Streaming
Paramount+ to premiere Mark Wahlberg movie for Australian August launch
Feature film Infinite debuts exclusively on Paramount+ on Wednesday, 11 August
Shortly after its debut in the US, Paramount+ will exclusively premiere the feature film Infinite, starring Mark Wahlberg, when the service launches in Australia on Wednesday, 11 August.
From Paramount Pictures, Infinite is the most-watched movie to date on the US Paramount+ service.
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Infinite is a high-octane sci-fi action film that delves into the concept of reincarnation through spectacular visuals and nuanced characters who must use memories and skills from past lives to ensure the future.
Alongside Mark Wahlberg, Infinite stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sophie Cookson, Jason Mantzoukas, Rupert Friend, Liz Carr, with Toby Jones and Dylan O’Brien.
For Evan McCauley (Mark Wahlberg), skills he has never learned and memories of places he has never visited haunt his daily life. Self-medicated and on the brink of a mental breakdown, Evan is sought by a secret group that call themselves “Infinites,” revealing to him that his memories may be real—but they are from multiple past lives.
Based on the book, The Reincarnationist Papers, by D. Eric Maikranz, Infinite is directed by Antoine Fuqua.
Priced at $8.99 per month, subscribers will have access to more than 20,000 episodes and blockbuster movies throughout the year with Paramount+.
More blockbuster and classic films will also feature on Paramount+ boasting titles and movie franchises from an extensive back catalogue including The Godfather, Mission: Impossible, Indiana Jones, Transformers, Jackass, Grease, Good Will Hunting, Harry Potter, Batman, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Lord of the Rings, Austin Powers in Goldmember and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
Business of Media
Seven West puts Southern Cross Media in buyout sights
The Kerry and Ryan Stokes-controlled Seven West Media is believed to be turning its attention once again to acquisitions, with Southern Cross Media understood to be within its sights, reports The Australian’s Bridget Carter.
Seven West, which is run by James Warburton, has been in discussions with Southern Cross about an acquisition of the latter’s television division.
Seven currently has an affiliation agreement in place for its content with its takeover target, regional broadcaster Prime Media, that has up to two more years to play out.
Meanwhile, Southern Cross has recently signed a two-year deal for an affiliation with free-to-air broadcaster Network 10, which is owned by CBS, after previous partner Nine Entertainment opted to instead join forces with Bruce Gordon’s WIN television network.
Property report: ABC sells its remaining Elsternwick site for $30 million
The ABC has finally sold its historic Elsternwick studios in Melbourne and is understood to have pocketed nearly $30m, reports The Australian’s Sophie Elsworth.
The prime real estate location was once home to popular programs including Countdown, Kath and Kim, Mad As Hell, the SeaChange bar and also episodes of Spicks and Specks.
The ABC failed to sell the 11,740sq m bayside property back in 2018 despite receiving several offers, and its real estate listing came with staunch opposition from the community led by music stalwart Molly Meldrum.
An ABC spokesman on Thursday confirmed the sale but would not disclose the final sale amount. “The Gordon St studios were the last remaining ABC holding in Elsternwick and were sold by public tender via agents Savills,” the spokesman said.
“The proceeds of the sale will replenish the funds used for the $176m Melbourne Accommodation Project announced in 2014.
“This is the final component of the public broadcaster’s integration of its premises at Southbank,” he added.
Billionaire Abramovich sues Australian publisher over Putin claims
Roman Abramovich, the owner of English Premier League giants Chelsea, is suing the Australian arm of News Corp’s HarperCollins over a book featuring allegations that he bought the football club on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, reports The AFR’s Max Mason.
The fight with HarperCollins concerns the book it published in April 2020 – Putin’s People: How the KGB took back Russia and then took on the West – written by Catherine Belton, a former Financial Times Moscow correspondent.
The billionaire’s claim against HarperCollins Australia relates to the distribution and publishing of Putin’s People. It alleges the publisher was warned on July 23, 2020, that the book was defamatory, ahead of its sale beginning on August 5.
Artists Jess & Matt speak out about culture at old label Sony Music
Sydney musicians Jess & Matt created an unintentional pandemic album last year, reports News Corp’s Cameron Adams.
The pair left Sony Music two years ago, after two albums of cover versions, to go independent for Wildflowers and regain creative control.
While they were championed by former Sony CEO Denis Handlin during their five years with the company, the couple admitted they were not surprised by recent reports of Sony’s toxic, alcohol-fuelled culture.
“Denis was always really good to us and we left Sony on good terms, but I can agree with all the stories about the whole boys’ club and the drinking culture,” Jess says.
The pair said they were “deep” in the Sony culture during their time on the label.
ARIA and PPCA appoint new marketing and communications manager
Australian music bodies ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) and PPCA (Phonographic Performance Company of Australia) have appointed Tessa Kerans (pictured) marketing and communications manager, effective 27 July.
Tessa Kerans
Reporting to ARIA and PPCA chief executive officer Annabelle Herd, Kerans will be responsible for developing and leading marketing and communications strategies for both organisations, covering owned, earned and paid media.
She will also work closely with ARIA and PPCA’s executive team and its key brand and commercial partners, and on key events including the ARIA Awards and ARIA Week.
Kerans joins ARIA and PPCA from Six Boroughs, an Australian music promotion, public relations and management company, where she worked for close to five years, most recently in the role of senior media manager.
Annabelle Heard said: “Tessa’s passion for Australian music and her experience across strategy development, project management, marketing, promotion, publicity and artist PR services make her the perfect fit for the ARIA and PPCA team.
“It’s an exciting time at ARIA and PPCA, with lots of great opportunities to promote the success and value of the Australian music industry and Australian recording artists, and I can’t wait for Tessa to get started.”
