Monday June 18, 2018
ARN’s Scott Muller on keeping Jonesy and Amanda and their station rating strongly
By Kruti Joshi
He had played an instrumental role in the growth of both Sydney stations. The person replacing Fox at WSFM, Scott Muller, had big shoes to fill. He started working as content director in January 2018. It marked his return to the heart of the radio industry after working as a consultant at MBOS Consulting Group for nearly 10 years.
“The only reason I came back to doing this is Duncan Campbell phoned me at the end of last year. The attraction was that this is a content director role in the traditional sense where I get to work with the talent and the production team. It’s a very hands-on role.”
Throughout his career in the industry, Muller has worked as a program director at Austereo Radio Group (now called Southern Cross Austereo) and Nova Entertainment in Australia and at Capital Radio in England.
—
This is an excerpt from the full article, which appears on Mediaweek Premium. Read the full article here, or subscribe to Mediaweek Premium here.
Countdown to 2018 Logies: TV Week souvenir edition now on sale
The 630,000 weekly readers (as measured by emma) of Bauer Media’s TV Week magazine today have the chance to further indulge their passion for television with the release of a special souvenir edition celebrating 60 years of the TV Week Logies.
MORE: The 2018 Logie nominations that surprised even TV Week!
Selling for $10, the one-off magazine’s cover features Aussie TV icon Bert Newton holding a Gold Logie – the man TV Week editor Thomas Woodgate called “Mr Logies”.
One of the key writers for the edition is TV Week contributor John Burfitt, who interviewed Newton for the special and also compiled some of the other key content including the most successful Logie-winning programs.
The 32 pages are filled with highlights from the TV Week archives. “We filled up the pages very quickly,” admitted Woodgate to Mediaweek. “We have done features on the Australian stars who won Logies before moving on to successful international careers. We have also spoken to people who have become Australian TV icons including Bert, Ray Martin, Georgie Parker, Lisa McCune, Asher Keddie, Rove, Denise Drysdale, Kerri-Anne Kennerley, Naomi Hazlehurst, Kate Richie and Jessica Marais.
“We wanted to create something that people would consider the bible on all things Logies.”
Woodgate revealed that Home and Away has won the most TV Week Logies ever with a massive 45 trophies. “We have a list of all 45 wins,” said Woodgate.
Home and Away only just managed to beat the legendary Nine variety show In Melbourne Tonight (IMT), which won 43 Logies. “It won all those in close to just 10 years,” said Woodgate.
As part of that IMT Logie blitz, Graham Kennedy is still the winner of the most Gold Logies.
Woodgate said the team at TV Week is able to search their archive all the way back to the first edition of the magazine. “There is a wonderful pictorial spread in our Logie special edition where we have the highlights of 60 years of TV Week covers. One of my favourites is the iconic Kylie Minogue and her four Logies from 1988, which is a cracking cover.”
TV Week started just over 60 years ago with the TV Week Logies launching just a few months later.
There is now just one week until voting restarts for the nominees in many TV Week Logie categories, including the TV Week Gold Logie.
Woodgate said he expects all six Gold Logie nominees – broadcasting legend Amanda Keller, leading actors Jessica Marais and Rodger Corser, journalist and presenter Tracy Grimshaw, game show host Grant Denyer and real estate and lifestyle expert Andrew Winter – to be promoted across their respective networks. “We expect social media to be a real battleground as networks promote their various stars.”
Bauer Media sells most of US portfolio – 17 titles down to just four
The largest US tabloid publisher, American Media Inc (AMI), has purchased the portfolio of titles, which includes In Touch, Closer and Life & Style.
The titles will be added to the AMI portfolio, which includes The National Enquirer, Us Weekly, Globe, OK!, Star and Radar Online.
Combined, the new AMI Entertainment Group will reach 38 million readers and deliver the youngest median age in the category, claims the publisher. Newsstand sales will average 1 million copies weekly.
In addition to the increased newsstand sales and readership, the acquisition will help grow the AMI Entertainment Group’s monthly digital audience with the network now reaching more than 60 million unique visitors monthly and more than an additional 15 million social media fans and followers.
