Business of Media
Billionaire-backed British sports streamer turns Foxtel suitor
A London-headquartered global sports streaming platform backed by billionaire Len Blavatnik is a potential suitor for News Corporation’s majority stake in local pay television platform Foxtel, reports The AFR’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
DAZN was founded in 2016 and is trying to build a global streaming platform like Netflix, but one that specialises in sports. It has been expanding aggressively, making a series of acquisitions and scooping up the broadcast rights to major sporting events all over the world including for top European football tournaments such as the Premier League and Spain’s La Liga.
News Corp put its 65 per cent stake in Foxtel up for sale in August, when it announced at its full-year results that there had been “third-party interest” in the group. At the time, brokers pointed to Platinum Equity, a major Los Angeles-based asset management firm, as an interested party.
Two people with detailed knowledge of the Foxtel discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing the sensitive nature of those talks, said most of the takeover interest was centred on those sports rights assets. They said DAZN was one of the interested parties who had discussed a deal.
Netflix accused of telling staff member she was ‘catastrophising’ high-risk pregnancy before redundancy
A Netflix executive allegedly told a member of his staff she was “catastrophising” her high-risk pregnancy during requests for a year of maternity leave, before the woman’s role was axed, reports The Australian’s Angelica Snowden and Robert White.
Former Netflix Australia marketing manager Vanessa Hughes says the streaming giant owes her up to a full year of pay worth $210,000, after claiming in fresh court documents she was illegally sacked her in September, allegedly on the grounds of redundancy, with just four weeks’ pay in lieu of notice.
Hughes alleged Netflix eliminated her role after a restructure and that she was not eligible for any new roles that had been created.
She claimed this breached the law and that Netflix took adverse action against her, “by altering her position to her prejudice, injuring her in her employment and/or discriminating between her and other employees”.
Michelle Rowland unrelenting in assault on free speech
Support might be waning for the latest version of Michelle Rowland’s plan to censor social media. But it seems the Communications Minister is not for turning, writes Chris Merritt in The Australian.
If the latest version of her Misinformation and Disinformation Bill dies in the senate, the Communications Minister is already working on another scheme that could prove just as dangerous for freedom of communication as the Bill known as MAD.
Rowland revealed the barest details of her new approach last week at the Sydney Institute’s annual dinner.
But it was enough to cause concern that the government would use a different tactic to achieve much the same goal as its MAD plan: online censorship.
Brief details revealed at the Sydney Institute suggest this scheme, like the MAD Bill, rejects the principle that we are free to disseminate all information except that which is specifically outlawed.
Within those boundaries we enjoy freedom of speech – which is the hallmark of a democratic society.
News Brands
Labor backflips and leaves YouTube out of under-16s social media ban
The Albanese government has unveiled the details of its social media ban for people under 16 and the results are in: YouTube won’t be included, but Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook will, reports The AFR’s Sam Bunckingham-Jones.
Despite explicitly saying YouTube would be caught by the ban when it was first announced, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland on Thursday said the Google-owned video platform and other apps that have a “significant purpose” of education would be out of scope of the laws.
The ban will force TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) to “take reasonable steps to prevent persons under 16 years of age from creating or holding an account”. The government has also announced it will impose a “digital duty of care” on social platforms.
Separately, The Australian Financial Review can reveal the Albanese government will scrap laws that ban political ads on TV and radio in the days before elections, as part of its overhaul of electoral donation rules.
In separate moves that level the playing field between social media giants and traditional news organisations, the government has quietly scrapped a law that imposed a blackout on political advertising on TV and radio in the three days leading up to an election or referendum.
Axed Channel 7 Gold Coast evening news airs final bulletin: Sally Pearson signs off
Channel 7 Gold Coast sports presenter Sally Pearson has given an emotional sign-off on the station’s final news bulletin for the Glitter Strip, reports News Corp’s Jeremy Pierce.
On Tuesday, Seven management delivered a bombshell to the station’s Gold Coast news team, revealing the weeknight news bulletin would air for the final time on Thursday night.
Presenters Amanda Abate and Steve Titmus were pure pros reading the news with aplomb for one final bulletin before handing over to Pearson, the former Olympic hurdles champion who turned to journalism after her retirement from athletics.
After delivering her sports report, Pearson gave an emotional final address to the camera, thanking her colleagues for their support as she found her feet in her new career.
“To the viewers, the supporters, my friends, everyone who tuned in and welcomed me into your homes, I just want to say thank you for your support for a TV rookie presenter, I really appreciate you tuning in and supporting us as I start and hopefully continue, my TV career.”
See also: Betrayal, shock: How 7’s Gold Coast frontier crumbled before our eyes
Television, like most business, is a numbers game, and for Channel Seven Gold Coast, several key numbers were missing. Chief among them were the ratings, reports News Corp’s Jeremy Pierce.
Jimmy Lai tells HK court he was in the business of ‘delivering freedom’ as Canberra unites to condemn Beijing
Pro-democracy news publisher Jimmy Lai has told a Hong Kong court he was in the business of “delivering freedom” as he spoke for the first time in a foreign collusion case that has been condemned across Australia’s political spectrum, reports The Australian’s Will Glasgow.
Speaking in court on Wednesday, the most high profile figure in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement said he started his media business after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
“I thought it was a good opportunity for somebody like me, a businessman who has made some money, to participate in delivering information which I think is freedom,” Lai, 76, told the court.
Lai is accused under the national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 of colluding with foreign forces, a charge that could carry a sentence of up to life in prison. He has pleaded not guilty.
In an unusual demonstration of cross party solidarity, Labor, Coalition and Greens senators joined to condemn Beijing for its persecution of Lai and called for his “immediate and unconditional” release.
