Agencies
AGL hunts for new ad agencies as Mike Cannon-Brookes disrupts demerger
AGL Energy is examining its advertising agency arrangements as the company looks ahead to how it is perceived by consumers and other stakeholders in a post-coal environment, reports AFR‘s Miranda Ward.
Its creative and media advertising accounts were last awarded to CHE Proximity and UM in 2018 and are due for renewal.
The need to review agency arrangements for creative advertising, that is, who makes the advertising materials, and media, the strategy behind placing and buying advertising space, comes as AGL faces an unusual challenge as tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes attempts to derail the proposed separation of AGL’s coal generation business from its retailing division.
An AGL spokeswoman said the review was part of the energy provider’s regular business processes.
News Brands
Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese slammed over treatment of debate host Sarah Abo
Unruly conduct displayed by Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese during Sunday’s leaders’ debate has been labelled “truly terrible” over upsetting treatment of their host, reports News Corp’s Brooke Rolfe.
On multiple occasions, the Labor and Liberal leader spoke over each other, and refused to stop arguing points despite repeated requests from 60 Minutes host Sarah Abo.
Coalition pledges more support for regional news publishers
The Morrison government has pledged to better support regional newspapers in the face of rising costs if it is re-elected on May 21, reports AFR’s Miranda Ward.
A Coalition government would establish a new $10 million round of the Public Interest News Gathering program and allow eligible regional newspaper publishers to apply for funding support in the face of newsprint prices rising by up to 80 per cent from July 1.
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher will make the commitment on Monday as he outlines the Coalition’s plans to provide up to $2 million to fast-track an investment-ready analysis of replacing the coal-fired boiler at Norske Skog’s Boyer Mill, Australia’s only producer of publication-grade paper.
The promise comes after Antony Catalano’s Australian Community Media, which publishes The Canberra Times and The Newcastle Herald, ran a campaign in its newspapers highlighting that Australia’s sole supplier of the newsprint used by regional newspapers would soon raise prices by as much as 80 per cent.
Old divisions at Nine still show as journalists question The Age and SMH editorial judgment
Senior journalists at Nine Entertainment are publicly questioning the editorial judgments at the media company’s two biggest print assets, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, following the newspapers’ decision to give little or no coverage to Anthony Albanese’s widely publicised slip-up on a key policy last week, reports News Corp’s Sophie Elsworth and James Madden.
Despite the Labor leader’s gaffe – he was unsure about the details of his party’s six-point plan for the National Disability Insurance Scheme – attracting prominent coverage on ABC radio and television, across the nation’s commercial TV networks and in News Corp publications, The Age did not run a single word about the incident in its news pages.
The SMH ran a small six-paragraph story on page 5. Every other major metropolitan newspaper in Australia ran the story prominently in their news pages.
On Friday morning, with the issue dominating radio talkback, Nine’s 3AW mornings host, Neil Mitchell, criticised company stablemate The Age for not running any stories on Mr Albanese’s NDIS error in its print edition.
Radio
Anthony Maroon quits Triple M Sunday Sin Bin show after on-air blow up
Veteran broadcaster Anthony Maroon has stood down permanently from his Sunday Sin Bin radio show on Triple M as one of his co-hosts apologised for an on-air blow up that “ended a mateship”, reports News Corp’s Jonathon Moran.
The respected rugby league commentator has been replaced by Liam Flanagan, who will now join sports journalists James Hooper and Paul Kent and rugby league great Gorden Tallis on the weekend show.
Maroon made the shock announcement at the top of today’s show.
“After seven or eight years on the show I’ve decided that’s it for me,” Maroon said in a pre-recorded segment that played at the beginning of the show.
“I’m going to start having Sundays off and concentrate a little bit more on the commentary side of my career. Thanks so much to everybody for their support through the week, it’s just been absolutely not only wonderful but certainly overwhelming. The show will continue as normal. I won’t be on it but you will still get all your rugby league information and as it happens you will hear it right here first on the Sunday Sin Bin.”
Virgina Trioli’s spray over Scott Morrison blacklisting
She has allegedly waited “three years” to no avail for an interview with Scott Morrison. So when Virginia Trioli received a text message from the PM’s office on Thursday morning telling her with a note of finality that Morrison wouldn’t appear on her show before the next election, she was immediately in the mood to unleash, reports News Corp’s Nick Tabakoff.
Shortly before 8am, the ABC Radio Melbourne morning host went on to her colleague Sammy J’s breakfast show to reveal she was being boycotted.
“We’ve been pretty much told by the Prime Minister’s office – and that’s been reaffirmed this morning – that we’ll never get Scott Morrison.”
Little more than 90 seconds later at 8am, the familiar notes of the theme tune of the ABC radio news show AM came on. And what was the lead item for the very same listeners who had just been told by Trioli moments earlier that Morrison wouldn’t appear? Why, a 10-minute interview by host Sabra Lane – with, you guessed it, Scott Morrison.
Sport Media
Foxtel boss unconcerned about streaming competition for AFL rights
Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany says he is not perturbed by reports Network 10 and Paramount+ are willing to splash cash to gain the coveted broadcast rights to the AFL, arguing challengers have to beat it not just with dollars but also in coverage, reports AFR’s Miranda Ward.
With broadcast rights for the AFL up for renegotiation as the present deal lapses in 2024, Foxtel and the Seven Network, the current rights-holders, are facing a serious challenge from streaming giants Amazon Prime Video and Paramount+.
The AFL is the most expensive broadcast deal, worth $946 million over 2023 and 2024, after the code locked its rights away until the end of 2024 just before Christmas 2020, extending its $2.5 billion deal for two more years.
While both Amazon and Paramount+ have reportedly expressed an interest in being part of the AFL’s next broadcasting deal, Foxtel’s Mr Delany said: “Anyone coming in to try to challenge us not only has to challenge us on dollars, they have to challenge us on reach, which is very big, and they have to challenge us on the depth and breadth of our coverage.
“This is why we say the relationships with the sports are very strong, because of those three elements. We will always compete in the market, but we feel we’re in a good place.”
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Top Image: Triple M Footy team featuring Anthony Maroon, second from the left