“Today’s announcement underscores AMI investor confidence in our business strategy as we continue to build and grow our Entertainment Group. Despite newsstand sales declining 20% annually, both Bauer and AMI have continued to invest in the marketplace and we believe there is still a terrific opportunity to grow newsstand revenue,” said AMI chairman and CEO David J Pecker. “I look forward to welcoming these trusted brands and talented staffs to AMI.”
The only major newsstand celebrity title not now part of the AMI portfolio is People magazine, which was recently acquired by Meredith Corp as part of the Time Inc acquisition.
As to Bauer’s future in the US, the publisher released a short statement that said it will now focus on its classic women’s portfolio in the US. Those titles are Woman’s World, Celebrate, First for Women and Soaps in Depth.
WIN News anchor Geoff Phillips celebrates 30 years with broadcaster
As the face of WIN News Illawarra, WIN News Canberra, WIN News Central West and WIN News Riverina, Phillips has been instrumental in delivering a full half hour of local news, sport and weather to audiences across regional NSW every weeknight at 6pm.
“I’m humbled by the support and compliments from my colleagues, as well as the community, on my 30-year anniversary at the WIN Network,” Phillips said.
“Three decades can pass by so quickly, but I’m grateful that my various roles at WIN have allowed me to report on some of the biggest milestone events in regional Australia over the years. Thank you to all the team at WIN News, who work tirelessly to ensure regional Australia receives the dedicated half hour of local news, sport and weather they deserve. I also couldn’t have made it this far without the many people within the community who have supported us over the years – thank you.”
Originally from Nambucca Heads on the North Coast of NSW, Phillips joined WIN Television in 1988 as a sports presenter.
In late 1998, Phillips’s role was expanded to news presenting. In addition to his nightly news commitments he took on the extra role of breakfast news reader for i98FM.
The launch of the NBL summer season in 1999 also gave Phillips the opportunity to indulge his passion for basketball as host of WIN Television’s locally produced weekly one-hour program Hawks Air Time.
Facebook bans Ben and Liam raunchy photo shoot!
Facebook has banned triple j breakfast hosts Ben and Liam’s post supporting The Naked Farmer Instagram page that educates people on where food and fibre actually comes from and supports people in the agricultural industry who suffer from mental health issues.
Facebook deemed that the Ben and Liam post “featured an image featuring excessive amounts of skin or suggestive content”.
Facebook recommended the duo used content that focused on “your product or services in a less sexual way”.
Callers to the triple j breakfast show didn’t seem to have any problems with the nudity, although a few did mention the amount of body hair Ben is carrying!
Liam Stapleton said: “I never thought such a big watering can could get you banned from Facebook.
“I know I’ve got a bit of a sloppy rig but I didn’t think it was that offensive.”
Ben Harvey said: “We thought we covered most of the offending bits but obviously not.”
Ben Harvey recently learnt that the suicide rate is 66% higher in rural areas than it is in the city and that farmers are more than twice as likely to take their own life than other professions. “Having grown up on a farm, I know lots of farmers who have and still are going through hard times,” he said. “It’s one of the reasons why The Naked Farmer Instagram page resonated with me and I think it is a great way to start a conversation about mental health.”
Remembering his time spent on the dairy farm, Ben said he could always tell when his boss was stressed but that the environment was such that he would shut himself off from others and internalise problems, rather than talk them through.
There’s also a very real stigma around mental illness in many smaller communities. “What I always found helpful while working on the farm,” added Ben, “was that I did it with my older brother James, so we could talk to each other when things were tough.”
The Naked Farmer’s fundraising efforts are in aid of the Royal Flying Doctor Service Mental Health Unit, who visit remote towns and properties to provide education, treatment and support.
Bauer launches curated influencer network with talent pool of 500+
The Associates was created to give clients access to a talent pool of over 500 individuals including Bauer editorial talent, industry talent, micro, macro and mega influencers for client campaigns that will run across the Bauer Media network.
The Associates influencers will be pre-qualified for engagement and effectiveness for audiences and brands, taking a data-led approach to selecting appropriate talent for creative solutions.
Story54 general manager Jane Waterhouse said: “We know that our own editors and contributors influence our audience in their areas of expertise, and social platforms have given us another place to have this conversation. By launching The Associates we hope to extend this highly successful model by introducing a wider of pool of talent. We are not managing talent as much as we are curating and matching the best talent in market with our premium brands. This network will allow us to take our expertise and ability to influence to our clients and remove the guesswork around choosing appropriate talent for clients.”
