Business of Media
Fox Corp will pursue M&A deals, CEO Lachlan Murdoch tells conference
During an interview at a Goldman Sachs conference Tuesday, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch explained the company’s strategy in sports, news, and entertainment, but also indicated that it is quite willing to cut some deals, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Murdoch, asked what the next couple of years look like for his company, said that it will continue to focus on news, sports, and live content (“you won’t see us pivoting to entertainment,” he said), but he added that they also plan to find ways to expand.
Fox has very little debt, and a ton of cash, thanks to its business being built around the Fox broadcast channel and Fox News, each of which generate recurring subscriber revenue from pay-TV, as well as ad dollars. Its big streaming bets have been Tubi, the free streaming service, and Venu, the sports-focused offering currently in flux thanks to an injunction.
Murdoch argued that Venu was “pro consumer, it’s pro sports fan,” and that it would look nothing like cable TV.
The three headaches of Rupert Murdoch in his battle for control
The world’s media wants to report on a bitter Murdoch family feud and Rupert Murdoch is pulling out all stops to prevent them from getting a glimpse into the inner workings of his empire reports The AFR’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
Ground zero is a probate court in Reno, Nevada, where Murdoch’s four eldest children are set to fight over who should control the family trust when he dies. New documents filed with the court on Sunday reveal the Murdoch family’s collective fury at their media rivals.
Attempts by outlets such as The New York Times, CNN and The Washington Post to cover the upcoming case represent a danger to the Murdochs’ personal safety and are a “disingenuous effort to gain a competitive advantage,” the Murdochs argue.
News Corp shareholder rallies support to weaken Murdoch grip
Alarm bells are ringing once again in Murdoch land with yet another attempt launched to weaken the Murdoch family’s grip on its publishing empire, News Corporation, writes Nine Publishing’s Elizabeth Knight.
On the face of it, the shareholder mounting the action – hedge fund Starboard Value – doesn’t trust the competence of Rupert Murdoch’s children to run the business properly after he’s gone. And with the two-week trial to decide who gets to control the global media empire also kicking off this week, it’s hard not to revisit the parallels between the HBO series Succession and the real-life Murdoch family drama.
The way it works is that Murdoch owns 14 per cent of News Corp’s non-voting shares but 40 per cent of its voting shares. So the media mogul has outsized control of the company relative to its economic interest. This is called a dual-class voting structure, and it is a mighty effective way of entrenching control.
GB News investor Paul Marshall seals £100m deal to buy Spectator
Sir Paul Marshall has sealed a £100m [close to AUS$200m] takeover of the Spectator magazine as the backer of GB News completes the next stage of his ambition to control a significant swathe of the UK’s conservative and rightwing media outlets, reports The Guardian.
Marshall, the hedge fund tycoon who already owns the UnHerd website, is also in the running to buy [the UK] The Daily and Sunday Telegraph with the second round of bids by prospective buyers due by 27 September.
The tycoon, a backer of the often controversial GB News TV channel which launched three years ago, has acquired the politically conservative magazine through his Old Queen Street Ventures (OQS).
Marshall, who has been in exclusive talks to buy the world’s oldest weekly magazine for the past month, has promised to keep the Spectator an independent part of his rapidly expanding British media empire.
[Read more]
Fairfax once owned The Spectator. The title was acquired around 1985 for a reported $2m, and was sold some three years later with a valuation of around $11m.
News Brands
The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald launch new way to read digital newspaper
After reporting on a new way to read The Australian Financial Review yesterday, Nine’s other daily news brands The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, have also launched revamped digital experiences for reading the digital replicas.
Nine Publishing tells readers of the Sydney and Melbourne publications:
The new digital replica of Australia’s leading newspapers is faster and easier to use.
Premium subscribers will be able to find their favourite sections more readily with Good Food, Traveller and Spectrum showcased separately for the first time. They will join Good Weekend, Sunday Life and Domain prestige on the landing page.
Special publications including the Good Food Guide will be available when published.
Downloading and saving editions or single pages as a PDF for later use is also now simpler.
Meet the two ABC America news anchors who will steer the Harris-Trump Debate
The moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, have the difficult task of guiding a high-stakes encounter, reports The New York Times.
David Muir
Anchor, “World News Tonight”
Mr. Muir, 50, is, ratings-wise, the most popular TV news personality in the country. An average of 7.4 million people watched his nightly newscast on ABC last month, according to Nielsen, beating his counterparts at NBC and CBS and dwarfing cable stars like MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Fox News’s Jesse Watters.
Mr. Muir has previously interviewed both candidates and moderated four primary debates (three Democratic, one Republican). But he is not known as a political specialist. His big break came as a weather correspondent for “Good Morning America,” and he has reported from several war zones.
Linsey Davis
Sunday anchor, “World News Tonight”
Ms. Davis, 46, has a lower public profile than Mr. Muir. She moderated two Democratic primary debates during the 2020 campaign season, but like Mr. Muir, she is also a generalist anchor.
In 2019, Ms. Davis had a memorable exchange with Ms. Harris at an ABC debate in Houston. The anchor noted that Ms. Harris had tacked to the left on criminal justice issues like the legalization of marijuana and outside investigations of police. “When you had the power, why didn’t you try to effect change then?” Ms. Davis asked, to applause from the audience.
Television
ABC pursues new seasons of Austin, Ladies in Black
Two new seasons of ABC drama titles are in the pipeline, reports TV Tonight.
They are Ladies in Black from Bunya Entertainment and Austin from Northern Pictures.
Austin stars Ben Miller, Sally Phillips and Michael Theo, in the story of an unexpected neuro-divergent son from a long-forgotten dalliance. It was recently picked up by BBC.
