Business of Media
Catalano and Waislitz plot with ARN on Southern Cross takeover
Australian Community Media chairman Antony Catalano is in talks to partner with ARN Media for a joint takeover bid of rival regional television broadcaster Southern Cross Austereo, the owner of Triple M and The Hit Network radio brands and nearly 100 stations, reports Nine Publishing’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
Catalano flew to Sydney on Monday for discussions with executives from ARN Media, which owns the Kyle and Jackie O Show’s KIIS FM and Pure Gold radio networks.
He owns Australian Community Media alongside his billionaire business partner Alex Waislitz. The regional media company has a portfolio of news publications including The Canberra Times, The Newcastle Herald and The Land.
ABC used me as clickbait, says Amber Harrison, whose Four Corners interview was dumped at the 11th hour
Amber Harrison, the former lover of former Seven West Media chief Tim Worner, has accused the ABC of using her as “clickbait” to promote Monday night’s Four Corners investigation into the media company, after she didn’t appear in the program’s final cut, reports The Australian’s James Madden.
The Four Corners episode, Don’t Speak, was heavily promoted last week, with Harrison included in the trailer.
However, after Seven issued a legal letter to the ABC late last week, the promo was taken down from all ABC platforms.
Bill Shorten warns Aussie free-to-air TV now in ‘diabolical trouble’
Australian free-to-air TV is in “diabolical trouble” and needs ad revenue from gambling companies “just to stay afloat”, Bill Shorten has warned, reports News Corp’s Brielle Bruns.
The former Labor leader and current government services minister addressed calls for an all-out ban on gambling ads on the ABC’s Q+A program on Monday night, arguing he’s “not convinced that complete prohibition works”.
“The free-to-air media is under massive attack by Facebook [and is] completely disrupted by the internet,” said Shorten.
X Spaces with Trump is off to a glitchy start
Elon Musk’s live conversation with former president Donald J. Trump on X got off to a glitchy start on Monday, a setback for the social media service as Musk pushes the company to regain its dominance as an online epicenter of political discourse, report The New York Times’ Kate Conger and Ryan Mac.
Some users who tried to listen to the conversation, which was hosted on the company’s audio livestreaming feature called Spaces, were greeted by silence and an error message that read: “Details not available.” Users said they had trouble accessing the livestream on desktop computers and mobile phones. Those who were able to get the livestream to work were met with hold music.
See also: ‘Now it is war’: Elon Musk’s X sues major companies over advertiser boycott
Paramount to close TV studio amid restructuring
Paramount Global is restructuring its TV-production business as part of a cost-cutting effort and what the company said were significant changes in the TV and streaming marketplaces, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint.
Paramount on Tuesday said that Paramount Television Studios was shutting down at the end of the week, and that its sister TV unit—CBS Studios—would absorb the production of Paramount shows as a result of the move. CBS Studios produces content for the CBS network, Paramount+ and other platforms.
Television
TV ad revenue tanks but broadcast video on demand offers hope
Free-to-air television networks suffered a dramatic slump in advertising revenue in FY24, with the industry’s total take plummeting by more than $250m from the previous financial year, reports The Australian’s James Madden.
The total TV advertising market, which includes metropolitan free-to-air, regional free-to-air and Broadcaster Video on Demand (BVOD) but excludes SBS, recorded combined revenue of $3.3bn for the year to June 2024, down 8.1 per cent compared to the same period ending June 2023.
The metro free-to-air market bore the brunt of the downturn, shedding 12 per cent (equivalent to $300m) of ad revenue year-on-year – a clear sign that advertisers are looking to spend their dollars elsewhere as linear TV audiences continue to wane.
TV companies launch last-minute bid to block total gambling ad ban
Media companies will be given several years to scale back their reliance on advertising revenue from gambling firms in a federal move to soften the impact of a new cap on the promotion of sports betting, as the commercial broadcasters launch a last-minute push to stop a blanket ad ban, report Nine Publishing’s David Crowe, Paul Sakkal and Chris Barrett.
The major broadcasters are warning of a cut to their $1.6 billion annual outlay on news, sport and local drama if the government imposes a tight cap on gambling advertising, raising the stakes in a cabinet decision as soon as next week.
Veteran journalist Allan Raskall parts ways with 9News Melbourne amid mass network sackings
Veteran journalist Allan Raskall has parted ways with 9News Melbourne after reportedly being told by bosses he is no longer needed at the embattled network, reports News Corp’s Kaitlyn Smith.
Multiple sources told the Herald Sun that Raskall, with more than three decades of experience to his name, had his casual reporting shifts halted amid ongoing cost-cutting.
Raskall, who worked as a long-time freelancer at Nine, finished up just over two weeks ago.
Sports Media
Golden girls O’Callaghan and Titmus the most-watched session of Nine’s Olympics success
Australia’s golden girls Mollie O’Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus featured in the most-watched session of the Paris Olympics on Nine, as the company reached record audiences and drove $160 million in revenue across the two weeks, according to its chief executive, reports Nine Publishing’s Calum Jaspan.
Qualifying for the women’s 200m freestyle semi-finals on the evening of day two was the most-watched session, with a national total TV reach (broadcast and streaming) of 5.74 million and an average audience of 2.32 million. In total, Nine’s Olympics coverage across free-to-air and digital streaming reached 19.5 million Australians or about three in four of the population. Nine is the owner of this masthead.
Sportsbet CEO’s sherpa walks out during the storm
At last year’s crunch inquiry into online gambling, the late Labor MP Peta Murphy wanted the bookmakers to face a Canberra grilling. Only one sent a duo, reports Nine Publishing’s Mark Di Stefano.
Tabcorp’s then-chief Adam Rytenskild appeared alone. So too did Entain’s Steven Lang. Even the footy CEOs Gil McLachlan and Andrew Abdo were solo.
But Barni Evans from Sportsbet – the country’s largest online bookmaker – appeared alongside linchpin executive Tania Abbotto.