To lead the program, former fashion marketer Kendell Bardenhagen has been appointed as Story54’s talent manager. She said: “Our ability to streamline the influencer selection process combined with the strength of our trusted magazine brand networks and category expertise will make Story54 even more efficient and competitive in market.”
ARIA Charts: Aussie pop rules – Sheppard and 5SOS keep it local
By James Manning
Singles
The 5 Seconds Of Summer army will be justifiably proud of their band as the title track from their new album, Youngblood, spends a fourth week on top. Have the 5SOS fans worked out what it takes to keep a tune at the top of the charts and how many more weeks they could keep it there? Outside of Australia there has been good news too with the song also #1 in New Zealand and it climbed into the Billboard Hot 100 at #96 this week.
Two artists managed to ease into the top 10 this week:
#11 to #8: Anne-Marie with 2002 after eight weeks on the chart
#12 to #10: Kanye West with All Mine in its second week
Peking Duk hits a new high a week after their State Of Origin performance with Reprisal jumping from #52 to a new chart peak of #35 after five weeks.
Just two new releases made it onto the chart this week in the lower rungs of the top 50:
#44: NOTD with I Wanna Know featuring Bia Miller
#46: Kids See Ghosts with 4th Dimension featuring Louis Prima
Vance Joy’s Saturday Sun also hit a new chart peak this week, jumping from #54 to #47 after five weeks.
Albums
Six new albums landed in the top 50 this week, three of them cracking the top 10.
It’s also a week that features a not-too-regular occurrence – #1 single and #1 album are both Aussie!
Sheppard are the Aussie conquerors of the ARIA Album Chart with their second album, Watching The Sky, which becomes their first #1 album. Their debut album Bombs Away got oh-so-close, peaking at #2 in July 2014. Ray Hadley was perhaps an unlikely Sheppard fan this past week, which helped them to secure top spot. The band managed 21 minutes with the ratings machine on 2GB last week during which time they joked with Hadley and played two tracks from the album.
Watching The Sky is the fifth Australian #1 album so far this year – can anyone else manage it in the two weeks left in the first half of calendar 2018? There should be another next week perhaps.
The other new albums on the chart this week:
#4: Kids See Ghosts with a self-titled debut for the duo, which is made up of Kanye West (who was #1 here last week with Ye) and Kid Cudi.
#8: Lily Allen with No Shame – the fourth album from the UK singer-songwriter, who admits her previous album Sheezus was something she made for her label. This new set has been getting good reviews as it documents some milestones in her life including depression, divorce and motherhood.
#13: Jorja Smith with Lost & Found – the debut album from the British R&B artist. She had a track on the Black Panther soundtrack (written with Kendrick Lamar) and has worked with Drake and Khalid.
#14: Olivia Newton-John with Hopelessly Devoted: The Hits – 20 wonderful tunes from Olivia Newton-John.
#37: The Beach Boys with The Beach Boys With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra re-working 16 Beach Boys classics, with the Royal Philharmonic recording their parts at the Abbey Road Studios.
—
Top photo: Sheppard
TV Ratings Analysis: Sunday June 17
By James Manning
Seven
The House Rules judges were in Perth looking at the work done transforming Chiara and David’s crammed brick house into a glam-luxe home. NSW team Toad and Mandy nailed their bathroom design with the “perfect shade of red” and received LLB’s first perfect 10! They subsequently ranked #1 on the leader board. After 795,000 a week ago, the audience last night was 910,000. The program out-rated the final of The Voice in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. It was the biggest House Rules audience so far this season.
Sunday Night featured Matt Doran with the doctor set to perform the world’s first human head transplant and then Angela Cox was with The Beach Boys. After 619,000 a week ago, the program did 614,000 last night.
Nine
The network has launched into a string of Super Sundays that could be hard to beat. From The Voice, Nine then goes into Sunday nights featuring State Of Origin, the TV Week Logies, Australian Ninja Warrior and then The Block. That should take care of the Sunday night schedule until deep into October.
