Business of Media
Are the Murdochs preparing to unleash Fox News on Australia?
Could the Murdochs be preparing to make right wing US cable television station Fox News and its shows such as Tucker Carlson Tonight and Hannity available more broadly to Australians via a streaming service? Paperwork filed with at least one government agency suggests so, reports SMH‘s Zoe Samios.
Fox News’ company Fox Media LLC put in request to the Australian trademark register for ‘Fox News International’ on February 1 – months after it registered its betting arm FoxBet locally. Fox News International is the brand of a streaming app which Fox launched in Mexico last August. It has since expanded to 30 countries including Chile, Panama, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Finland.
Nine ad hit in cyber attack fallout
Nine Entertainment’s advertising revenue has taken a hit in the past fortnight, after the recent cyber attack on the company crippled the media giant’s internal ad booking and placement system, reports News Corp’s James Madden.
In the immediate aftermath of the March 28 attack, some live TV broadcasts were taken off-air and the publishing capabilities of Nine’s metro newspapers were compromised. But while those issues were largely resolved within 48 hours, the company’s radio division was unable to process any new advertising bookings for almost a week, and the glitch is still not fully resolved. The radio arm includes Sydney’s 2GB, Melbourne’s 3AW and Brisbane’s 4BC.
It is understood several of Nine’s clients placed their ads with other media companies in the past fortnight, after they were told that they could not book fresh slots on Nine’s radio stations until the technical issues had been fixed.
One senior industry figure, who asked not to be named, estimated the problem would have cost Nine hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
Network 10 in sweeping company-wide review of staff culture, conduct
The American owners of television broadcaster Network 10 have commenced a pre-emptive company-wide review into staff conduct following widespread accusations of bullying behaviour and sexual harassment on prominent US talk shows, reports SMH‘s Zoe Samios.
10, which was bought by US entertainment giant ViacomCBS in 2017, has started detailed investigations into the behaviour of employees and their senior management in an attempt to find and address any potential workplace issues.
The review follows a string of high profile accusations of misconduct at major US programs such as The Ellen Degeneres Show and the Today Show in the US. Neither of those shows air on CBS, however senior executives at the US media giant have separately been accused of misconduct.
Nine deputy chair Nick Falloon cleared of legal breach, golf membership revoked
An investigation by Nine Entertainment Co’s top lawyer has found that deputy chairman Nick Falloon’s use of a corporate golf club membership was inappropriate but did not breach his duties as a director, reports SMH‘s Zoe Samios.
Nine launched an investigation into the use of a Terrey Hills Golf and Country Club membership by Falloon’s son in February following an anonymous complaint. The probe came amid signs of significant tensions at board level, and as directors finalised the decision on who would replace former chief executive Hugh Marks at the top of the company.
A report on the investigation by Nine’s general counsel Rachel Launders was handed to the board and discussed at a meeting before Easter. Falloon, who is also the chairman of real-estate listings website Domain, did not attend the directors meeting.
Stan CFO to run streaming company as acting CEO
Stan chief financial officer Martin Kugeler has stepped into the acting CEO role at the Nine-owned streaming company following the elevation of former CEO Mike Sneesby to the chief executive role at Nine Entertainment, reports AFR‘s Miranda Ward.
Kugeler will act in the role while a formal process is undertaken to find Sneesby’s replacement. A Nine spokeswoman said the process will begin “in the coming weeks”.
‘Antiquated legislation’: Catalano pushes rules overhaul in bid to create regional media giant
Real estate entrepreneur Antony Catalano wants to combine the newsrooms of his publishing company with broadcaster Prime Media Group and will intensify his push for regulatory overhaul to realise ambitions of creating a regional media giant, reports SMH‘s Zoe Samios.
Catalano, who jointly runs Australian Community Media with Melbourne rich lister Alex Waislitz, has said he is planning to launch several newspapers and will urge the federal government to review media laws that prevent him from taking full control of Prime.
“If you look at the business that Nine has been able to create – it has newspapers, it has websites, radio stations, and they have a streaming video and a digital real estate business,” Catalano told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
News Brands
Duke’s death triggers flood of complaints over media coverage
The BBC received so many complaints about its wall to wall coverage of Prince Philip’s death — including shutting down two of its channels and mirroring the same program across its radio broadcasts, that it set up a special complaints page, reports News Corp’s Acquelin Magnay.
