Business of Media
Bauer determined to proceed with $40m Pac Mags deal with Seven
Bauer Media remains “100 per cent” committed to its $40 million purchase of Seven West Media’s Pacific Magazines, despite private equity firm Mercury Capital abandoning plans to buy the German publisher’s Australian arm, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s Zoe Samios.
Brendon Hill, the local chief executive of Bauer which owns magazine titles including Australian Women’s Weekly and Woman’s Day, dismissed speculation Mercury Capital’s decision to walk away from takeover talks would affect its planned acquisition of Pacific. “It was completely separate,” Hill said. “We both are 100 per cent committed to this deal being approved.”
Can CBS’ Grammys Telecast Weather an Explosive Scandal?
Deborah Dugan has gone from leading the Recording Academy to being a whistleblower. Here’s why those watching — or not watching — this year’s awards ceremony may be more consequential than any judge, reports The Hollywood Reporters Eriq Gardner.
Just how many people will tune into CBS on Sunday to watch the Grammy Awards? The question carries extra weight this year thanks to a bombshell complaint filed on Tuesday by Deborah Dugan, the suspended chief of the Recording Academy.
In a 46-page discrimination charge lodged with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Dugan alleges she was sexually harassed by general counsel Joel Katz, one of the music industry’s most powerful attorneys. She claims the Recording Academy — the 62-year-old organization that runs the Grammys — wished to hire her predecessor Neil Portnow as a consultant for $750,000 despite not having his prior contract renewed after allegedly raping a female recording artist. (Portnow strenuously denies the claim.) She further lays out her case that the Grammys are a “boys club,” that minorities are systematically underrepresented, and that “secret committees” use their positions in power to push forward artists with whom they have relationships.
Entertainment
Greg Page discharged from hospital
Original Yellow Wiggle Greg Page has been released from Westmead Hospital, less than a week after he suffered a cardiac arrest during a bushfire relief fundraising concert, reports TV Tonight.
Page thanked hospital staff in a video and The Wiggles posted a final update on social media.
Amy Shark hints at new music with Ed Sheeran
Amy Shark has teased new music with global phenomenon Ed Sheeran, reports News Corp’s Cormac Pearson.
The Gold Coast star revealed the collaboration with the hitmaking English singer, sharing a series of photos of the pair writing music to Instagram on Thursday night.
Shark, who experienced a meteoric rise to fame following her 2016 hit Adore, said she had “spent some time overseas writing songs with my new English friend Ed.”
“I know I have been quiet on the topic of new music but I can today let you know that this shark is about to start circling,” Shark wrote on the post.
Television
Rhonda Burchmore calls Nicole Kidman a ‘diva’ on I’m a Celeb
Rhonda Burchmore has made her opinion of Nicole Kidman known, reports News.com.au.
And it seems she wasn’t impressed by Kidman’s “diva-like” backstage antics on the set of the film Australia.
Chatting around the campsite with her fellow I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! contestants, the entertainer did her best to keep her opinion of the Big Little Lies star to herself – struggling to keep a straight face when asked what she’s really like.
Explaining that she knew Kidman when they were both at acting school together, international reality star Charlotte Crosby pressed her for details.
But while Burchmore did her best to remain diplomatic, she eventually caved – recalling Kidman being full of complaints on the set of the 2008 Baz Lurhman film.
Karl Stefanovic calls Richard Reid ‘a tosser of the highest order’
Karl Stefanovic and Richard Reid blasted each other on Kyle and Jackie O’s KIIS FM breakfast show this morning in separate interviews, reports News.com.au’s Andrew Bucklow.
Stefanovic was the first to appear on the radio show and he was asked by the hosts how he felt when Reid revealed on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! last year that the Today star had “hair plugs”.
At the time, Reid said in the jungle: “So I go into the hair room, and this guy looks up and he’s kinda like balding. It was Karl Stefanovic without his spray-on hair … And then he went away and got hair plugs.”
On radio this morning, Stefanovic called Reid, who worked on the Today show for seven years before he quit in 2015, a “tosser of the highest order”.
“Richard and I have had a beautiful relationship over many years,” Stefanovic said to Kyle and Jackie O. “I never really saw him in person because he was always too busy flapping about.
“When he said it (on I’m A Celeb) … I just thought, ‘You’re just a tosser! Richard Reid is a tosser of the highest order!’”
Marty Sheargold jokes about axed weatherman Steve Jacobs on Today
The Today show co-hosts didn’t know what to say when Marty Sheargold cracked a joke about axed weather man Steve Jacobs live on air Thursday morning.