It was spectacular opening to the season final of The Voice with Sam Perry and Kelly Rowland performing early-on a version of Michael Jackson’s They Don’t Care About Us. The episode featured many musical highs as the contestants were given some big tunes to tackle – one of them was Bella as she tried to take on Whitney Houston’s The Greatest Love Of All. The first of the final to be eliminated, which didn’t happen until 9.15pm, was Aiden from Team Joe. He was closely followed by Sheldon from Team George. “You are all winners,” said host Sonia Kruger as they left the stage. The remaining two – Bella and Sam – were both part of Team Kelly. Delta Goodrem took the opportunity to hand over the crown to the new queen of the coaching team. Just moments later Sam was given the title for 2018. The program managed to end about five minutes early. That means no inflated 60 Minutes overnight number this morning. The Voice managed to rank #1 all people, but the numbers were down from just over 1.3m for both parts of the final in 2017 to just under 1m this year.
60 Minutes then did 524,000 with a mix of stories including international tension in the Pacific in a story reported on by Tom Steinfort.
TEN
The Sunday Project featured some great Hollywood stars – Richard Dreyfuss and Kathleen Turner, who were in Australia for the Supanova fan convention. The episode did 450,000.
MasterChef returned to the MasterChef kitchen after the week in South Australia. The Sunday episode sorted out who would be competing for immunity this week and also who would be fighting to stay in the competition. The challenges started with a dish that incorporated a loaf of bread, followed by a challenge to make spaghetti bolognese with a secret ingredient. After 622,000 a week ago, last night was on a much stronger 813,000.
Two episodes of NCIS then did 336,000 and 208,000.
ABC
A log cabin build was the construction featured on Grand Designs New Zealand with 506,000 watching at 7.40pm.
Episode four of Mystery Road then did 604,000. There must be many viewers who have fast-tracked the series via iview. If you are going week-by-week, stick by it. The final episode tops off what has been a great series and your loyalty will be more than rewarded with an incredible final episode.
SBS
Back to reality for the channel after 2.1m watching the France v Australia World Cup clash on Saturday.
A series on Sinkholes started at 7.30pm with an impressive 299,000 on board.
The Real Rocky was then at 8.30pm with 134,000. That was followed by, what else, a Rocky movie, with SBS choosing 1985’s Rocky IV with 83,000 watching.
World Cup coverage yesterday saw 120,000 watching Mexico surprise Germany from 1am.
Week 25 TV: Sunday
| SUNDAY METRO | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Seven | Nine | Ten | SBS | |||||
| ABC | 10.0% | 7 | 20.2% | 9 | 23.1% | TEN | 13.1% | SBS One | 4.8% |
| ABC 2 | 2.2% | 7TWO | 3.2% | GO! | 3.3% | ONE | 2.4% | VICELAND | 0.6% |
| ABC ME | 0.7% | 7mate | 5.1% | GEM | 3.3% | ELEVEN | 1.8% | Food Net | 0.7% |
| ABC NEWS | 1.1% | 7flix | 2.2% | 9Life | 2.0% | NITV | 0.1% | ||
| TOTAL | 14.0% | 30.7% | 31.8% | 17.3% | 6.3% | ||||
| SUNDAY REGIONAL | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC | Seven Affiliates | Nine Affiliates | Ten Affiliates | SBS | |||||
| ABC | 11.1% | 7 | 21.4% | 9 | 23.2% | WIN | 9.4% | SBS One | 3.6% |
| ABC 2 | 2.4% | 7TWO | 3.8% | GO! | 3.7% | ONE | 2.6% | VICELAND | 0.5% |
| ABC ME | 1.0% | 7mate | 5.1% | GEM | 5.3% | ELEVEN | 1.1% | Food Net | 0.6% |
| ABC NEWS | 1.1% | 7flix | 2.3% | 9Life | 1.7% | NITV | 0.2% | ||
| TOTAL | 15.6% | 32.6% | 33.9% | 13.1% | 4.9% | ||||
| SUNDAY METRO ALL TV | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FTA | STV | ||||||||
| 85.7% | 14.3% | ||||||||
All People Rankings
Friday Top 10
- Seven News Seven 890,000
- Seven News / Today Tonight Seven 852,000
- Nine News Nine 823,000
- Nine News 6:30 Nine 737,000
- Seven’s AFL: Friday Night Football Seven 612,000
