Foxtel has chosen Oscar day to announce changes to its movie services, including the addition of a new channel dedicated to the all-time greatest movies ever made and a new “golden oldies” library available On Demand.

The move comes just over 12 months since the subscription TV platform stopped carrying TCM, a classic movie channel.

Brian Walsh, Foxtel executive director of television, said: “We know how much our customers love movies and we recognise how important it is for them to have choice. That includes movies of every genre and from every decade. We recognised a gap in not providing a service dedicated to the all-time movie greats and that is why this new channel has been added to the lineup.

• Mediaweek meets The Programmers – Foxtel’s Brian Walsh

“Foxtel Movie Greats will be carefully curated with a wide selection of outstanding motion pictures from every major Hollywood studio, including 20th Century Fox, Disney, Warners, Sony, Paramount, Universal and MGM. The channel will feature titles from Hollywood’s illustrious past through to modern classics. It will mean that Foxtel customers will now have the choice of 10 dedicated movie channels, including our incredibly successful pop-up movie channel More Movies,” he said.

“All movies on Foxtel are available in HD and ad-break free with fresh titles added to the lineup every week – combined with over 1,200 movies to watch On Demand – including the World Movies service, making the Foxtel Movies offer compelling and the best currently available on the market.”

Foxtel’s Brian Walsh

The new Foxtel Movie Greats channel will feature the most-acclaimed actors and actresses of all time including Meryl Streep, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Clint Eastwood, Kiefer Sutherland, Tom Cruise, as well as notable comics Eddie Murphy, Goldie Hawn and Dan Aykroyd, and fan favourites Molly Ringwald, John Travolta, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, and Sean Astin.

Key titles during launch include King Kong, An Officer And A Gentleman, Kramer vs. Kramer, Saturday Night Fever, The Godfather, The Greatest Show On Earth, Risky Business, Flying High and Flying High 2, Chariots of Fire, Escape from Alcatraz, Death On The Nile, Murder On The Orient Express, Pretty In Pink, The Goonies, St. Elmo’s Fire, Trading Places, and all-time classics such as My Fair Lady, Cleopatra, The Great Escape, Ben-Hur, War And Peace, The Ten Commandments and many more.

Brian Walsh added: “We have secured brand new digitally remastered prints of many of the titles, which look stunning. For a great many of the movies, this is the first time they will be seen in glorious HD, which will add to the magic,” he said.

In addition to the introduction of Movie Greats, Foxtel has announced that veteran movie critic Bill Collins will be part of an expanded On Demand library service available to subscribers, also from March 23.

“Bill is a much loved and highly respected movie reviewer, currently celebrating 55 years on Australian television, 23 of those with Foxtel,” continued Brian Walsh.

“From next month, Bill’s popular Golden Years Of Hollywood will be available On Demand, with a dedicated section of the On Demand library boasting a large number of Bill’s personal favourites and the all-time classics from Hollywood’s golden age. It will be a real treasure trove of movie masterpieces,” he said.

Titles available in Bill Collins’s On Demand library will include, at launch, All About Eve, All That Heaven Allows, Sunset Boulevard, The Wizard Of Oz, Singin’ In The Rain, An American In Paris, Casablanca, The Philadelphia Story, The African Queen, Auntie Mame, The Postman Always Rings Twice and Magnificent Obsession.

The Foxtel Movie Greats channel will be available in HD to Foxtel Movies and Foxtel Platinum subscribers on Channel 403. Over 60 of the key films from the new Foxtel Movie Greats channel will be available to watch from Foxtel’s On Demand library and will be streamed on Foxtel Now.

The interview, conducted over two days by editor-in-chief Fiona Connolly, provides insight into the real Corby, focusing on her life now and what’s ahead for her.

Woman’s Day is describing the feature as intimate, candid and personal, showing a side of Corby never seen before. She opens up about her plans for the future, her hopes for a family of her own and how she has finally found some peace and happiness on the Gold Coast.

“Schapelle is arguably one of the nation’s most intriguing women, but despite countless articles, books, a movie even, she has remained a mystery – until now,” said Fiona Connolly. “This story covers everything from what she’s watching on TV to her deepest fears, regrets and hopes for the future.

“You’ll read what it’s like to be a woman who, rightly or wrongly, has gone to hell and back and, in her own words, is now simply happy to be alive. She trusted Woman’s Day to tell her story, in her words.”

Connolly told Mediaweek she had been negotiating a deal with Corby and her team since late last year.

Connolly travelled to the Gold Coast for the two-day lifestyle photo shoot and interview. “We shot it at a location house near Tugun. Schapelle wanted an opportunity to show the real Schapelle, the side people do not know, and she trusted Woman’s Day to do that.”