Chef Ben Shewry doesn’t like the Good Food Guide. And it doesn’t care
In recent weeks, questions have been raised about the ethics of food media in Australia, in particular in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age Good Food Guides, for which I write, and this masthead publishes. Most of this is due to the publication of Melbourne chef Ben Shewry’s memoir Uses for Obsession, his publicity interviews and public appearances and an Instagram post, writes Besha Rodell, the anonymous chief restaurant critic for The Age and Good Weekend.
Shewry asserts that restaurant criticism is unethical and contributes to intense pressure on the restaurant industry, and that it’s a broken system conducted by inexperienced reviewers.
It is, without doubt, self-serving for me to stand up in defence of restaurant criticism. But in the face of the current conversation and backlash against my profession, it feels cowardly to stay silent.
It’s wholly fair for the hospitality industry to demand better of media. We should listen, try to improve, and be grateful when someone points out something we may not see from within.
But to claim that restaurant critics or Guide editors and reviewers do this work without thought or ethical consideration is, quite simply, patently untrue.
Publishing
Lonely Planet founders not content with giving away half their wealth
Lonely Planet co-founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler are doubling down on their philanthropic efforts – they have already given away half of their fortune and intend to bestow the rest in the coming decades, reports The AFR’s Yolanda Redrup.
The pair, who sold their travel book empire in two tranches between 2007 and 2011 for £130.2 million to the BBC, are regularly ranked among the top 50 philanthropists in the country.
They donated $10.8 million to various causes in the year to June 30, 2023, including international health initiatives, groups tackling social justice issues, human rights and refugee agencies.
“I always say there are no luggage racks on hearses; you can’t take it with you,” Wheeler told The Australian Financial Review.
“Working out when you’re going to die [is the challenge], you need enough money to take a tram on your last day.”
Radio
Months of turmoil in Sydney radio leaves high-profile hosts high and dry
The sacking of popular radio announcers this week has resulted in one of the largest line up upheavals in the radio industry with almost two dozen familiar voices expected not to be heard by Sydney listeners in the new year, reports News Corp’s Brenden Wood.
Popular morning announcer Sarah Macdonald told listeners on Thursday that her contract won’t be renewed by management.
“I’m not going to be on the radio with you next year. The ABC has decided not to renew my contract,” Macdonald said on air. “I will miss telling the stories to Sydney.”
It came after The Daily Telegraph exclusively revealed that Mark “MG” Geyer had been sacked from his Triple M breakfast show.
Based on this week’s sacking of Macdonald and Mark Geyer ratings, success doesn’t necessarily equal job security. Both of their shows – ABC mornings and Triple M breakfast – recorded strong rises of 2.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively, in the most recent radio ratings.
The ABC also confirmed weekend presenter Simon Marnie would not be returning to his role after his contract was not renewed.
2Day FM’s Mike Etheridge offered ‘no comment’ when asked by The Daily Telegraph about the future of the Mike E & Emma Show at Southern Cross Austereo.
All the changes: Triple M’s line-up overhaul
A lineup overhaul on Sydney radio station Triple M is expected to impact more than a dozen presenters across four radio shows, with speculation that a retired NRL star has been signed to replace Mark Geyer and Mick Molloy in the high-profile breakfast slot, reports News Corp’s Brenden Wood.
In what will be the largest shake-up to the radio station since when it first began broadcasting almost 45 years ago, only one daytime show remains untouched.
Speculation inside the radio industry is that Mark ‘MG’ Geyer and Mick Molloy will be replaced on the Triple M breakfast show by former NRL player Beau Ryan, who had a busy year on Channel Ten’s Amazing Race and Top Gear.
Adding to the chaos at Triple M Sydney is that the company made a veteran radio programmer’s role redundant. Rex Morris exited the Goulburn Street studios last month.
Southern Cross Austereo announced earlier this month that The Marty Sheargold Show will be heard on Triple M Sydney between 3pm and 6pm on weekdays, but an announcement about the 2025 breakfast show won’t be made until next week.
Kyle Sandilands boasts about broadcasting explicit content as Albanese refuses to condemn show
Kyle Sandilands has boasted about being able to broadcast sexually explicit content on breakfast radio, as he comes under fire for the “derogatory” language used on The Kyle and Jackie O show, reports Guardian Australia’s Sarah Martin and Kate Lyons.
Following Guardian Australia’s report into how the show skirts decency standards despite having underage listeners, Sandilands and his KIIS FM co-host Jackie O Henderson took to the airwaves, playing audio of someone reading out one of Henderson’s sexual fantasies, which was read despite Henderson’s repeated objections.
“Contrary to popular belief, everything on this show is Australian legal broadcast standard worthy,” Sandilands says, in an apparent nod to the Guardian’s report.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, declined to respond to the content, which has been slammed by the Greens’ Sarah Hanson-Young in Senate estimates as “revolting, sexist, racist, misogynistic [and] divisive”.
Albanese, who attended Sandilands’ wedding in 2023 and has appeared on the program seven times since the election, declined to comment on the Guardian’s coverage, referring the matter to the communications minister, Michelle Rowland.
Dutton, who has appeared on the program several times as opposition leader, also did not respond to a request for comment.
Television
Australian free-to-air TV stations push for more M-rated content hours and watered down child protections
Commercial broadcasters want to allow M-rated content for an additional two hours a day and to remove protections for children during school holidays and weekends, a push which comes as they lobby the government not to ban gambling ads, reports Guardian Australia’s Amanda Meade.
The broadcasting regulator has warned the Free TV lobby group their proposal to allow more time for M-rated or mature content would expose children under 15 to alcohol advertising.
Free TV chief executive officer Bridget Fair said: “We are currently reviewing submissions on the Code that have come through the public consultation process and will carefully consider community feedback.”