Business of Media
From ‘Jimflation’ to ‘Lucky Chalm’: How did the Australian press cover the 2024 budget?
The 2024 federal budget is here, laying out the government’s plan for the nation for the next 12 months and beyond, reports Crikey’s Daanyal Saeed.
Crikey has rounded up the headlines from across the media landscape.
See Also: Budget 2024: What Jim Chalmers delivered for media industry
Disney to dramatically cut spending for traditional TV networks
Walt Disney will cut its investment in programming for traditional television networks pretty dramatically as the company navigates the consumer shift to streaming, Chief Executive Bob Iger said on Wednesday, reports Reuters’ Lisa Richwine.
Iger said linear channels such as ABC still serve as an important marketing tool and reach older viewers who are not watching series such as Abbott Elementary on Disney’s streaming platforms.
Television
‘Out for numero uno’: Anne Edmonds, Lloyd Langford take on Taskmaster
Comedy is a competitive business. Every performer on a crowded pub comedy night bill knows the desperate, sweaty urge to get more and bigger laughs than the others on the lineup, and it’s only by being better than your rivals that you can move up the ladder to bigger and better gigs, reports Nine Publishing’s Ben Pobjie.
And so we come to Taskmaster, the international comedy juggernaut that has conquered multiple countries by tapping into comedians’ natural competitive urges and combining them with the reliable standbys of absurdism and public humiliation.
But if being on Taskmaster is a chance for comics to prove themselves both funnier and cleverer than their peers, this season of the Australian edition has a new wrinkle: among the five comics striving to please Taskmaster Tom Gleeson are Anne Edmonds and Lloyd Langford, Australia’s best-known comedy power couple (whether that’s a hotly contested title is a question for another time).
Here’s what’s in store on ABC Family / ABC Entertains channels
Two new channel refreshes will launch on Monday June 3 on ABC: ABC Entertains and ABC Family (which also includes ABC Kids), reports TV Tonight.
There’s not a great deal of change from current ABC TV Plus and ABC ME channels, but here is a snapshot of forthcoming programming, denoting (NEW) for ABC first-run.
Sports Media
Sport off free TV? Tell ’em they’re streaming
Let’s talk national campfires, Pat Cummins steaming in from the Randwick end, the pinstripe mob that runs this joint, and the redoubtable Senator Sarah Hanson Young, reports Nine Publishing’s Peter FitzSimons.
See, in the beginning, there were lots of national campfires where, as a people, we would regularly gather to clap our hands and warm our souls. Watching the same huge sporting event was one of them. There have been few more unifying national moments in my lifetime than when Australia II – and don’t you forget it! – won the America’s Cup back in 1983.
Xander McGuire stepping away from media role for St Andrews sabbatical
Channel Nine sports reporter Xander McGuire is heading to Scotland on a six month study sabbatical, reports News Corp’s Jackie Epstein.
McGuire, the 21 year-old son of veteran broadcaster Eddie McGuire, will be based at the famed University of St Andrews to tackle the politics part of his Melbourne University Arts Degree.
“It’s really exciting and something I’ve always wanted to do,’’ Xander said.
NFL fans in US must pay $1,600 a year to watch every game after Netflix addition
After the success of shows like Drive to Survive, Full Swing, and The Roast of Tom Brady, Netflix is continuing its move into live sports broadcasting. The company announced on Wednesday that it will broadcast two NFL games on Christmas Day during the 2024 season, with at least one other Christmas game in 2025 and 2026, reports The Guardian.
Netflix has hosted one-off events in tennis, golf and boxing but this is the first live partnership between the streaming company and one of the major US sports leagues.
Netflix content chief Bela Bajaria said on Wednesday “there are no live annual events, sports or otherwise, that compare with the audiences NFL football attracts.”