Now to Love, Woman’s Day’s digital platform, will be sharing exclusive content from the interview and photo shoot in the coming days. Two stories have gone live this morning to coincide with the magazine on sale.

Connolly said there is no long-term deal with Corby, just a one-off story.

When asked to comment on any financial agreement between Bauer and Corby, Connolly referred Mediaweek to a spokesperson who said: “Bauer Media does not discuss commercial agreements.”

Just last month Macquarie Media told the ASX it was reviewing the underperforming format.

Late last week Macquarie Media executive chairman Russell Tate (pictured above) told staff of the change in format. Later Talking Technology host Trevor Long revealed his program was closing down later this month ahead of the format change.

Tate told Mediaweek that it is still early days and there are plenty of decisions to be made about the move to sport.

He said the Macquarie Media group currently has existing sports rights agreements that could see live sport on the stations. However, he noted whatever they decide to do, they will not be changing the live sport component on either 2GB or 3AW this year.

The new format will launch across the three stations now carrying the Talking Lifestyle format in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

Tate also confirmed to Mediaweek that it will be taking on the new sports brand on its own, and not in partnership with another broadcaster.

The Melbourne sports radio station 1116 SEN has found it difficult to monetise its sports content in the Melbourne market and after a shareholder vote on March 15, the station is expected to be run by Crocmedia, which has been in caretaker control for some time.

Melbourne also has RSN Radio (racing and sport), so the addition of another station will give the market three stations competing for the audience.

Sydney already has Sky Sports Radio with its all-sport The Big Sports Breakfast program.

When asked if sports fans John Stanley and Garry Linnell will continue hosting the new station’s breakfast program, Tate told Mediaweek it was too early to talk about the new station’s program schedule.

News Corp already publishes kidspot.com.au, which aims to help parents take care of the family.

The news to launch Kidsnews.com.au comes after Saffron Howden and Remi Bianchi, the founders of kids newsbrand Crinkling News, pulled the plug in January this year on the venture despite raising over $200,000 via crowdfunding in 2017.

Kids News will offer students and teachers a literacy tool for the classroom, helping to improve children’s general knowledge and thirst for information, teaching them the importance of relying on trusted news sources.

Chairman of the Herald & Weekly Times and News Corp Australia’s Community Ambassador Penny Fowler said: “We are immensely proud of News Corp’s passionate and principled contributions, giving back to the communities in which we serve across the country.

“The launch of a national news site for school children is an important part of News Corp’s commitment to educating the next generation, improving children’s literacy, and investing in readers of the future, through our News in the Community program.

“We hope students around the country will embrace this dedicated news site, and teachers find it an invaluable tool to better educate and inform their students about what is happening in Australia and around the world.”

Kids News content will be sourced from News Corp’s key newspapers and websites including the Herald Sun, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier-Mail, The Advertiser, The Mercury and NT News, as well as from its regional papers and community titles.

The site is isolated, so it does not link to outside news sources, meaning students can use it safely in a supervised or unsupervised environment or for independent learning.

Former Herald Sun associate editor (Lifestyle), Toni Hetherington, who championed the initiative and has overseen a successful pilot, has been appointed to the newly created role of national education publisher – and will assume responsibility for the new, national kidsnews.com.au site.

Hetherington said: “Thanks to the generous support from the Herald & Weekly Times and News Corp’s News in the Community initiative, the uptake and positive feedback from schools has been phenomenal.

“The site averages almost three million page views a year, and an average time on site of almost five minutes. We are now ready to take it to the rest of Australia and let other schools experience the wonder of learning through relevant news stories.”

Hetherington said Kids News had attracted both state and national support, with advertisers including Hewlett Packard and the Melbourne Cricket Club.

“Kids News offers both national and local advertisers access to a niche and engaged audience including students, teachers and parents. And the fact the site encourages learning is very attractive to advertisers,” Hetherington said.

Pictured above: Penny Fowler and Toni Hetherington

Mediaweek editor James Manning takes a look at the ARIA Charts for the week starting February 26.

Singles

Drake has managed to lead the ARIA singles chart for a fifth consecutive week with “God’s Plan”, which means Drake and Ed Sheeran are the only artists to claim top spot as we enter the third month of the year.

Just falling short of upsetting the status quo was Post Malone featuring Ty Dolla $ign with “Psycho” with a #2 debut. The song was one of only two chart debuts inside the top 50. The single comes from the forthcoming Post Malone album “Beerbongs & Bentleys”. This is his third top 10 single and comes after a long reign on top in 2017 with “Rockstar”.

The other debut this week was 5 Seconds Of Summer with “Want You Back” new at #32.

