Business of Media
Murdoch family retains majority control of News Corp after shareholder vote
Lachlan Murdoch faced down a shareholder vote on Wednesday aimed at weakening the Murdoch family’s control over their media empire, reports The Guardian.
The activist investor Starboard Value had challenged the ownership structure of News Corp, the parent company of dozens of news outlets globally including The Wall Street Journal and publisher HarperCollins in the US, and The Times and the Sun in the UK.
At the company’s annual meeting, the company announced the proposal had been defeated.
The Murdoch family controls 41% of company votes, despite having a 14% stake in the company. The family shares are currently held in a trust controlled by Rupert Murdoch, 93. Control of the trust is expected to be passed on to his four adult children upon his death.
Comcast to announce the spinoff of cable networks, including MSNBC, CNBC and USA, sources say
Comcast is expected to announce a plan Wednesday to spin off its cable networks into a separate company, reports NBC News.
The split would cleave off some of NBCUniversal’s best-known brands, including MSNBC, E!, Syfy, Golf Channel, USA, CNBC and Oxygen, which now face the same cord-cutting challenges as many other major cable channels.
The spinoff plan was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Comcast had announced during its quarterly earnings call in October that it was considering spinning off its cable networks.
President Mike Cavanagh said at the time that the company was exploring creating “a new, well-capitalized company owned by our shareholders and comprised of our strong portfolio of cable networks.” He added that NBCUniversal’s broadcast network NBC and the streaming service Peacock would remain with Comcast.
The spinoff will take roughly a year as the company figures out whether licensing agreements need to be put in place and whether MSNBC and CNBC will continue to work with NBC News, CNBC reported.
Comcast update: Announces SpinCo – independent cable channel media business
Comcast Corporation has announced its intent to create a new publicly traded company comprised of a strong portfolio of NBCUniversal’s cable television networks, including USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel along with complementary digital assets including Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and Sports Engine, through a tax-free spin-off.
The well-capitalised independent company (“SpinCo”) will have significant scale as a pure-play set of assets anchored by leading news, sports and entertainment content.
SpinCo will be an industry-leading news, sports and entertainment cable television business with a focused strategic direction. SpinCo’s stable of marquee brands will provide a diverse and differentiated content offering that will reach approximately 70 million US households.
“When you look at our assets, talented management team and balance sheet strength, we are able to set these businesses up for future growth,” said Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast. “With significant financial resources from day one, SpinCo will be ideally positioned for success and highly attractive to investors, content creators, distributors and potential partners.”
The planned spin-off will also strategically position NBCUniversal with its leading broadcast and streaming media properties, including NBC entertainment, sports, news and Bravo – which all power Peacock – along with Telemundo, the theme parks business and film and television studios.
“This transaction positions both SpinCo and NBCUniversal to play offense in a changing media landscape,” said Mike Cavanagh, President of Comcast. “Taken together, the entirety of NBCUniversal will be on a new growth trajectory, fuelled by our world-class content, technology, IP, properties and talent – all working in concert with each other as an integrated media company.”
Billionaire legal stoush: Heloise Pratt suing estranged husband Alex Waislitz
Melbourne billionaire Heloise Pratt is suing her estranged husband, Alex Waislitz, alleging historical misconduct in the operations of their jointly-owned business, Thorney Investments, report The Australian’s John Stensholt, Yoni Bashan and Damon Kitney.
Documents filed in the Victorian Supreme Court name Pratt and her Pratt Family Trust as plaintiffs in a case against Waislitz and numerous related parties, including family members.
The Pratt Family Trust is administered by her brother, billionaire Visy executive chairman Anthony Pratt, and sister Fiona Geminder.
In what looms as one of the biggest legal battles among billionaires in recent Australian history, the stoush centres around control of the $1.3bn stock investment empire run by Waislitz but also owned by Pratt for more than three decades.
Waislitz is a renowned small and mid-cap share investor who also manages two listed investment companies – Thorney Opportunities and Thorney Technologies – and is also a part-owner, along with various Thorney entities, of ACM Media with business partner Antony Catalano.
ACM publishes regional newspapers such as The Canberra Times and Newcastle Herald.
Inquiry recommends sweeping changes to rein Facebook and other social media giants
Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest has welcomed sweeping changes a parliamentary inquiry has recommended to plug a legal loophole and force Facebook owner Meta and other social media giants to comply with Australia’s laws and be more accountable for the scams that plague their apps, reports The Australian’s Jared Lynch.
