Business of Media
Paramount Global chief Bob Bakish exits amid scramble to agree merger
The boss of Paramount Global, the media empire behind CBS, MTV and Channel 5, is leaving with immediate effect as its owners scramble to finalize a blockbuster merger, reports The Guardian’s Callum Jones.
Bob Bakish’s exit from the firm was confirmed on Tuesday as Paramount continues negotiations with Skydance Media, a production company, regarding a tie-up.
It follows reports of tensions between Bakish and Shari Redstone, Paramount’s current controlling shareholder, as she looks to relinquish her seat at the top of the struggling entertainment conglomerate.
See Also: What does sale of Paramount and departure of Bob Bakish mean for 10 Network?
Post-Bruce Lehrmann, Kerry Stokes tries to reset
Boom! Oh look, it’s the Hunger Games cannon going off again. Another face appears over the Eveleigh industrial estate. The latest bloke connected to Seven’s Bruce Lehrmann-rapist rehab project joins the growing unemployment queue, reports Nine Publishing’s Mark Di Stefano.
Seven’s new CEO, Jeff Howard, announced head of news and current affairs Craig McPherson had resigned on Monday, getting departing praise for playing a “pivotal role” in the ratings successes of Sunrise, and before that Today Tonight.
Radio
Kyle & Jackie O have arrived in Melbourne. What do locals think?
Sex, drugs and anti-vaxxers. That more or less sums up the first 20 minutes of The Kyle & Jackie O Show, as it debuted on Melbourne airwaves on Monday morning, reports Nine Publishing’s Nell Geraets.
For more than two decades, the show has been a staple of Sydney radio, regularly claiming record audiences and earning its hosts a spot in the Commercial Radio Hall of Fame. In the most recent ratings survey, the show topped the market in the breakfast slot with a 16.1 per cent share, up from 15.4 per cent in the first survey of the year.
See Also: Kyle & Jackie O’s Melbourne expansion due to rival SCA’s offer of national show
Brendan Fevola’s cheeky swipe at Kyle and Jackie O
Brendan Fevola has taken a subtle swipe at Kyle and Jackie O, as the pair enter the Melbourne radio market, reports News Corp’s Andrew Bucklow.
News.com.au spoke to Fevola on Monday, and the former AFL star made it clear he thinks their show has one big advantage over Kyle and Jackie O … the fact they’re actually based in Melbourne.
“I was going to go to the KIIS station this morning and say congratulations (to Kyle and Jackie) but they were in Sydney, they weren’t in Melbourne,” he joked.
Television
The Cheap Seats jokes the show might be ‘cursed’
It’s the TV show that loves to highlight amusing, often obscure, television moments, but The Cheap Seats is starting to joke that it may also be cursed. The 10 show, returning for its fourth season, is slowly amassing a list of television shows and presenters that have all departed after becoming a Cheap Seats favourite, reports TV Tonight.
The latest to bite the dust is 10’s own Studio 10, a source of many clip highlights, but no longer on air in 2024.
“Last year internally, we started calling The Cheap Seats ‘cursed,’” Tim McDonald tells TV Tonight.
Hit Aussie series Colin From Accounts set for Season 2 with big-name comedians on-board
Fresh faces will join Season 2 of the award-winning Aussie comedy series Colin From Accounts, with the upcoming new season tipped to be funnier than the last, reports News Corps’ Christine Estera.
Joining the BINGE show’s stellar line-up are some of Australia’s best comedic talent such as Celeste Barber, Justin Rosniak, Lynne Porteous, Virginia Gay and John Howard.
“I am so excited to be joining the cast of Colin from Accounts,” says Howard, who is well loved for his roles in SeaChange and The Merger.
Jeff Probst locks onto returning players for Survivor 50
A week ago Survivor US was undecided about what they might plot for their 50th season -but at a recent fan event, Jeff Probst consulted the audience and appeared to lock it in, reports TV Tonight.
On Saturday night at the Ovation Hollywood complex in Los Angeles, Probst asked the crowd, “Survivor 50 is coming down the corner. The truth is, we really do focus on 47 and 48, that’s what we’re heading out to shoot next, and then we have to shoot 49. But we know 50 is coming, so I am curious, is there a feeling, should 50 be another season with new players and don’t make it a big deal?”
“Or should it be returning players?”
The crowd applauded rapturously.
Sports Media
From a Saturday afternoon session at the Sacky to an ugly street ruckus
At the Sackville Hotel in Rozelle, they call it the locals’ table, reports Nine Publishing’s Chris Barrett.
Situated in the TAB section of the popular Darling Street pub, it’s often occupied on Friday and Saturday by high-profile sports journalist and television pundit Paul Kent and a revolving cohort of mates, among them colourful rugby league identity and former player John Elias.
So embedded is the group at the watering hole that the table has been permanently set aside for them, marked with a reserved sign, and has usually remained vacant even when none of them are there.
It was at the Sacky, as it’s known by regulars, that Kent settled in for an afternoon on the punt on Saturday.