Business of Media
SEN+ breached gambling ad rules during Australian Open coverage
SEN – the Melbourne based online sports radio provider – has breached gambling advertising rules, an investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has found.
The investigation found SEN+, a digital channel owned by the Pacific Star Network (PSN), streamed a gambling promotion during online audio coverage of the Australian Open women’s quarter final on 23 January 2019.
The rules, which came into effect in September 2018, ban all gambling advertisements on streaming services during live coverage of sport between 5 am and 8:30 pm. Rules also prohibit gambling ads five minutes before the scheduled start of the event and five minutes after play ends.
ACMA monitoring found SEN+ streamed a gambling advertisement at 10.58 am just before the 11 am coverage of the Australian Open commenced.
“Online service providers need to be aware of their obligations,” said ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin.
“The rules are in place to create a safe zone for children and families as they enjoy live sport broadcast on television or streamed online.”
The breach was the result of an inadvertent error by SEN+ due to an unexpected scheduling delay. In response, the ACMA has issued a remedial direction to PSN to commission an independent audit of its processes and practices and conduct staff training on the rules to ensure future compliance with the rules.
PSN must, under the remedial direction, formally report to the ACMA on its findings and recommended improvements. Providers face financial penalties if they fail to carry out the requirements of a remedial direction.
Bob Iger on why Disney pulled out of a deal to acquire Twitter
In a Maureen Dowd profile in The New York Times, the Disney CEO Bob Iger explained why he backed away from a deal to acquire a social media platform:
Iger writes in his book The Ride Of A Lifetime about how he pulled the plug at the last minute on a deal to buy Twitter, thinking it could help Disney modernise its distribution. But he had a feel in his gut it wasn’t right, and called a stunned Jack Dorsey to tell him.
“The troubles were greater than I wanted to take on, greater than I thought it was responsible for us to take on,” he tells me. “There were Disney brand issues, the whole impact of technology on society. The nastiness is extraordinary. I like looking at my Twitter newsfeed because I want to follow 15, 20 different subjects. Then you turn and look at your notifications and you’re immediately saying, why am I doing this? Why do I endure this pain? Like a lot of these platforms, they have the ability to do a lot of good in our world. They also have an ability to do a lot of bad. I didn’t want to take that on.”
Radio
Protesters descend on KIIS studios after Kyle Sandilands comments
Protesters are claiming double standards in the case of Kyle Sandilands and sacked rugby star Israel Folau, after the KIIS FM radio host escaped with an apology for calling the Virgin Mary “a liar who was knocked up behind a camel shed”, reports The Australian’s Lilly Vitorovich.
Sandilands’ Instagram video post has subsequently been deleted. But the comments drew heavy criticism, prompting Sandilands, who is host of Sydney’s most popular FM breakfast show, to apologise.
An ARN spokeswoman said: “We echo Kyle’s statement and unreservedly apologise for any offence that may have been caused. Last week when this content ran, we immediately recognised that it wasn’t appropriate for distribution and it was removed immediately.”
Sandilands said on Friday he was “sorry” if he offended anyone.
Nova’s Melbourne odd couple Jonathan Brown and Sam Pang
With a knack for telling a story, Jonathan Brown took a punt on a broadcast career when he was tapped by a radio bigwig in Brisbane who saw something in him while he was still playing footy, reports News Corp’s Alice Coster in a profile of the Nova Melbourne breakfast host.
Brown always thought he’d “just end up coaching like every other footy player”, but the Nova boss urged him to give radio a crack after he hung up the boots.
However, it was wisecracking comedian Sam Pang who became his bigger challenge.
The story goes that Pang was a bit wary of the sports jock and gave him a verbal one to the ribs in the audition for their proposed Nova breakfast show – Chrissie, Sam & Browny – to see how he’d pull up.
The two have since become Melbourne’s odd couple, spending more time on the golf course each week than they do on radio each morning.
The members of the Kew Golf Club weren’t too sure when the pair barrelled into their club last year and took out the top trophy, much to Brown’s delight. Once a competitor, always a competitor.
Television
9Go! and 9Now home to new US season of Survivor: Island of Idols
Survivor: Island of the Idols, premieres Thursday, September 26, at 7.30pm on 9Go! and 9Now. This will be the 39th season of the US series.
The new castaways, who include a pro poker player, air force veteran, factory worker, a nanny, a former NHL player and a teacher, will once again be forced to compete with the same ultimate goal: to outwit, outplay and outlast each other and, in the end, be the last one remaining to claim the title of Sole Survivor.
Each castaway, selected to visit the special island in various ways throughout the season will have to decide whether to put their new knowledge to the test for a chance at a possible advantage in their quest for US$1 million, or risk losing something very important in the process.
