Business of Media
Andrew O’Keefe has raft of choking charges withdrawn as he faces hearing
Embattled former television star Andrew O’Keefe has thrown up a peace sign outside court and said he was “not surprised but relieved” after charges against him were dropped, reports News Corp’s Lauren Ferri.
The 51-year-old fronted Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Monday, where he is facing a hearing over charges of common assault, contravene an AVO, resisting a police officer and assault occasioning actual bodily harm related to an incident in 2021.
Before the hearing took place, charges were withdrawn relating to another matter regarding the alleged intentional choking of a woman without her consent.
Police prosecutor Michael Cleaver told the court the complainant was no longer in the country.
“They are not in the jurisdiction and our capacity to have the witness appear has been unsuccessful,” Sergeant Cleaver said.
The court was told the woman returned to her home country.
Beyonce makes Grammys history as the most awarded artist but misses out on Album of the Year
Beyonce has officially become the Grammys GOAT, reports News Corp’s Kathy McCabe.
Winning the Best Dance/Electronic Album with Renaissance gave Queen Bey her 32nd Grammy, her fourth for this year.
She took several deep breaths as she carefully made her way up the steps and then at the podium to compose herself.
“I am trying not to be too emotional, I am trying to just receive this night,” she said, taking another pause.
Her list of thank yous included God, her parents, her three children, “my beautiful husband” and the queer community, as well as her late Uncle Johnny who died of HIV when she was 17. Beyoncé dedicated the Renaissance album to him in a note she wrote to fans on its release last year.
Radio
Fordham lands first NSW leaders’ debate
The NSW election campaign is not yet formally underway, but 2GB’s top rating breakfast host Ben Fordham has managed to cleverly goad NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Labor leader Chris Minns into committing to the first debate between the pair ahead of the March 25 poll, reports The Australian’s Nick Tabakoff.
Diary has learnt the debate will take place on Thursday at 7am.
Insiders at 2GB say that off-air, in response to offers from the Fordham camp to host a debate, Perrottet had said he didn’t want to debate Minns and had given a firm no.
The Liberal camp subsequently came back with an offer of deputy leader and Treasurer Matt Kean for a debate, which Minns refused.
Amid this stalemate, Fordham had one more crack, asking Perrottet in an interview on Tuesday about whether he’d conduct a debate with Minns. Fordham was audibly surprised when Perrottet replied, with some bravado, that he would debate Minns “any day of the week”.
The debate coup is part of an apparent commitment by Fordham in 2023 to double down on hard news, amid perceptions internally at 2GB that the ABC has ceded some of the hard news territory in the breakfast slot with the more whimsical James Valentine occupying the slot. There is a belief at 2GB that it can win more talk radio listeners from the ABC in a year when news is front and centre once more.
Television
BVOD revenue up year on year
Total TV advertising for the 6 months period to December 2022 has increased by just 1.2% compared to the same period ending December 2021, reports TV Tonight.
Combined revenue was $4.1 billion across metropolitan & regional free-to-air, subscription TV and Broadcaster Video on Demand (excluding SBS). Advertising revenue was $2.1 billion, down 3.7 per cent.
BVOD continues to be the star performer at $448 million, up 23 per cent year in year.
See Also: ThinkTV reports total TV advertising revenue is up $4.1 billion for 2022
‘All but dead’: Where it all went wrong for Dr Phil
Dr. Phil’s decision to call it quits last week came months after producers tried and failed to revamp the long-running daytime show in a desperate bid to lure back skittish advertisers, The New York Post has learned, reports News Corp’s Lydia Moynihan.
After years of Dr. Phil staging dramatic “interventions” with wayward teens and squabbling families — and in some cases being accused of exploiting the troubles of celebrities like Britney Spears and Shelley Duvall — insiders at US network CBS were concerned that viewers and advertisers alike were lumping in Dr. Phil with other “quack doctors” who have left TV in recent years, multiple sources told The Post.
Indeed, despite the fact Dr. Phil averaged more than 2 million US viewers in the 3pm timeslot — the second-highest rated show in daytime American TV behind ABC’s Live with Ryan and Kelly, according to Nielsen — the show had become radioactive for many sponsors, according to sources close to the situation.
“The advertising queue was all but dead,” one insider said. “The show was relying on CBS to book ads as opposed to relying on Dr. Phil’s brand.”
“With that timeslot, you start on home base,” another source said. “But he couldn’t hit any more home runs.”
Sports Media
Tom Brady says he will delay Fox Sports broadcasting career until 2024
Tom Brady will not go immediately from the playing field to the broadcast booth, reports Associated Press.
Brady told Colin Cowherd during Monday’s episode of Fox Sports’ The Herd that he will not start his broadcasting career until the 2024 season.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion – who retired last week after a 23-year career with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers – signed a 10-year deal with Fox last May to become the network’s top analyst when he decided to quit playing for good. The deal is reported to be worth $375m.
Brady said that he doesn’t want to immediately rush into announcing and that he hopes to catch up on some other parts of his life.
“I think one thing about my career whether it was when I was drafted by the Patriots or signing agreements with the Bucs, I wanted to be fully committed and I never wanted to let people down,” Brady said. “I want to be great at what I do, and that always takes some time and strategizing and learning and growing and evolving. I have so many people to rely on that could support me in that growth too.”
‘The Last of Us’ episode five to premiere early thanks to Super Bowl
HBO isn’t going to let the Super Bowl tackle the ratings momentum of The Last of Us, reports The Hollywood Reporter’s James Hibberd.
The network will make its next episode of the acclaimed post-apocalyptic series available two days early to get ahead of Super Bowl LVII.
Episode five will be available on HBO Max and HBO On Demand starting this Friday, Feb. 10, at 9 a.m. ET. The linear telecast on the HBO cable network will still air on Sunday, Feb. 12, at 9 p.m. ET. This gets the latest adventure of Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal) to viewers well ahead of the big game Sunday which has the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Philadelphia Eagles.
The show has been on a creative and ratings roll, with its most recent third episode, Long Long Time, generating widespread praise for its portrayal of a gay couple’s relationship across 20 years after a deadly Cordyceps pandemic.