Business of Media
Stokes’ stepping down the start of a new dynastic era
After 30 years at the helm, Kerry Stokes is to stand down as chairman of the Seven Group Holdings conglomerate he has built from nothing, reports the AFR.
Stokes’ rise from the humblest of origins to great business success and philanthropy, including his chairmanship of the Australian War Memorial, is one of Australia’s greatest rags-to-riches stories.
The dynastic disaster the Packer empire has become provides a salutary tale about the business of fathers and sons.
There’s no suggestion of direct parallels here to explain Stokes’ decision, at 80, to step back. But under the new chairman, Terry Davis, it gives son and Seven Group managing director Ryan Stokes scope to step up without being so closely shadowed by his father.
The Kerry Stokes recipe for success: work hard, stay nimble
The secret to Kerry Stokes’s success? Work hard and stay nimble. That’s according to Warwick Smith, a long-time adviser to the Stokes family, report News Corp’s Perry Williams and James Madden.
“With his diversification strategy, the trajectory has been consistently the same over a long period,” Smith says.
“And that is, values have gone up. He’s been successful. Sometimes it goes down a bit and then it comes back again.
“But the trajectory over time has been up.”
Nine shares dive on Stan cost fears
Shares in Nine Entertainment plummeted by almost 10 per cent on Wednesday after the market was spooked by the prospect of a sharp spike in costs for the media giant’s streaming service Stan, reports News Corp’s James Madden.
The share price fell dramatically in the wake of the release of the company’s annual results on Wednesday morning, as Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby outlined the media giant’s “longer-term” investment strategy in live sports streaming on Stan.
At the close on Wednesday, Nine was trading at $2.69, down 9.7 per cent.
Shock, horror: Nine beats Murdoch at his own game
There are a number of reasons why media mogul Rupert Murdoch will find it hard to swallow the latest record profit results at Nine Entertainment Corp, reports AFR’s Tony Boyd.
First, the results confirm that Murdoch’s newspapers in Australia are losing the bitter and long-running competitive fight with the mastheads created by John Fairfax & Sons.
When it comes to earnings, Nine appears to be comprehensively beating Murdoch at the newspaper game. That’s got to be galling for a man who mastered the art of newspapers at the age of 23 at a small afternoon tabloid in Adelaide.
News Brands
Murdoch’s Fox News issues ABC with legal threat over ‘Four Corners’ Trump episode
Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News has threatened the ABC with legal action over a Four Corners episode that examined the American cable TV network’s coverage of former US president Donald Trump and its role in the aftermath of last year’s general election, reports SMH’s Zoe Samios.
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have confirmed that Fox News’ general counsel Bernard Gugar sent a letter to ABC chair Ita Buttrose and managing director David Anderson on August 22, the day before the episode aired on Monday night. The letter, prompted by promotional clips the ABC shared publicly before the episode aired, warned that Fox would consider all options if the episode went to air.
Multiple people familiar with the letter’s contents who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Fox News also disputed any assertions it was responsible for riots that took place at the US Capitol on January 6. It also claimed Four Corners ignored Trump’s criticism of Fox News’ coverage of the election.
Murdoch empire strikes back at ABC’s documentary on Fox News’ championing of Trump
Rupert Murdoch’s global media operation is honing its sights on the ABC after the public broadcaster aired a critical look at Fox News and its relationship with Donald Trump, reports Guardian Australia’s Amanda Meade.
News Corp has published 45 articles in just two days attacking the public broadcaster across its Australian masthead. The pushback against the ABC came even before the two-part program reported by Washington correspondent Sarah Ferguson had aired.
The chair of ABC Alumni and former Media Watch presenter Jonathan Holmes said the coverage was a “classic example of the empire striking back”.
“It’s a phenomenon that we’ve seen for decades that the News Corp columnists gang up on individuals or organisations that they don’t like; we saw it with Gillian Triggs and Yassmin Abdel-Magied,” Holmes said.
