Business of Media
Australia drops court action against Musk’s X over church stabbing posts
Australia’s cyber safety regulator on Wednesday decided to drop a legal challenge against Elon Musk-owned X over the removal of videos of the stabbing of an Assyrian church bishop in Sydney, after a setback last month in the federal court, reports Reuters’ Renju Jose.
Judge Geoffrey Kennett in May rejected a bid by the eSafety commissioner to extend a temporary order for the social media platform to block videos of the knife attack, which Australian authorities had called a terrorist attack.
TV doctor Michael Mosley goes missing during holiday in Greece
A search is under way for the TV doctor and newspaper columnist Michael Mosley, who went missing after going on a coastal walk on the Greek island of Symi, report The Guardian’s Nadia Khomami and Helena Smith.
The 67-year-old, known for his appearances on The One Show and This Morning, was last seen when he set off hiking along St Nicholas beach at 1.30pm local time on Wednesday. His wife, Dr Clare Bailey, alerted authorities after he failed to return by 7.30pm, but they were unable to locate him overnight.
A post has been shared in a local Facebook group appealing to anyone on the island of about 2,500 people who may have seen Mosley.
The ABC walked into a Murdoch ‘culture wars trap’, says former 7.30 host
The ABC and its news boss Justin Stevens walked into a News Corp culture wars trap by publicly admonishing Laura Tingle over her “racist country” remarks, says former 7.30 host Quentin Dempster, reports Nine Publishing’s Calum Jaspan.
Media Watch host Paul Barry then “joined the Murdoch pile-on” this week in describing Tingle’s comments as “not a good look”, according to Dempster.
“If you followed his [Barry’s] logic, no ABC political editor would be able to conversationally critique on a panel show any opposition leader’s policies or shameless dog-whistling for fear of creating a perception of partisanship,” Dempster says.
Television
Viewers label Seven ‘dreadful’ after wrong name is displayed to mark star’s death
Seven News has been criticised by viewers after it displayed the wrong name when announcing the death of an Australian radio star on Wednesday, reports News Corp’s Joshua Haigh.
Former Hey, Hey It’s Saturday star John Blackman died at the age of 76, it was revealed yesterday.
The news program was announcing the passing of the Hey Hey it’s Saturday star but misspelt John’s surname. The news programme wrote the radio star’s surname as “Blackwood” instead of Blackman.
Hey Hey It’s Saturday was appointment viewing. Australian TV has changed a lot since its demise
Daryl Somers was the face of Hey Hey It’s Saturday, but if you close your eyes and think back on the show, the voice you hear in your mind is probably not Daryl or even his longtime puppet sidekick Ossie Ostrich — it was the show announcer and MVP John Blackman, reports the ABC’s Dan Barrett.
It has been 25 years since Hey Hey It’s Saturday was officially cancelled by Channel Nine. Rating 1.2 million viewers on a Saturday night, a 1999 audience of that size deemed the show a failure. Today, many network executives would be very happy seeing numbers like that on a weeknight, let alone a Saturday night.
‘Alarming’ downturn in commissions by streaming platforms
Streaming platforms in Australia are commissioning less local content which has the independent production sector alarmed, reports TV Tonight.
Screen Producers Australia surveyed 100 members on how local and global streamers are currently engaging with Australian producers.
The results paint a bleak picture of the current commissioning landscape, with 80% of respondents citing “Less” or “Much Less” commissioning interest from streaming services compared to the same time last year.
Blood on the Tracks drama further delayed
Upcoming Nine drama Blood on the Tracks which was due to film in coming weeks in Melbourne has been delayed, reports TV Tonight.
Key crew were given advice by producers this week that dates to film would no longer apply, freeing them up to pursue other work.
The crime drama centres around a commuter found dead at a train station deemed to be suicide, but Detective Kate Fletcher suspects something far more sinister at play.
War, fire, betrayal and blood: first review of House of the Dragon season two
The long-awaited second season of House of the Dragon is here at last and things are heating up in the world of Westeros, reports News Corp’s James Wigney.
And if the mantra of its parent show Game of Thrones was ‘winter is coming’, it’s very much a case of ‘war is coming’ as the Targaryen dynasty further fractures and threatens to tear the Seven Kingdoms apart as the rival claims to the Iron Throne press their cases.
Sports Media
State of Origin game one breaks streaming record for broadcaster Nine
Wednesday night’s first State of Origin rugby league match was the highest-rating game since 2016, drawing an average national audience of 3.4 million viewers across Nine’s linear TV network and its streaming platform 9Now, reports Nine Publishing’s Karl Quinn.
The game, which saw Queensland trounce New South Wales 38 points to 10, was the top-rating program of Wednesday night in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, where it was watched by 934,000, 809,000 and 287,000 people respectively.
Tabcorp’s CEO race entering final furlong
The search for the boss of the nation’s largest wagering company, Tabcorp, is galloping towards the finish line and coming down the straight in a strong position may be former Crown Resorts and Lendlease boss Steve McCann, reports The Australian’s Bridget Carter.
DataRoom understands that a short list is now drawn up with six candidates.
However, those expecting former AFL boss Gillon McLachlan to emerge as the new head of the betting organisation could be disappointed, as DataRoom has learnt he is not among the final candidates.