“Look Alive” from BlocBoy JB featuring Drake has climbed into the top 50 at #36 after a debut last week at #51.

Although he made a much bigger splash on the album chart this week, Vance Joy is seeing singles action too. “We’re Going Home” moves up 15 spots to #16 after seven weeks on the chart, and “Lay It On Me” has climbed back to #50 after 33 weeks on the chart with a peak at #18.

Albums

Finally a 2018 release has made it to the top of a chart dominated by either Ed Sheeran’s “Divide” or The Great Showman soundtrack until now. (Both albums hover still in the top 10.) Joy’s second album “Nation Of Two” is his second #1 album. He becomes the first Australian artist to top the albums chart this year.

As noted last week, there will be no escaping Ed Sheeran as he plays for 1m+ people across Australia and New Zealand in the next few days. Here are this week’s Sheeran chart stats:

#3: “Divide” after 52 weeks: His third album celebrating a year on the chart
#8: “Multiply” after 193 weeks
#12: “Plus” after 300 weeks

Three other albums debuted in the top 50, one of them in the top 10.

#5: Sarah Blasko’s sixth album “Depth Of Field”: Five of those albums have landed in the top 10, with “As Day Follows Night” peaking at #5 in 2009.

#11: 6ix9ine with “Day69”: Album chart debut for the US rapper.

#20: Augie March with “Bootikins”: The group’s first album in four years. All previous albums also made the top 50, with the highest peak being 2008’s “Watch Me Disappear”, which made it to #4.

Pictured above: Vance Joy (c: Justin Bettman)

By James Manning

The TV juggernaut that Married At First Sight has become was key to Nine’s first win of the survey year. MAFS audiences continue to grow in week 10 and Seven was missing late night share that the Winter Games delivered in weeks 8 and 9.

Nine’s analysis of the week noted Nine comfortably won the week with all key demographics, securing the following network primetime commercial shares:

People 25-54 (40.8%) and 16-39 (41.8%). Nine Network also won the week with total people, securing a 39.3% primetime commercial share.

On primary channel shares, Nine was also #1 with all key demos including people 25-54 (30.6%) and 16-39 (32.0%). Nine was also the #1 primary channel with total people (28.8%).

By James Manning

Seven

The channel resisted any temptation it may have had to move the much-hyped but less-anticipated Australian Spartan after a soft launch a week ago with 816,000 watching. Episode 2 held onto the 7pm timeslot with a much lower 524,000. This would not be acceptable given Seven’s Sunday record and expect Spartan to be moved soon.

Sunday Night returned for first time this year with host Melissa Doyle speaking with Karlie Tyrrell, the mother of missing toddler William Tyrrell. The episode did 488,000, which is one of the show’s smallest-ever audiences after a poor lead-in.

Crimes That Shook The World followed close to 10pm with 196,000, while the third season of Blindspot then launched close to 11pm with 81,000.

Nine

We are already 21 episodes into Married At First Sight, which featured the second-last commitment ceremony, where there was surprise about a bride’s decision. The Sunday episode set yet another audience record for the format – 1.53m for a regular episode.

60 Minutes rode the gamut from university residential colleges initiation rituals to Aussie surfers riding 30-foot monster waves. The episode did 795,000 after 823,000 a week ago.

The third episode of the gruesome Born To Kill: Class Of Evil then did 246,000.

TEN

The Sunday episode of The Project features Lisa Wilkinson, Hamish Macdonald, Tommy Little and Rachel Corbett each week. Guests last night include actress Yael Stone and journalist Sharri Markson with 365,000 watching after 7pm.

Finals week has arrived for I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! and the latest guest to make a brief appearance was TEN News presenter Sandra Sully. The Sunday episode saw visiting butler Paul Burrell sent home. The audience of 633,000 for the elimination and 580,000 for the regular ep was down on little on the week prior.

NCIS then did 419,000, followed by SEAL Team on 224,000.

ABC

Encore screening started the primetime week with The Checkout at 6pm on 100,000 followed by Hard Quiz at 6.30pm on 204,000.

The 40-minute Sunday news bulletin was on 738,000.

A Victorian gate house in North London was the subject of a renovation on Grand Designs with 621,000 watching.

The four-part adaptation of EM Forster’s classic novel “Howards End” telling the story of two independent and unconventional sisters and the men in their lives only went to air in the UK at the end of 2017 and it was a treat for ABC viewers last night. The first episode did 569,000 putting it in the top 10.

SBS

Episode five of Eight Days That Made Rome screened at 7.30pm to 176,000.

Coverage of the 2018 40th anniversary of the Sydney Gay and lesbian Mardi Gras followed with 243,000 watching part 1 and the 206,000 staying on for part 2.