But after a day of receiving so many complaints about the complaints page, the complaints page was then taken down.
Confused? Not as much as the BBC, which as the national broadcaster has special privileges: being prioritised to be the first broadcaster to make major announcements such as a death of a royal; to enjoying exemptions during the coronavirus lockdown not afforded to any other media.
Australian Financial Review betrayed by numbers after Samantha Maiden misfire
The Australian Financial Review’s editor-in-chief, Michael Stutchbury, has been doing his best to mop up the mess from the paper’s misfire on Samantha Maiden, which led to the AFR being accused of rolling out misogynist tropes in its coverage of female reporters in Canberra, reports Guardian Australia‘s Amanda Meade.
Our analysis of the Fin’s front page between 1 April 2020 and 30 March 2021 shows that men hog the vast majority of bylines. Female writers make up just 18% of front-page stories compared with the men of the Fin who have the lion’s share at 82%.
The first woman to appear in the list of top 20 front-page hitters is senior resources writer Angela Macdonald-Smith, who comes in at 14th with a total of 14 front pages.
Topping the list of front-page stars is political editor Phillip Coorey, who had 149 page ones, which is almost three times as many as the next guy, Matthew Cranston, with 54. Cranston, the economics correspondent, is based in the Canberra bureau with Coorey.
Key witness to alleged tax fraud syndicate blackmail case ‘had motive to lie’, defence claims
The key witness in a blackmail case against veteran television journalist Steve Barrett, is a “liar” and serial “manipulator” who is desperate not to be slapped with extra jail time on the prison sentence he is already serving, a court has been told, reports News Corp’s Natalie O’Brien.
Barrister for Barrett, Clive Steirn SC, told the jury in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday the key witness, Daniel Hausman, had the “perfect motive to lie” and had done so to get a reduced prison sentence for his role in the blackmail conspiracy.
Barrett, who has worked for Channel 7, Channel 9 and The Australian Newspaper, has pleaded not guilty to a charge that he was part of a conspiracy to blackmail a group of alleged tax fraudsters for $5 million.
Story behind the sudden exit of The Age’s ex-editor Alex Lavelle
Former editor of The Age Alex Lavelle says his abrupt departure from the Melbourne masthead last year was “sudden” and “emotional” and could have been avoided, reports News Corp’s Sophie Elsworth.
The 49-year-old has spoken publicly for the first time since he left the business after 20 years.
His exit came just weeks after Victorian newsroom staff voiced their concerns over the paper’s editorial direction being increasingly controlled by Sydney.
“There’s always been that tension between Melbourne and Sydney,” Lavelle told The Australian.
“You’re always looking for spot fires when you’re in the role as editor and often it comes from over the back of your left shoulder.
Journalists kickstart local publishing as News Corp reaches out to communities
Journalists embedded in more than one dozen regions where News Corp has never had a masthead have helped deliver content to communities hungry for localised news, reports News Corp’s Sophie Elsworth.
The bolstering of regional news comes on the back of the success of 11 publications already launched in other greenfields areas across NSW and South Australia over a two-year period.
In the past nine months new digital mastheads have been started in locations including the Barossa, Port Lincoln, Ballarat, Mildura, Dubbo, Bass Coast, Melbourne City, Albury Wodonga, NSW’s Mid-North Coast, Goulburn, Mount Gambier, Bowral and Bendigo.
Entertainment
Bryan Brown helps secures tax win for Australia film industry
Actor Bryan Brown has helped secure the future of Australian big screen movies by lobbying the federal government to dump plans to cut a much-needed tax break which added more than $300m to the economy each year, reports News Corp’s Linda Silmalis.
The government had proposed lifting a tax break, called the producer offset rate for drama and documentary content for television and streaming platforms from 20 per cent to 30 per cent. of a production’s budget.
But in a move condemned by the film industry, it also was set to reduce another tax break, the 40 per cent per cent producer offset rate for Australian feature films with a theatrical release, down to 30 per cent of a movie’s budget, on July 1.
The cut, which would have reduced local movie production budgets by hundreds of thousands of dollars, led Brown to Canberra to lobby for it to stay.
Ed Sheeran’s Gudinski tribute song to be released as Music From the Home Front returns on Anzac Day
Ed Sheeran’s emotional musical tribute to Michael Gudinski is set to be released as the music industry titan’s legacy lives on, reports News Corp’s Cameron Adams.