The inquiry released its report, titled the ‘Social Media: the good, the bad, and the ugly’ also said Meta and others be forced to pay a ‘digital platform levy’ to help fund mainstream media outlets and combat disinformation.
Meta has refused to renew deals to compensate media companies for using their content and has threatened to withdraw mainstream news articles from its platform – a move that could drain almost $100m from Australian newsrooms.
News Brands
Press gallery veteran Mike Bowers leaves Guardian Australia
Another day, another high-profile departure from the Guardian Australia’s rapidly shrinking Canberra bureau, report Kishor Napier-Raman and Stephen Brook in Nine Publishing’s CBD column.
This time, it’s veteran photographer Mike Bowers, who presents the popular Talking Pictures segment during the ABC’s Sunday morning political junkie power hour Insiders.
Bowers, a press gallery stalwart who previously worked for this masthead, had been with the Guardian’s local operation since its inception in 2013. Editor Lenore Taylor alerted staff to the news.
“I’m very sorry to let you know that Mike Bowers has decided to leave Guardian Australia to pursue his own photographic project,” she said in an internal memo.
The latest rumour around the press gallery was that the progressive media outlet, known for its austerity approach to staff entitlement, was cutting back on Sydney-based Bowers’ trips to Canberra for sitting weeks, leaning on wire pictures from the Australian Associated Press instead. But Taylor was quick to dispel them in a statement to CBD.
ABC is a disgrace for blaming Jewish soccer fans
The ABC should die of shame after its Media Watch on Monday blamed Jewish soccer fans for being hunted in Amsterdam two weeks ago, comments News Corp’s Andrew Bolt.
What a disgrace. I’m shown saying on my Sky News show: “The Dutch have been shamed and shocked by a Jew hunt by Muslims”.
But Media Watch host Paul Barry claimed I and other journalists “ignored or glossed over half the story”. The Jews were to blame, at least in part: “Two angry mobs were involved – with violence on both sides.”
Yet Barry focused solely on “provocations” by Jews.
Radio
Triple M rocked as Mark ‘MG’ Geyer sacked from breakfast show
NSW State of Origin legend Mark ‘MG’ Geyer has been sacked from his Sydney radio show with his Melbourne boss arriving in the city today to seek a meeting with the star, reports News Corp’s Brenden Wood.
Southern Cross Austereo announced two weeks ago that the co-host of Geyer’s Triple M breakfast radio show, Mick Molloy, would be returning to Melbourne to host the breakfast show in that city in 2025. The statement didn’t mention anything about the radio network’s plan for ‘MG’ on the Sydney Triple M breakfast show.
Mark Geyer was missing from the line-up on Wednesday’s breakfast radio show which began at 7am. His co-hosts Mick Molloy, Cat Lynch and Natarsha Belling made no references about Mark Geyer’s absence.
Veteran content director Rex Morris found himself without a job recently when Southern Cross Austereo made his position as Triple M content director redundant.
Southern Cross Austereo’s top programming executive, Dave Cameron, was spotted at Triple M’s Goulburn Street studios today and is expected he’ll speak to Mark Geyer before attending the ARIAs at the Hordern Pavilion tonight.
Mitch Churi confirms he’s been sacked from KIIS in tearful on-air statement
Australian radio host Mitch Churi shared a tearful statement live on-air following news that he had been fired, reports news.com.au’s Joshua Haigh.
The presenter has hosted The Night Show with Mitch Churi since 2019, and co-hosts The Pick Up with Brittany Hockley and Laura Byrne.
However, the radio host was informed last week that he would be leaving ARN and not returning to his KIIS Network shows.
In a heartbreaking statement during the latest episode of The Pick Up, Churi confirmed it was not his decision to leave as his co-stars teared up.
“So late last week, I was informed by the powers that be,” said Churi. “They have identified my roles and roles that won’t be returning in 2025. So I just want to say that it wasn’t my decision. It wasn’t my call. I really wanted to stay on this show with the two of you. And I wanted to stay on the night show and I wanted to stay at ARN and KIIS. And that I love working in radio.”
As Britt’s eyes filled with tears, she replied: “It’s a decision that’s been made that’s out of our control. As you know, Laura and I, we have to continue on doing the show without you and we are utterly devastated.”
