclaimed books.
“In my book, Boy Swallows Universe, the kid wants to become a journalist because he’s surrounded by criminals and he keeps seeing people he knows in the newspaper,” Dalton said.
Monsters: the Menendez true-crime saga doesn’t know when to stop
Of the many monsters, both individual and systemic, featured in this messy true crime exploration, none is more voracious than the show itself, writes Nine Publishing’s Craig Mathieson.
Sprawling in length – a crucial failing – and ravenous for contrasting perspectives, the second season of Ryan Murphy’s biographical crime anthology literally doesn’t know when to stop. If you want to credit this to ambition, then there are rewards, including a compelling episode told in a single 30-minute shot, but if you lean towards lurid excess, Monsters certainly incriminates itself.
2022’s Monster, with Evan Peters as serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, veered towards exploitation, but it was bolstered by a telling theme: the official disdain that allowed Dahmer to target black and gay men without scrutiny. Too much of what Monsters adds to its central narrative feels unnecessary, whether it’s the introduction of celebrated Vanity Fair columnist Dominick Dunne (Nathan Lane), who campaigned against the brothers, or an episode dedicated to Jose and Kitty’s abuse-laden backstories.
See also: Don’t miss Andrew Mercado and James Manning on Monsters on the new episode of the TV Gold podcast.
Why Amazing Race is the best reality show ever
The Amazing Race, the American reality colossus that began in 2001, is currently in its 36th season – a 37th is scheduled for next year, reports Nine Publishing’s Ben Pobjie.
The local version, Amazing Race Australia, is in its eighth – or its fifth if you consider the current iteration hosted by Beau Ryan to be a separate show from the first domestic stab with Grant Bowler. Versions have also been produced in Israel, Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Canada, Norway, France, Brazil, Ukraine, Finland and more.
All this puts The Amazing Race among the very elite of reality TV franchises: successful enough to spawn both myriad international versions and plenty of copycats. Given how expensive it is to send dozens of people – with their own camera crews – around the world once or twice a year, the show has to have been a serious hit to keep justifying the cost. But obvious success aside, there is a strong case to be made that Race is, in terms of entertainment value, viewing satisfaction, and the exquisite art and craft of reality program-making, the best reality show ever to grace our screens.
Radio
Simple reason Kyle and Jackie O’s Melbourne gamble backfired
Veteran Melbourne broadcaster Neil Mitchell told The Daily Telegraph he was convinced Kyle and Jackie O will not be able to win over Melbourne listeners with their “toilet” humour, reports former breakfast producer now with News Corp, Brenden Wood.
“Perhaps he stayed with toilet radio because he didn’t want to alienate his Sydney audience,” he said. “I have always thought Kyle is a clever broadcaster, but my view is changing.”
Mitchell expressed doubt over whether Sandilands’ often provocative approach would resonate in Melbourne, declaring KIIS would need to raise the bar to a higher standard to meet the expectations of the Melbourne audience, “at the potential cost of his success elsewhere”.
A former radio executive who launched several networked FM shows across Australia, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Kyle & Jackie O Show had “seriously blown the launch opportunities in the Melbourne market”, arguing “you only get one chance to make a first impression”.
Despite the cut to audience numbers, the industry executive forecast Kyle & Jackie O should expect to experience a slow climb to 7 per cent by the end of 2026.
Sports Media
Spicy feud between Kane Cornes and Dale Thomas explodes again
The spicy feud between soon-to-be Channel 7 on-air partners, Kane Cornes and Dale Thomas, has exploded again, report News Corp’s Alice Coster and Scott Gullan.
Any thoughts of an olive branch between the two warring footy commentators has been torn apart with back-to-back expletive laden sprays by Thomas at Grand Final week lunches.
On Wednesday the former Collingwood premiership star was at the Walk With Me Grand Final Lunch for Corey McKernan’s non-profit foundation at Southbank’s Metropolis.
Thomas was alongside fellow Triple M commentator Nathan Brown with Channel 7 presenter Jason Richardson in the hosting seat when the banter turned to Cornes and how he is switching networks next year.
“Kane is alright, I understand the role he plays in the media,” Thomas said. “I am going to have to work with him so I’m going to put the fact aside that he is a complete f..kwit and try and push on.”
Craig Hutchison cops parting clip: ‘You’ve just pillaged the whole network’
Craig Hutchison has officially left Channel 9 after “pillaging” the network, reports News Corp’s Jackie Epstein.
The media mogul, who had long hosted the embattled Footy Classified program, is expected to appear on new programs at Channel 7 which has brought on board his production company, Rainmaker, to create its new shows.
At the EJ Whitten Grand Final Legends Lunch organised by RULE prostate cancer, Hutchison was ribbed about the move that’s caused a crisis at Nine by fellow RULE board director Bill Guest.
“How long have you been at Nine,’’ Guest asked Hutchison in a colourful exchange while the pair raised funds for the charity.
“18 years,’’ Hutchison replied.
“Well you’ve just pillaged the whole network. You’ve got everybody to Seven. We’ve got a lot of the Channel 9 people here so we should welcome them.”
The Swans will never be Sydney’s team. And that’s OK
The Melbourne-centric AFL media have used the Swans’ run at the premiership as an opportunity to slip their Gucci loafers into poor old rugby league, reports Nine Publishing’s Andrew Webster.
Rugby league, forever paranoid about its place in the world, was deeply offended.
It all started last Friday night when the NRL semi-final between Cronulla and North Queensland at Allianz Stadium was held at the same time as the Swans’ preliminary against Port Adelaide at the neighbouring SCG.
“Lovely scenes here at the SCG, prelim finals of course,” veteran Channel Seven caller Brian Taylor observed as a drone shot took in the magnificence of Moore Park all lit up. “Next door, an NRL game looks half empty there with about 10,000 people.”
The NRL counters the AFL’s chest-beating about crowds with a well-worn line: more people watch us on TV in Sydney!
Asked on Channel Nine about AFL 360 host Mark Robinson’s claim that “AFL will take over rugby league before I die”, ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys said, on average, only 23,000 people in Sydney watch AFL matches.
He was parroting a News Corp report the day before that claimed 23,853 people in Sydney on average watch AFL on Channel Seven.
A representative for the network did not respond to messages asking for a clarification, although that doesn’t surprise. Free-to-air and subscription TV networks no longer freely give out capital city figures, no doubt wary of the type of clickbaity stories and comments that have popped up this week.