Ladies in Black follows from the successful 2018 film of the same name and centres on the staff of Goodes Department Store as they deal with major societal shifts in the 1960s. The cast includes Debi Mazar, Miranda Otto, Jessica De Gouw, Clare Hughes and Azizi Donnelly.
Reality TV confession: Craig Mathieson can’t stop watching Nine’s The Block
Honesty is the best policy, so I’m just going to say it: I’m watching The Block again, writes Nine Publishing’s Craig Mathieson.
Let’s cue up the relevant gif from The Godfather: Part III. “Just when I thought I was out,” laments a greying Michael Corleone, “they pull me back in.” Am I equating viewing Australia’s leading renovation reality series with maintaining a leadership role in a vast organised crime syndicate? Of course not. The Block is far more insidious and seductive.
Every year I roll my eyes and shake my head – sometimes simultaneously – when a new season of the show rolls around. I tell myself I don’t need to watch The Block, that I know its structural failings all too well. The sponsored content is blaringly overt, one or more contestants will have a sense of entitlement that makes my teeth grind, and the mid-week challenges are sometimes asinine. None of this is a mystery.
Scott Cam reduces Block contestant to tears: ‘Who’s running this show?’
Block host Scott Cam didn’t hold back when he learned one of this season’s contestants had failed to turn up to a challenge during Tuesday’s episode, reports News Corp’s Nick Bond.
Cam and fellow presenter Shelley Craft were hosting a midweek challenge at an art gallery, where contestants would learn to make a paper mache lamp in order to win much-needed funds for their renos.
But there were noticeably fewer contestants in attendance than usual, with Perth couple Jesse and Paige having quit the show in the previous episode.
Also missing: Grant, aka “Grumpy,” who sent wife Courtney along solo, insisting that he had too much work to do back at their house.
“Who’s running this show? Grumpy or me? Well, now I’m grumpy,” said Cam.
Even the eternally cheerful Craft couldn’t hide her frustrations: “You’re serious?” she asked, unable to believe a contestant simply wouldn’t turn up.
Beloved Australian entertainer Marty Morton dies aged 82
Beloved Australian entertainer Marty Morton, best known for 1970s children’s show The Super Flying Fun Show, has died at 82 after a long battle with cancer, reports News Corp’s Lauren Ferri.
Morton leaves behind two sons, Anthony and Terry, who confirmed the devastating news on social media.
“It is with great sadness to let you know that my father, Marty passed away on Friday,” Terry wrote.
“He almost made it to 83. Love him and will miss him big time.”
The 82-year-old was widely known for his funny and enthusiastic appearances on The Super Flying Fun Show and Hey Hey It’s Saturday.
He also acted in multiple television shows, theatre shows and commercials in Australia and England.
Radio
Radio roadshow car crash: Elle Macpherson hangs up on B105’s Stav, Abby & Matt
Supermodel Elle Macpherson has shocked Brisbane breakfast radio listeners by abruptly hanging up during a live interview on B105’s Stav, Abby & Matt, reports News Corp’s Georgia Clelland.
Macpherson, 60, was on air to promote her new memoir, Elle, in which she discusses her breast cancer diagnosis and holistic treatment path.
But it wasn’t a health-related question that sent her fleeing from the conversation — it was a seemingly innocent inquiry about how she votes as an Australian citizen living in Miami one of the hosts.
Radio host Matty Acton, who initially praised Macpherson for her continued connection to Australia, innocently asked, “Do you still have to vote now in our elections and all that kind of stuff from overseas?” Macpherson’s mood immediately shifted.
Seconds later, she hung up on the trio.
The hosts were left in disbelief, with Acton quipping, “I don’t reckon she’s calling back.”
His co-host, Loren Barry, filling in for Abby Coleman even joked, “Did we just expose her for voter fraud? Is she, like, not voting and doesn’t want to be fined?”
Stav Davidson joined in the post-mortem, adding, “We just got ghosted by Elle Macpherson — that’s a career highlight!”
Hughesy’s fiery on-air clash with Greens leader on Fox breakfast show
No longer on-air at 2Day FM, Dave Hughes continues to make his presence felt as a guest on the Fox breakfast show.
News Corp’s Joshua Haigh writes:
Dave “Hughesy” Hughes took on Australian Greens Leader Adam Bandt in a lively debate about veganism on The Fox’s Fifi, Fev & Nick.
Before Bandt appeared on the show, a clip played of Hughesy, who is a committed vegan, calling for the leader to “quit the party” after learning the Greens leader wasn’t a vegan himself.
The radio star questioned how Bandt could advocate for climate action without adopting a plant-based lifestyle.
Hughesy has previously hailed the vegan diet as being responsible for his good health as he gets older.
Despite the lifestyle making ordering meals at restaurants a “little tricky” sometimes, he said it was “well worth it”.
Adelaide radio legend Jeremy Cordeaux again charged with drink driving
A former Adelaide talkback radio and television personality has been charged with drink driving after cops allegedly busted him in the car park of a popular eastern suburbs hotel last year, reports News Corp’s Isabel McMillan.
Former Fiveaa presenter Jeremy Nicholas Cordeaux did not appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court for his scheduled hearing on Tuesday morning, but his lawyer told the Magistrate he’d need more time to discuss the case with his client.
The charge is the fourth of its kind for Cordeaux, of Glen Osmond, who was previously caught drink driving in 2005, then after a Christmas party in 2016, and again in December 2019.
In 2021, the now 79-year-old was disqualified from driving for six months after pleading guilty to driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.056 on Glen Osmond Rd.