Business of Media
Smart TV feud hits boiling point as legal notices fly
Tensions between Australia’s free to air networks and pay TV body, ASTRA, have hit boiling point in a feud over a piece of legislation that will dictate how apps are displayed on smart televisions, reports Nine Publishing’s Calum Jaspan.
As the legislation expected to be introduced to parliament this month, Free TV Australia, the lobby group for commercial networks Nine, Ten and Seven, has sent a legal notice to Foxtel CEO and chair of ASTRA Patrick Delany demanding action over an advertising campaign run by ASTRA, alleging it misleads Australians.
The ad campaign, launched by ASTRA in early November, reads “Warning: Now the government wants to control your TV”. In response, Free TV on Monday has launched its own advertising campaign under the slogan “Don’t let big tech take your free away”.
Apple and Disney among companies stopping ads on X
Apple and several major entertainment companies stopped advertising on Elon Musk’s X after the social-media network’s owner described an antisemitic post this week as “the actual truth” and again lashed out at the Anti-Defamation League, report The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint and Patience Haggin.
Among those pausing ads on the social-media platform are Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global, NBCUniversal and its parent Comcast, and Lions Gate Entertainment, people close to those companies said.
The companies followed tech giant IBM, which stopped ads on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday. IBM’s statement cited a report from a media-watchdog site about the placement of its ads on X.
Elon Musk to file ‘thermonuclear lawsuit’ as advertisers desert X
Elon Musk has said he will be filing a “thermonuclear lawsuit” against Media Matters and others, after major US companies paused their adverts on his social media site over concerns about antisemitism, reports The Guardian’s Harry Taylor.
“The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company,” Musk said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
A new model for digital media? What Karlie Kloss’s acquisition of i-D means
In 2006, the then 25-year-old real estate heir Jared Kushner bought the New York Observer – and went on to own it for more than a decade. Almost 20 years later, Kushner’s sister-in-law, the supermodel and entrepreneur Karlie Kloss, bought the British fashion publication i-D from Vice Media Group, months after the company filed for bankruptcy, reports The Guardian’s Kylie Cheung.
Kloss’s acquisition of i-D through her media company, Bedford Media, comes three years after she and a group of other high-profile investors including her fellow model Kaia Gerber bought W magazine.
Gina Rinehart calls on Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg to stop the scams
Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has accused Mark Zuckerberg of doing nothing to stop the promotion of scams and “deceptive content” on his social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, reports The Australian’s Jenna Clarke.
Rinehart has personally written to the Meta chief executive to alert him to “numerous scammers” falsely using her name and identity online to “fraudulently solicit money from vulnerable people”.
News Brands
News Corp Australia boss Michael Miller quashes rumours his time is up
There’s no end to the Holt Street palace intrigue of if, and when, News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller may exit the building, reports Nine Publishing’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
Setting it off was the negative publicity following the end of News’ partnership with Matthew Tripp’s bookmaking venture Betr. In its first few months, News Corp injected about $75 million into the business even as it slashed expenses – and employee headcount – elsewhere.
In a difficult trading environment for publishers, News Corp’s local results have still come in (marginally) ahead of market expectations, even as subscriber numbers fall, detail that would have been hard to find in The Australian’s extraordinarily positive report about the latest accounts.
Seven’s Prime to hire regional reporter after ACMA finding
The Seven Network will recruit a journalist to cover the Mildura/Sunraysia region after failing to produce any local content over a 16-month period in breach of its licence obligations, reports The Australian’s Cameron England.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority found Seven subsidiary Prime Television (Victoria) to be in breach of local content rules, which set news quotas for licensees in regional areas.
The quota is calculated using a points system, which allocates points per minute of local content, with news content rated most highly. But ACMA found that Seven had not produced any local content while it was obligated to produce 100 minutes of local content or 50 minutes of local news per week, “as a condition of its licence to broadcast TV in the Mildura area’’.
See Also: Seven issues statement after ACMA flags local content breach
ABC’s David Anderson: “Do we have a problem with people leaving?”
On Friday ABC Managing Director David Anderson was quizzed about the departure of a number of high profile presenters, reports TV Tonight.
ABC Radio Melbourne’s Raf Epstein cited the departures of Stan Grant, Tracey Holmes, Mary Gearin, Madeleine Morris, and Andrew Probyn, asking “Do we have a problem with people leaving?”
“I don’t think so,” Anderson replied. “I think that people will leave from time to time. This year we announced changes with regard to our staff base as well as some of what it is that we were doing. We had to do that for two reasons. One was that our indexation wasn’t keeping up with rising costs and the other one was strategically investing in our future. With that comes some change, and yes, we have had quite a lot of change this year with regard to high profile people. You’re right.”
Radio
Carrie Bickmore & Tommy Little celebrate milestone
Carrie Bickmore and Tommy Little looked the picture of happiness this week as they celebrated a huge new milestone. The radio duo’s show Carrie & Tommy was announced as the number one drivetime show in Australia on Friday, reports News Corp’s Joshua Haigh.
Following the incredible news, Bickmore and Little decided to mark the occasion with their fans.
Television
‘Ten never understood it’: Studio 10 staff break silence on axed show
News.com.au has spoken to a number of staff who previously worked on Studio 10, reports News Corp’s Benedict Brook.
They gave several reasons why the struggling show stuck around for so long – and one huge reason why its viewers began switching off.
“Channel 10 never understood what they had with the original Studio 10,” Robert McKnight, the show’s first executive producer, told news.com.au.
“Cricket” voted favourite Bluey episode
Fans of Bluey have voted Cricket as their favourite episode ever. The episode screened in June this year, Cricket featured Blue Wiggle, Anthony Field as the voice of Rusty’s Dad, as the dads struggle to bowl Rusty out, reports TV Tonight.
Joe Brumm, Creator / Showrunner of Bluey said: “Cricket worked its way into every corner of my life as a kid. It was just always there. This episode uses cricket of course but it’s representative of whatever sport it is you had growing up that united your family and friends. Some of my favourites made it in there too…”
Sports Media
Hamish McLennan ousted as Rugby Australia chairman after board vote
Hamish McLennan has resigned from the Rugby Australia board after being voted out as the organisation’s chairman, reports Nine Publishing’s Iain Payten.
The embattled Sydney business figure lost the support of fellow Rugby Australia directors on Sunday night just hours after declaring he would not resign in response to a letter of no confidence from six rebel state unions.
Former Wallabies centre Dan Herbert was voted in as interim chairman.