- Endeavour ABC 597,000
- Better Homes And Gardens Seven 596,000
- A Current Affair Nine 584,000
- The Chase Australia Seven 575,000
- ABC News ABC 545,000
Saturday Top 10
- 2018 FIFA World Cup: Fra v Aus Live SBS 1,653,000
- Seven News Seven 808,000
- Nine News Saturday Nine 776,000
- 2018 FIFA World Cup: Fra v Aus Post-Match SBS 690,000
- 2018 FIFA World Cup: Fra v Aus Pre-Match SBS 617,000
- ABC News ABC 596,000
- Shakespeare And Hathaway ABC 547,000
- RBT Nine 382,000
- Getaway Nine 374,000
- Poldark ABC 369,000
Sunday FTA
- Seven News Seven 1,248,000
- Nine News Nine 1,108,000
- The Voice Grand Final Nine 987,000
- The Voice Grand Final – Winner Announced Nine 968,000
- House Rules Seven 910,000
- MasterChef Australia Ten 813,000
- ABC News ABC 708,000
- Sunday Night Seven 614,000
- Mystery Road ABC 604,000
- 60 Minutes -Late Nine 524,000
- Grand Designs New Zealand ABC 506,000
- The Sunday Project 7pm Ten 450,000
- Ten Eyewitness News Sun Ten 363,000
- NCIS (R) Ten 336,000
- Sinkholes: Deadly Drops SBS 299,000
- Crimes That Shook The World Seven 293,000
- Landline-PM ABC 280,000
- The Sunday Project 6.30pm Ten 278,000
- Sunday Afternoon NRL Live Nine 278,000
- Seven News At 5 Seven 278,000
Sunday Multichannel
- M: Captain America: The First Avenger-PM 7mate 234,000
- Play School-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 186,000
- Bananas In Pyjamas-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 185,000
- Olobob Top-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 174,000
- Dot.-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 159,000
- Thomas And Friends-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 154,000
- Hey Duggee-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 154,000
- Midsomer Murders 9Gem 151,000
- Border Security – Australia’s Front Line -PM 7TWO 150,000
- Peppa Pig-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 148,000
- Border Security – Australia’s Front Line-E2 -PM 7TWO 148,000
- Love Island Australia 9GO! 145,000
- The Big Bang Theory TX4 9GO! 144,000
- Peppa Pig-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 144,000
- Noddy Toyland Detective-PM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 142,000
- Border Security – Australia’s Front Line-E3 -PM 7TWO 141,000
- Sesame Street-AM ABCKIDS/COMEDY 139,000
- Peter Rabbit ABCKIDS/COMEDY 138,000
- The Big Bang Theory TX3 9GO! 137,000
- The Big Bang Theory TX2 9GO! 133,000
Sunday Subscription TV
- Live: AFL Geelong v Richmond FOX FOOTY 368,000
- Live: NRL Wests Tigers v Raiders FOX LEAGUE 276,000
- Live: NRL Knights v Storm FOX LEAGUE 218,000
- Live: Supercars Darwin Race 16 FOX SPORTS 506 144,000
- Live: Bounce FOX FOOTY 137,000
- Live: Sunday Night With Matty Johns FOX LEAGUE 131,000
- Live: Sunday Footy On Fox FOX FOOTY 95,000
- Live: Supercars Darwin Top 10 Shootout FOX SPORTS 506 85,000
- Live: Supercars Live FOX SPORTS 506 84,000
- Live: NRL Sunday Ticket FOX LEAGUE 77,000
- Live: Supercars Live FOX SPORTS 506 67,000
- Live: Supercars Darwin Supports FOX SPORTS 506 66,000
- Live: Supercars Live FOX SPORTS 506 55,000
- Open Mike FOX FOOTY 53,000
- Selling Houses Australia LifeStyle Channel 51,000
- The Professor’s Farewell Tour FOX LEAGUE 49,000
- NCIS TVH!TS 49,000
- NCIS TVH!TS 49,000
- Live: Supercars Darwin Qualifying 16 FOX SPORTS 506 45,000
- Sunday Night With Matty Johns FOX LEAGUE 44,000
Shares all people, 6pm-midnight, Overnight (Live and AsLive), Audience numbers FTA metro, Sub TV national
Source: OzTAM and Regional TAM 2018. The Data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) without the prior written consent of OzTAM
Media News Roundup
Business Of Media
Liberal Party members float idea to sell the ABC called “a show of rage”
The move came after cabinet ministers poured cold water on the idea on Sunday, with Finance Minister Mathias Cormann ruling it out and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg declaring it would “never” happen.