Gudinski’s son Matt, who assumed the role of CEO of Mushroom Group this week, is leading the company to stage a sequel to last year’s Music From the Home Front concert on Anzac Day.
Gudinski’s friend Ed Sheeran flew into Australia, writing a song called Visiting Hours while in quarantine, which he premiered at the memorial.
“I believe there’s plans for it to be released in due course,” Gudinski revealed to News Corp.
“It meant a lot to myself and our family that Ed made the journey out here and created a song in Dad’s honour, written especially for him. When I first heard the song it really was just perfect.”
Television
Freeview’s new service puts all Australian TV in one place
Free-to-air broadcasters are aiming to combine conventional television with their on-demand offerings to keep viewers from switching to streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ or YouTube, reports AFR‘s Miranda Ward.
Freeview Australia will simplify the viewing experience by bringing the worlds of linear TV and broadcast video on-demand (BVOD) closer together with the launch of its updated HbbTV (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV) service.
The updated offering will enable viewers to watch free-to-air television on linear channels as well as providing a doorway to the network’s various on-demand and catch-up services in a more simple and easy to use manner.
It will provide viewers with a simple on-screen program guide for what’s on and coming up next across linear free-to-air as well as the ability to search for catalogue content across ABC iview, SBS On Demand, 7plus, 9Now and 10 play.
ABC’s Q+A program plummets to record its lowest ever ratings
The ABC’s struggling political panel show, Q+A, has continued on a downward trajectory, plummeting to its lowest ever ratings at just 228,000 viewers across the five major capital cities, reports News Corp’s Sophie Elsworth.
And it puts further pressure on the public broadcaster to consider moving the show to a different timeslot in the coming weeks.
The chatfest failed to make the top 20 programs on Thursday and fell to position 26.
The disastrous figures come just two weeks after the program already recorded its lowest ratings on March 25 in its 14-season history, drawing just 237,000 viewers across the five major capital cities.
Production company Fremantle ‘blindsided’ by fresh racism claims on Neighbours set
Many Neighbours staff say they were left blindsided by fresh claims racism was rife on set and after two reported incidents had been dealt with and resolved internally, reports News Corp’s Sophie Elsworth.
Sources told The Australian both matters were handled by production company Fremantle’s human resources department during actor Shareena’s Clanton’s time on set — this included the use of the “n-word” and “slave driver” in separate situations.
And her contract with the TV drama ended with a smoking ceremony send-off last month, which staff thought had resolved any issues during her time on the show which spanned five months.
Speaking on anonymity, senior sources said Clanton’s recent social media posts, which included claims of racism, sexism and misogyny on the Channel 10 program, “came without us knowing anything about it”.
“There’s a view there was an outcome and process taken but clearly that has not resolved the issue,” the insider said.
Former Neighbours actor’s anger over ‘back to India’ exit
Former Neighbours actor Sachin Joab claims he was written out of the show by an executive producer who said his character was “being sent back to India”, reports News Corp’s Nui Te Koha.
Joab played Ajay Kapoor on the popular soap, alongside Menik Gooneratne, as his wife Priya, and Coco-Jacinta Cherin as their daughter Rani.
However, Joab says the producers who hired him, Gooneratne and Cherin left the show, and the Kapoors were written out soon after.
“I don’t think I’ll unfortunately ever forget (an) executive producer telling me, ‘We’re sending Ajay & Rani back to India’,” Joab said.
“It was a double-hit for me because not only was I confused at finding out that we, as the only remaining actors of colour on the show are being written out, but … our characters were not from India. Our characters were both born and raised in Australia.”
Fan favourite to leave Real Housewives of Melbourne
Melbourne’s reality TV queen has quit the Real Housewives Of Melbourne as part of a seismic shake-up of the show, reports News Corp’s Fiona Byrne.
In a shock move sequined style icon Gina Liano has turned on her stiletto heel and sashayed out of the Real Housewives abode.
Liano, a lawyer and civil celebrant, was one of the original housewives and parlayed her popularity into products including perfume, jewellery and shoes.
However the G-train has come to a halt with Liano choosing to exit the show which will start filming on its long delayed series five within a matter of days.
It is understood she is focusing on her legal career.