Social Media
‘Connect to Country’: First Nations videos coming to Facebook, Instagram
Facebook and Instagram users across Australia will soon be served videos about First Nations communities in the locations where they live in an initiative designed to boost awareness of Indigenous culture, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s Zoe Samios.
The social media giant has partnered with Indigenous advertising agency Campfire x ahead of NAIDOC week for the launch of ‘Connect to Country’ – a program designed to drive awareness of the history and stories of the places where people live and work everyday.
Campfire x co-founder Brad Cooke, a Bidjigal man from the La Perouse Aboriginal community, said the movement aims to elevate First Nations stories among non-Indigenous Australians. “There are very few opportunities for positive Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories to be shared,” Cooke said. “This really is about connecting the 97 per cent of non-Indigenous people in Australia to the 3 per cent of Indigenous people in Australia…enabling a deeper understanding not only through the periods of NAIDOC week and National Reconciliation week and Indigenous rounds in sporting codes. We’re looking for something everyday.”
Television
Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu series for ABC TV likely to still go ahead
A Dark Emu documentary planned for the ABC is likely to go ahead, despite the criticism levelled at Bruce Pascoe’s acclaimed-and-now-disputed account of First Nations culture at the time of white settlement in a recently published book, reports The Age’s Karl Quinn.
Sources close to the production say they are confident a show can be delivered “that deals with what’s previously not been dealt with” and an ABC spokesperson says there is no plan to abandon the project.
Dark Emu, a two-part documentary series from respected production company Blackfella Films, was announced in October 2019, with the series to be co-written by Bruce Pascoe and the production company’s Jacob Hickey. The ABC was attached as the broadcaster.
But the show was still in pre-production when the pandemic struck, meaning no footage has yet been shot.
“This story would travel across the country, and we were in early stages of pre-production when COVID hit,” said Darren Dale, co-founder of Blackfella and an executive producer of the series. “That meant we couldn’t access any of the Indigenous communities, and even now we can’t start that again with any confidence.”
Sports Media
Optus Sport’s live and exclusive Euro coverage continues into the Quarter-finals
Optus Sport is ready this weekend to broadcast what it has labelled a tantalising series of UEFA EURO 2020 Quarter-finals.
The standout clash of the round sees Belgium, ranked number one in the FIFA World Rankings, up against the tournament’s in-form team, Italy, in a true heavyweight clash. Meanwhile, one of the tournament’s surprise packages in Denmark and Czech Republic will progress to the semi-finals after they do battle in Baku on Sunday morning. The other big matches see England take on Ukraine and Switzerland take on Spain.
EURO 2020 Quarter-final fixtures are as follows:
Saturday 03 July, 1.30am – Switzerland vs. Spain
Saturday 03 July, 4.30am – Belgium vs. Italy
Sunday 04 July, 1.30am – Czech Republic vs. Denmark
Sunday 04 July, 4.30am – England vs. Ukraine
Meanwhile, the Copa America 2021 tournament has also reached the quarter-final stage, with Brazil’s tournament form making them clear favourites to go all the way and defend the trophy they won in 2019.
Copa America 2021 Quarter-final fixtures are as follows:
Saturday 03 July, 7am – Peru vs. Paraguay
Saturday 03 July, 10am – Brazil vs. Chile
Sunday 04 July, 8am – Uruguay vs. Colombia
Sunday 04 July, 11am – Argentina vs. Ecuador
“As we reach the Quarter-final stages of the UEFA EURO 2020 and the Copa America, it’s pleasing to see that more and more Aussies are continuing to engage with both tournaments in their droves,” Optus’ head of TV and content, Corin Dimopoulos, said.
DAZN and YouTube to bring Women’s Champions League to fans around the world
The new UEFA Women’s Champions League will bring fans all over the world closer to the action than ever before. UEFA has announced a first-ever four-year global broadcasting partnership with sports streaming platform DAZN, together with YouTube, that will bring an unprecedented level of exposure to women’s football.
Starting from the 2021/22 season, the new partnership will bring the best players in the world to a global audience, with every game throughout the campaign available to view live online. It follows UEFA’s decision to create a new format for the Women’s Champions League, featuring a 16-team group stage, with centralised media and sponsorship rights leading to a significant increase of revenues.
All 61 matches available for free in the first two seasons
For the first two seasons (2021-23), fans will be able to watch live and on demand all 61 matches from the group stage onwards on DAZN and free on DAZN’s YouTube channel. For the following two seasons (2023-25), all 61 matches will be live on DAZN while 19 matches will be made available for free on DAZN’s YouTube channel.
The multi-year deal grants DAZN exclusive rights worldwide, with the exception of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) – where rights do include clips and highlights – and China and its territories.
Andrew Webster: The Ray Warren tech-house song the world needs right now
There are many ways to measure success – in rugby league and broadcasting. Maybe even life, reports Andrew Webster in The Sydney Morning Herald.
For the player, it’s premierships, Origin victories and Dally Ms. For the broadcaster, it’s likely to be Logies, Hall of Fame inductions or, mostly, longevity.
Then there’s having a tech-house banger featuring some of your greatest commentary made in your honour.
On that score, doyen caller Ray Warren is now in rare company. Actually, he’s probably on his own.
Rabs featuring Ray “Rabs” Warren, produced by Sydney electronic artist Roy Bing, with an alluring music video starring dancer Jordan Charles Herbert, will be released on Friday.
Warren agreed to the song after Bing approached his manager and son, Mark Warren.
At 78 years young, Warren remains the best caller in the business. He makes the game better.
He called the first two State of Origins a treat and the interstate matches will sound very different without him when he finally decides to hang up his weathered old set of binoculars.
It will be his 99th Origin when calls game three on July 14. The big question is whether it’ll be his last.