Television
Power plays to the fore as Dune spin-off steps back
Dune: Prophecy, which spins off the Dune movie franchise, and the library of books that Herbert wrote in the Dune universe, is a kind of outer space Game of Thrones, insofar as Game of Thrones itself draws inspiration from the Wars of the Roses, Maurice Druon’s The Accursed Kings and chapter and verse from human modern history, writes Nine Publishing’s Michael Idato.
“Everybody has hidden agendas,” says actor Travis Fimmel, who plays the charismatic and dangerous Desmond Hart. “That’s what I enjoyed about it. My character is very truthful and sometimes, same as now, imagine if somebody came in and said the exact truth, that would be scary, you know. I think people fear [Desmond] because he’s so honest.”
The series draws most of its material from the Great Schools of Dune prequel trilogy, written by Brian Herbert – Frank’s son – and Kevin J. Anderson, particularly the first of those books, Sisterhood of Dune, published in 2012, and set about 10,000 years before the events of the films. The series was originally developed with a title more closely aligned to the book, Dune: The Sisterhood.
Local remakes can be great, but there’s still that nagging question
There is a certain logic to NCIS: Sydney: there were already several spin-offs in the NCIS-verse set in various US locales, and the routine of following a bunch of naval cops in a different city was already well-established. So why not Sydney, right? Besides the fact that Australia doesn’t have an NCIS and coming up with justifications for the American agency to continue teaming up with the Australian Federal Police requires heroic stretching of plausibility, writes Nine Publishing’s Ben Pobjie.
But then the entire franchise is built on being implausible, so it’s not a major problem. The problem is that every time a show like this gets made, the question of why raises its bolshy little head. There are always myriad reasons a TV show gets made, many of them involving budgets and projections and local content quotas. But if you asked the creative minds behind NCIS: Sydney why they wanted to make the show, would the network’s publicity team allow them to give an honest answer?
The Artful Dodger returns: Disney orders second season of Aussie hit
Disney has commissioned a second season of colonial-era dramedy The Artful Dodger, with eight episodes to be shot in Sydney in 2025, reports Nine Publishing’s Karl Quinn.
The series, created by former lawyer James McNamara and inspired by Charles Dickens’ 1838 novel Oliver Twist, has been a global success for Disney+ and is the platform’s first Australian-made drama to gain a second season.
“There’s been an internet narrative that says it was a limited series,” says McNamara. “I don’t know where that came from, but in my mind it was always written to be a returning story, and that was certainly my hope. And I’m just profoundly grateful to Disney that they’ve given us that opportunity to play again in this world.”
It stars English actors Thomas Brodie-Sangster as pickpocket-surgeon Jack Dawkins (aka The Artful Dodger) and David Thewlis as his mentor-cum-tormentor Fagin. Plus, Australian actress Maia Mitchell plays Belle, a woman determined to pursue a life of science despite the disapproval of her father, the colonial governor. The show was announced in May 2022 as part of Disney’s first slate of Australian productions for its streaming service.
Sports Media
V8 Supercars taps advisers for $200m-plus TV deal
Helmets on. V8 Supercars is revving its engine for a new broadcast deal.
The AFR’s Street Talk reports the motorsports league, which owns the famed Bathurst 1000 touring race, has tapped global sports management business IMG to help it secure a new contract that generates more than the $200 million provided under existing arrangements with Seven West Media and Foxtel.
V8 Supercars hopes to do this by introducing a new finals elimination series at the end of 2025, which will be made up of the highest point-scorers from the first 27 races, along with the Sprint Cup and Enduro Cup winners.
Sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations said the body’s chief executive Shane Howard wants a deal by the end of the year and that Supercars has already met with Nine Entertainment as well as incumbents Seven and Foxtel.
V8 Supercars is owned by RACE, a consortium run by Melbourne media executive Barclay Nettlefold that includes investment from Walcot LLC.
Wayne Carey urges media to move on from his controversial past
Wayne Carey has declared “enough is enough” and called on the media to move on from his controversial past, saying he’s served a sentence for his past sins which was more than you “get for murder”, reports News Corp’s Jackie Epstein.
Carey said when it comes to his chequered past he’s been forced to live with “toxic shame”.
Despite saying he doesn’t want to “make excuses and play the victim” the dual North Melbourne premiership captain said the constant coverage was unfair and it was time to move on.
“I don’t know what you get for murder, but you don’t get this,’’ Carey said.
Carey was speaking on Sam Newman’s You Cannot Be Serious podcast and will appear weekly on his show as a permanent co-panellist on.