The Liberal Party’s peak federal council of 110 delegates from across the country voted on Saturday to call on the government to privatise the ABC, passing a motion by a majority of roughly 2:1 on a show of hands.
Shorten warned voters that a Liberal government would act on that call if Malcolm Turnbull won the next election, saying the Prime Minister was being “dragged to the right” and could not “stare down” conservatives who want the public broadcaster sold.
David Crowe also reports:
The call to sell the public broadcaster, put by the Young Liberals and carried by adults who should know better, was pure self-indulgence.
The sale will not happen. The motion was cheap theatre. Even so, it says a lot about the state of Australian politics today.
Conservatives are flexing their muscles within the Liberal Party in every way they can. The ABC motion was a show of rage from those who believe the broadcaster is so biased against them that they can never get a fair hearing on same-sex marriage, voluntary euthanasia, racial discrimination laws and other disputes.
ABC radio’s Jon Faine speaks out: “I’m sick of the failure of our managers”
Faine was characteristically blunt as that politicians were “laughing” at the ABC for staying silent while it was “done over” by the Coalition government, which imposed an efficiency review last month. He took aim at managing director, Michelle Guthrie, and her chairman, Justin Milne, for not standing up to ABC critics and defending the broadcaster.
“I’ve been here since 1989 busting my guts for a vision and a set of values and quite frankly I’m sick of getting it ripped apart because of the failure of our managers,” Faine said.
Guthrie is giving a speech on Tuesday at the Melbourne Press Club, and plans on taking her strongest stand since she took office in May 2016. Faine urged the MD to rethink her “failed” strategy and talk about the importance of the ABC to the nation.
News Brands
Fairfax’s Year 12 with Cancer: Gabbie’s Story wins Asian media award
The annual SOPA Awards attract entrants of the calibre of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg, South China Morning Post, The Economist, Financial Times, Time, BBC News Online and ABC News Online.
The judges’ comment for The SMH win said: “The short, graphic novel-type vignettes brought readers into the heart of Gabbie’s struggles and experience of fighting cancer in a powerfully intimate way – and one which few 3,000-word stories could have matched.”
Woman’s Day appeal: “A massive weight has been lifted off our shoulders”
A Bauer insider told Fairfax Media: “It wasn’t as big as you might expect, but we had a drink and celebrated the feeling of relief and we raised a glass to the whole magazine and the legal team.
“It feels like a massive weight has been lifted off our shoulders. It’s been almost a year since the initial decision was made and it has been a stressful time.”
Publishing
Liz Colman replacing Kim Doherty as editor of Wentworth Courier newspaper
Colman replaces Kim Doherty, the former Australian Women’s Weekly editor-in-chief hired last year on a six-month contract and given the task of cementing the title as an up-market brand.
The Courier now sits in News Corp’s prestige network of publications alongside The Australian, Vogue Australia, Wish, Mansion, Vogue Living and GQ Australia.
Colman started out as an editorial assistant at The Australian in 2002, and spent nine years working in London, including at The Times, before returning to Holt Street three years ago.
In her most recent role as The Daily Telegraph’s associate editor of partnerships, she sat in the middle of the Sydney masthead’s newsroom in a newly created role, helping advertisers make the most of editorial opportunities.
Television
SBS On Demand announces content partnership with Screen Queensland
The SQ/SBS Short Form Content initiative provides funding for up to three early-to-mid career diverse filmmaking teams to produce unscripted content suitable for online audiences.
SBS director of TV and online content Marshall Heald said: “The new Short Form Content initiative further strengthens SBS’s commitment to growing diversity in the screen sector, encourages greater collaboration with screen agencies to support the local creative industry and, ultimately, will influence how we tell stories on screen.”
In the first round of applications for the Unscripted Short Form Content initiative, up to five teams will be selected to develop their concepts in a development workshop with SQ and SBS.
Up to three teams will then be commissioned to produce their pieces of unscripted short-form content, which can include factual, food, factual entertainment or entertainment ideas.
Each successful filmmaking team will receive up to $30,000 to produce 5-15 minutes of content.
“Logies less relevant”: Seven not sending heavyweight talent to the GC
Confidential reveals Sunrise hosts Samantha Armytage and David Koch, Morning Show hosts Kylie Gillies and Larry Emdur, the team behind The Daily Edition and many of the station’s news stars will not attend the event.