“This season we are bringing back two of our most dominant winners to serve as mentors to a new group of castaways,” said executive producer and host, Jeff Probst. “It’s a Survivor boot camp where each week, players will be instructed on a different facet of the game and then have a chance to test what they’ve learned for a shot at an advantage.”
This series the castaways will be joined by legendary winners Boston Rob Mariano and Sandra Diaz-Twine, returning to the game as mentors.
Survivor: Island of the Idols sees the US series returning to the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji, just to the west of Nadi.
The most recent series of Australian Survivor filmed on Vanua Levu Island in Fiji.
Australia’s Got Talent: Viewers angry over voting app fail
Australia’s Got Talent viewers blasted Channel 7 when the voting app for last night’s grand final crashed, reports News.com.au’s Andrew Bucklow.
Judges Shane Jacobson, Lucy Durack, Nicole Scherzinger and Manu Feildel whittled the top 10 acts down to the final four in last night’s episode.
In response to the voting issues, a Seven spokesperson told news.com.au: “After a few minutes of voting being opened, one of the 7plus services had an issue with autoscaling, leading to some users not being able to access the 7plus vote page on the 7plus mobile apps. This only affected some users and was quickly resolved within the voting period.”
Last night’s grand final episode was pre-recorded and, as is common practice with TV talent competitions these days, an ending crowning each of the four finalists as the winner was filmed.
Channel 7 then tallied the live votes last night to determine which ending would be played on TV.
Netflix to spend $500m on British-made TV shows and films
Netflix has revealed it will be spending US$500m making more than 50 TV shows and films in the UK this year, as the streaming company prepares to dig deeper into its pockets to fight new rivals including Disney and Apple, reports The Guardian.
It is the first time Netflix has detailed its spend on making and licensing British-made shows – which include The Crown, Black Mirror and Sex Education.
Speaking at the Royal Television Society conference, Reed Hastings, Netflix’s chief executive, said the UK had the second-biggest production budget after the US.
And he hinted that the company would seek to fight off competition from rivals Apple, Amazon and Disney by offering “golden handcuff” deals to top-tier creative talent.
The company, which expects to spend about $15bn globally making and licensing TV shows and films this year, will increase its budget and productions still further to fight the challenge of the launch of a swathe of well-funded new rivals.
In October, it will take over all of Shepperton Studios, home to films ranging from Alien to Mary Poppins, as part of a 10-year deal to guarantee the space it needs to pump out its ever-increasing number of productions without delay.
TV Ratings: US Emmy Awards audience drops 33% to all-time low
For the second year in a row, the Emmy Awards have hit an all-time low in the ratings, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Time zone-adjusted ratings for Sunday’s US telecast on Fox have the awards pulling in 6.9 million viewers, down almost a third (32%) from last year’s Emmy ceremony on NBC. The 10.21 million viewers was the previous low for the awards.
The last time Fox aired the Emmys, in 2015, the ceremony drew what was then an all-time low of 11.87 million viewers.
The slide for the Emmys is also easily the biggest decline among the major televised awards shows in 2019, which reversed, or at least halted, several years of declines from a mid-decade peak. The Oscars improved by more than 10% in both total viewers and adults 18-49, and the Golden Globes and Grammys were fairly steady year to year.
Sports Media
Seven to screen new series tracking the AFL trading season
7mate is launching a series that will help answer questions to where out-of-contract AFL stars Tim Kelly, Jamie Elliott, Tom Papley, Eddie Betts and Paddy Ryder will land in next month’s trade period.
The Trade Game will give footy fans the inside running on all the potential deals during this year’s trade and free agency periods via an expert panel of Andy Maher, Brendon Goddard and Seven News’ award-winning news-breaker Tom Browne.
Starting next Monday, The Trade Game will air twice a week until the conclusion of the player exchange period, keeping supporters ahead of the game on the latest player moves and the state of high-stakes negotiations.
Maher, Goddard and Browne will also have their say on the winners and losers of all the big deals and the tough list management decisions every club needs to make. And when high-profile talks have reached a stalemate, they’ll get creative and throw up potential exchanges to resolve the impasse.
The central players in the top-end trades – club footy bosses and list managers, player agents and the players themselves – will also join the panel to shed some light on the various machinations and intrigue unfolding behind the scenes.
Footy fans can also watch The Trade Game on 7plus and stay up to date with all the breaking trade news on @7AFL on social.
The Trade Game will screen on 7mate in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth on Mondays and Wednesdays at 7.30pm for the next three weeks. It will also be available on 7plus.