Sheargold, who co-hosts Nova’s drive show Kate, Tim and Marty, was appearing on Today to promote his national comedy tour which kicks off next month.
Looking around the Today show’s temporary set at The Australian Open, Sheargold joked: “I’ve never seen so many people working on a show. You could have cut a few of these people and kept Stevie, couldn’t you?”
Allison Langdon laughed at the comment as Sheargold continued, “Or do we not talk about those guys anymore?”
“No, I don’t mind talking about that,” Karl Stefanovic replied.
Radio
triple j sees record Hottest 100 voting, Decade’s poll to follow
triple j has this week revealed record numbers voting in its January Hottest 100 poll. It has also revealed it will go again with another poll in March!
triple j listeners have once again broken the voting record by placing 3,211,596 votes in the 2019 Hottest 100, beating last year’s vote tally by 16.4%.
Here’s who the votes came from, which could very well influence the content of the countdown:
3,211,596 total votes, up 16.4% from last year
45.3% of votes were from people aged between 18-24
58.5% of votes were from people aged 24 and under
77.5% of votes were from people 30 and under
55.5% of votes came from females
42.4% of votes came from males
2.1% of votes came from people who identified as non-binary, unspecified or other
KEY DATES
12pm AEDT Sat 25 Jan: Hottest 100 on triple j
10am local time Mon 27 Jan: Hottest 200-101 on triple j
10am local time Mon 27 Jan: Classic Hottest 100 of 1999 on Double J
Meanwhile, the March poll will be the Hottest 100 of the Decade.
This special edition of the Hottest 100 series follows on from previous all-time countdowns including the Hottest 100 of All Time (1998 & 2009), Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time (2011) and 20 Years of the Hottest 100 (2013).
Listeners are being asked to help us celebrate the decade that was by creating a definitive list of the 2010s.
Voting will be open during February.
triple j has listed some of the decade’s music highlights to inspire voters:
• We witnessed the rise of once-in-a-generation artists like Frank Ocean, Lana Del Rey, Kendrick Lamar and Florence and the Machine
• Australian acts like Gotye, Sia, Tame Impala, Courtney Barnett and Tones and I took over the world
• Producers like Flume and Alison Wonderland went from their bedrooms to stadium shows
• In 2017, we saw hip hop overtake rock and pop as the most popular genre of music in the US
• Streaming services and social media flipped the industry on its head
• Viral took on a totally new meaning and pop music had a renaissanc
• Beyoncé headlined Coachella
• The Avalanches, Daft Punk and Tool made comebacks
• We mourned the loss of some of our favourite performers: Mac Miller, Juice WRLD, Amy Winehouse, David Bowie, Prince, Chris Cornell
Sport
Tip of the iceberg: Other sports braced for cuts at Fox Sports
The rugby league, AFL, cricket and football departments at Fox Sports are bracing for staff cuts after the broadcaster took an axe to its once-sprawling rugby department on the eve of the new Super Rugby season, reports SMH’s Georgina Robinson.
Rugby officials were briefed by Fox executives on Thursday that their sport was the first cab off the rank for staff and programming cuts, as the pay television provider embarks on a cost-slashing campaign on the back of $417 million in financial losses at its parent company Foxtel.
The sport was rocked by news that popular rugby host Nick McArdle had been let go the day before the launch of the new season and that the Monday and Friday night shows had been scrapped in favour of a drastically leaner schedule.
Simply the Rest: Jimmy Barnes courted by NRL to sing at GF
Australian rock legend Jimmy Barnes and his band Cold Chisel will headline the very first music concert at Bankwest Stadium on Friday night – but it’s his potential appearance at the NRL grand final singing Tina Turner’s Simply the Best that should have rusted-on rugby league fans in a lather, reports SMH’s Andrew Webster.
As revealed by this humble little column last year, the NRL has been in serious negotiations with Turner’s manager, Roger Davies, about making her the face of the game for the 2020 season because it marks 30 years since the song became the sport’s anthem.
Turner is 80 years old and rarely leaves her home base in Switzerland, let alone performs, so it was always a long shot that she would make the trip to Australia. But her song will still be the cornerstone of NRL promotions, which are expected to start after the All Stars match on February 22.
Channel Nine – owner of this masthead – launched its season promo during the Australian Open broadcast earlier this week and it featured Turner singing the song with old footage of her spliced in between classic rugby league moments.