Business of Media
‘Sobering reality’: What the future for Australia’s media giants looks like
Australia’s largest media companies have started the new financial year on a sour note, with job losses and internal restructures fuelled by a protracted downturn in the advertising market, reports Nine Publishing’s Calum Jaspan.
The ad dollars greasing the wheels of the major players – Nine Entertainment (owner of this masthead), Seven West Media and News Corp – have seemingly dried up. This drought, combined with Facebook owner Meta’s decision to pull the plug on its commercial arrangements – forged under the news media bargaining code – has sent the industry scrambling for savings.
See also: Meta pulls the pin on news media deals with publishers and axes news tab
Tory Maguire defends Nine CEO’s trip to Greece as reporters seethe over job cuts
Nine Entertainment’s managing director of publishing, Tory Maguire, has defended chief executive Mike Sneesby’s decision to fly out to Greece after announcing 200 job cuts at the media company last week, reports The Guardian‘s Amanda Meade.
“I think it’s a big call to expect someone to not attend a family wedding,” Maguire told staff at the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age, the Australian Financial Review and digital mastheads the Brisbane Times and WA Today who are facing up to 90 job losses.
See also: Nine to cut 200 jobs after Meta pulls the pin on Media Code deals
Former TV reporter Robert Ovadia launches legal action against Seven
Axed Channel 7 journalist Robert Ovadia has lodged legal action against his former employer and the network’s news boss Anthony De Ceglie, claiming that he was unlawfully dismissed by the media company, reports News Corp’s Sophie Elsworth and James Madden.
The Australian can reveal Ovadia – one of Sydney’s most experienced television reporters – lodged documents in the Fair Work Commission at the end of June.
Ovadia, who is being represented by high-profile employment and media lawyer John Laxon, has submitted a general protections application and is seeking orders of compensation for his dismissal, reinstatement to his job and pecuniary penalties.
See also: Seven reporter Robert Ovadia ‘sacked’ after allegations of inappropriate behaviour
Lord Saatchi eyes the UK Telegraph newspapers
Lord Saatchi, the advertising mogul and Conservative peer, has emerged as a potential bidder for the Telegraph newspapers, reports News Corp.
Sky News reported Saatchi was considering forming a consortium to buy the Tory-backing titles, with first bids due this month.
Saatchi, a co-founder and former boss of ad agencies Saatchi & Saatchi and M&C Saatchi, is said to have discussed working on a bid with Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a former director of The Economist magazine group.
No, 10 was not looking to quit Regional Australia
Headlines in the past week have arguably thrown 10 under the bus around the shutdown of Mildura Digital TV …and potentially Regional WA and even Tasmania, reports TV Tonight‘s Davkd Knox.
Alarmist headlines may be great for generating traffic, but are they factually correct?
The short answer is no.
In all cases the broadcasters concerned are joint ventures, none of them owned by 10 which is the content supplier.
Skydance Media’s deal to gain control of Paramount could be sealed this weekend, sources say
Skydance Media’s deal to acquire theatre operator National Amusements, with its controlling interest in Paramount Global, could be finalised by Monday, sources familiar with the deal process said, reported Retuers‘ Dawn Chmielewski.
Parties are expected to work throughout the weekend to finalise the deal before Tuesday’s start of Allen & Co’s annual gathering of technology and media titans in Sun Valley, Idaho, which Paramount Global chair Shari Redstone typically attends.
Entertainment
Brad Pitt ‘F1’ teaser trailer arrives: “We need to build our car for combat”
The first trailer for Brad Pitt‘s Formula 1 movie has arrived. The F1 teaser features a high-speed montage of racing set to Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” reports The Hollywood Reporter‘s Mia Galuppo.
“Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston and now McLaren all have a speed on the straights. Our shot is battling it in the turns,” Pitt says in the trailer. “We need to build our car for combat.”
When a woman asks him, “How am I supposed to make that safe?” He responds, “Who said anything about safe?”
‘Despicable Me 4’ secures strong holiday weekend opening
The bite-sized Minions of Despicable Me 4 delivered big results at the box office during the Fourth of July weekend, the second strong showing for a family-friendly film in less than a month, reports The Wall Street Journal‘s Itzel Luna.
Despicable Me 4 generated an estimated $75 million in domestic ticket sales during its debut weekend, according to box-office tracker Comscore. Since opening on Wednesday, Despicable Me 4 has collected $122.6 million domestically.