Publishing
Nine’s publishing unit shines as digital subscription revenue tops $100m
Nine Entertainment Co’s publishing division has reported strong financial results with digital subscription and licensing revenue across its mastheads including The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age crossing the $100 million mark for the first time, reports SMH’s Zoe Samios.
The division, which also includes The Australian Financial Review, nine.com.au, Pedestrian Group, also generated more revenue from digital sources than print for the first time. Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby described the result as an “inflection point” for publishing.
“Digital subscription revenue grew by 20 percent to more than $100 million,” Sneesby said.
Entertainment
Nirvana sued by man on Nevermind album cover over alleged child pornography
The naked baby photographed on Nirvana’s breakthrough album Nevermind is now accusing the band of being child pornographers, claiming they told him to Come As You Are without consent, reports NY Post’s Jesse O’Neill.
Spencer Elden, now 30, filed a lawsuit against Kurt Cobain’s estate and the band’s surviving members, saying the grunge pioneers violated federal child pornography statutes and sexually exploited him.
Elden also said he has suffered “lifelong damage” from having his naked body plastered on the triple-diamond selling album, and claims neither he nor his guardians consented to the naked photo shoot, according to the federal suit.
Radio
Kate Langbroek pays tribute to her father after his peaceful passing
Radio personality Kate Langbroek is mourning the loss of her father who passed away last Friday, reports News Corp’s Jackie Epstein.
Jan Langbroek died peacefully aged 89, survived by wife, Anne, two children and seven grandchildren.
A notice in the Herald Sun from the family ended with “To know him was to love him”.
Television
Tokyo 2020 Paralympics Opening Ceremony breaks records for Seven
The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics kicked off on the Seven Network with the Opening Ceremony breaking records and reaching 1.94 million people.
An average national audience of 953,000 watched the Opening Ceremony on Channel Seven, topping the previous record set in Beijing 2008 by 42%.
The average capital city audience of 643,000 was 38% higher than Beijing 2008.
Kurt Fearnley
The Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony’s national audience was also more than 10 times bigger than Rio 2016, with the average metro audience more than 12 times bigger.
The Opening Ceremony was #1 in its timeslot in total people and in all key demographics.
Managing director Seven Melbourne and head of network sport, Lewis Martin, said: “Historic viewing figures underline just how much Australians have been looking forward to the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.
“The Paralympic Games is among sport’s greatest events and we can’t wait to bring fans all the unmissable action over the next 12 days as our all-star Aussie team takes on the very best in the world.”
Seven’s Paralympics Games Tokyo 2020 coverage is anchored by Australian Paralympics legends Kurt Fearnley and Annabelle Williams, alongside Johanna Griggs, Matt White and Emma Vosti, while Paralympic icons Priya Cooper, Tim Matthews, Jessica Gallagher, Nick Morris and Bryce Alman headline the commentary team.
Sing when you’re winning: Seven’s gamble with The Voice pays off
Seven appears to have reaped the benefits of The Voice after taking over the format from Nine at the end of last year, reports SMH’s Thomas Mitchell.
The network’s decision to roll the dice on the program paid off early when the show premiered to its largest average audience since 2016, piggybacking off the might of the Olympics Closing Ceremony and drawing in an average audience of 1.329 million metro viewers on August 8.
Last year on Nine (owner of this masthead), premiere ratings for The Voice were at 1.082 million, compared with 1.064 million in 2019, 1.072 million in 2018 and 1.277 million in 2017.
Viewers express their unhappiness with new Voice format
Viewers of The Voice have expressed their distaste for the new format of the show, reports News Corp’s Bianca Mastroianni.
Forgoing the usual ‘Battle’ rounds, which come with a huge production and live audience, the show now has ‘The Cut’ segment which is more brutal and very, very rushed.
Now that coaches have unlimited chair turns during the Blind Auditions, it means they have to cut their teams down to only five members before heading off into the ‘Knockouts’ round.
“This format doesn’t allow for us to connect with the contestants. Couldn’t care less who wins when people are dumped after a 10 second sound bite,” one person wrote on social media.