A spokeswoman confirmed that Channel 7 would not send its heavyweight talent.
“The change of location, to the Gold Coast from Melbourne, has made life difficult,” the spokeswoman said.
An insider at the network claimed Seven bosses felt the Logies had become less relevant in recent years and the money used to fly and accommodate talent on the Gold Coast could be better spent elsewhere.
Radio
Go local: Nova Brisbane drops Greg Burns morning show for Katie Mattin
Last year Burns’s show expanded to more cities on Nova’s network, including the 9am-1pm weekday slot in Brisbane, with Mattin moving to 1pm-4pm.
The search is now on for a new afternoon jock, and while Nova 106.9 has cast the net Australia-wide, the slot will remain local and be produced out of Brisbane.
Sports Media
Cricket: Six-year radio rights deals for ABC, Macquarie Media and Crocmedia
Cricket Australia has announced the signing of new six-year radio partnerships with the ABC, Macquarie Media Limited (MML) and Crocmedia, commencing from the 2018-19 season.
The new agreements mean for the first time all Rebel Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) matches will receive national radio coverage together with continued coverage of all Women’s Internationals, all Men’s Internationals and all KFC Big Bash League (BBL) matches.
ABC will continue its commitment to delivering national coverage of all Men’s International and Women’s International cricket and for the first time will also provide coverage of every match of WBBL cricket, available across Australia via a mix of digital and AM/FM channels, in effect becoming the radio home of women’s cricket. The ABC will also call Prime Minister’s XI and Governor General’s XI matches, which will be available via digital channels.
Macquarie Media’s new dedicated Macquarie Sports Radio channel in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth will cover all Men’s and Women’s Internationals and every match of the BBL, complemented with MML’s Perth 6PR AM broadcasting selected Men’s International matches and all Perth Scorcher matches.
Crocmedia will also hold the exclusive regional commercial radio rights to further expand cricket’s reach via its syndicated regional networks, and will also cover on SEN in Melbourne all Men’s Tests and all BBL matches.
The deals grant digital streaming rights to radio partners to provide coverage above and beyond the traditional AM/FM channels. All matches broadcast as part of the radio rights deal will also be made available to stream via Cricket Australia’s digital platforms.
Nightmare start for Optus push into mainstream sports broadcasting
On Sunday, Optus played down the extent of the problem and appeared to give assurances the issue was under control.
“We have seen a large demand for our streaming service and the overwhelming majority of people have had a positive experience,” an Optus spokesman said.
“Unfortunately, a small number of customers who watched the match on the Optus Sport app, on certain devices, experienced some buffering issues.
“Optus has taken a number of pro-active actions with our partners to improve the experience of these customers. As a result of these actions, incidences of buffering reduced significantly during the course of the night to low levels.”
Optus CEO to World Cup fans: “I apologise unreservedly to all Australians”
Allen Lew
@Optus CEO Allen Lew to @OptusSport customers who experienced streaming issues during the opening nights of the World Cup:
“I apologise unreservedly to all Australians.
“We should have done better, we can do better and we will do better.”
Optus still loves football, bids for Euro competitions in Germany, Spain, Italy
Optus is understood to be looking to sweep up a number of continental European domestic competitions, including Germany, Spain, Italy and France, which on their own don’t draw huge audiences in Australia, but if secured, help the telco build out its strategy of being the home of international football.
Nine’s Hugh Marks walks away from 2019 tennis after failing to agree on price
The two rival free-to-air networks have been in lengthy discussions about whether Seven would sell the rights to its final year of tennis to rival Nine.
Marks told Fairfax Media he chose to end talks over the tennis after a “very fair” offer for the next Australian Open was rejected by Seven. It is understood the offer represented a $10 million premium on Seven’s current deal with Tennis Australia, which is worth about $40 million a year.
Marks ruled out the return of Big Brother to the fill the gap in the network’s summer schedule, saying Love Island is a similar format. But he said he wanted to bring new shows to Nine.
“We’ve decided that we are going to take the opportunity to commission some additional local programming, which is both an investment in the schedule for next year plus the overall schedule for the future because we get to try a number of things that may or may not succeed,” Marks said.
New Magazines This Week
