Business of Media
Meta warns Australia’s plan to limit targeted ads could push free platforms towards subscription fees
Facebook’s parent company has warned Australia is taking an “overly broad” approach to privacy law reforms, claiming that proposed limits on targeted ads will harm free digital platforms and could push them towards subscription models, reports The Guardian’s Paul Karp.
Meta’s privacy policy director, Melinda Claybaugh, said concerns about “targeting” users were a response to “a perceived, unspecified harm” that could hamper the personalisation of digital platforms, even when beneficial to consumers, including children.
In February the Attorney-General’s Department released a review calling for Australians to gain greater control of their personal information. Users would have the ability to opt out of targeted ads, erase their data and sue for serious breaches of privacy under the proposed reforms.
Meta supports or does not oppose 106 of the review’s 116 recommendations, including the right to sue for privacy breaches, a proposal that has angered media organisations which warn that unless they are exempted it will harm freedom of the press.
Lachlan Murdoch on Fox News Dominion settlement: “It was the right decision”
Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch talked about his company’s recent defamation suit settlement with Dominion Voting Systems by pointing to CNN so far escaping litigation after holding a chaotic town hall with Donald Trump filled with alleged falsehoods about the 2020 U.S. election, reports The Hollywood Reporter’s Etan Vlessing.
“How do we not get sued? It’s a great question. We could be CNN,” Murdoch told MoffettNathanson’s Inaugural Technology, Media and Telecom Conference on Wednesday during an appearance that was webcast.
“I haven’t seen a lawsuit yet. Maybe there’s one coming, but I’m not gonna hold my breath,” he added as Murdoch argued it was as newsworthy for Fox News to cover Trump’s vote-counting “allegations” in 2020 in the immediate aftermath of the election as CNN did so last week.
Murdoch insisted Fox Corp. settled the Dominion lawsuit at a cost of $787 million after the court limited the company’s ability to use the First Amendment in its defense and the company faced a potential multi-year appeals process.
“Ultimately, it was a difficult decision, but the right decision, because I don’t believe Fox News or any our hosts engaged in any defamation during the whole period, but it was the right business decision,” he added.
Asked about Fox News firing Tucker Carlson, Murdoch declined to talk about “programming decisions” at the network, “short of saying all of our decisions are made with the long term interests of the Fox News brand and business at heart.”
Michelle Rowland in battle for her Foxtel
Michelle Rowland’s access to timely, 24-hour news and current affairs would rightfully be considered essential, given her role as the nation’s Communications Minister. One would imagine so, in any case, report The Australian’s Yoni Bashan and Christine Lacy.
And yet it seems her office is still dusting itself off from a row with Parliament House officials over their refusal to provide her with help to access Foxtel inside her Sydney electoral office.
Like all MPs, Rowland was gifted a free subscription to the pay-TV service but, unlike most, she hasn’t been able to use it because of a technical snafu in the Bankstown building where the electoral office is located.
Staff moved into the ground floor space more than a year ago, only to learn there was no Foxtel satellite atop the high-rise.
Fox Sports’ Luke McIlveen exits before Foxtel job cuts, restructure
Fox Sports Australia’s high-profile executive editor Luke McIlveen has left the broadcaster as News Corp Australia kicks off a broader restructure of Foxtel, reports Nine Publishing’s Sam Buckingham-Jones.
Fox Sports chief Steve Crawley emailed staff last week to announce McIlveen, a former Daily Mail Australia editor-in-chief, would be leaving on May 12. “After six years with Fox Sports, Luke McIlveen has decided it’s time for a new challenge,” he wrote.
“While there is never a good time to lose someone with Luke’s passion and talent, I accept the time is right for Luke to look beyond. He is without doubt one of Australia’s leading journalists.” Crawley said McIlveen had grown the Fox Sports website to reach 10 million people a day.
His departure came days before Foxtel announced a huge shift in its internal structure to better reflect its shift to lower-margin streaming.
“To maintain our momentum and continue to compete against global players, we must continue to transform, and capitalise on growth opportunities to remain match-fit,” a spokesman for Foxtel Group told The Australian Financial Review.
See Also: Foxtel executive shuffle: New operating model impacts Kayo, Binge, Foxtel Media
Television
Eddie McGuire sets his sights on scripted content
Eddie McGuire’s production company JAM TV has its sights set on moving into scripted production, reports TV Tonight.
JAM TV has been very successful in sports, documentaries and live events including Show Me the Money, Fearless, Australian PGA Championship, The Sunday Footy Show, Footy Classified, AFL Women’s, SANFL, WAFL, Invictus Games, Talking Footy, Shane Warne Memorial, as well as Nine’s Hot Seat.
McGuire told TV Tonight, “We do a lot of sport, obviously. But we’re working on a couple of scripted shows at the moment … and lots of different things. The doco area has been very good for us. We do a lot of that.”
He would not be drawn on what scripted projects were in development.
First woman to appear on Melbourne television, Mary Parker, dies
When television arrived in Australia in 1956, Mary Parker became an overnight star and a household name, reports the ABC’s Tim Lee.
The young actress had already forged a name in England, where from the age of 21 she had appeared on stage in London’s West End and in feature films and television dramas, opposite actors such as Douglas Fairbanks Junior, Boris Karloff and Lloyd Bridges.
Film studios likened her star quality to Debbie Reynolds, and she had fielded offers from Hollywood. But homesick for Australia, she resisted.
In July 1956, the fledgling HSV-7 network, the first television station in Melbourne, began test transmissions. Soon after, it offered her an anchor role, alongside Eric Pearce and Danny Webb.
Parker had gained invaluable live-to-air television experience at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in London, working alongside actors like Fairbanks and celebrities such as singer Petula Clark.
Sports Media
Sports journalist Paul Kent pleads not guilty to domestic violence charges
Sports journalist Paul Kent will have to wait more than six months to fight domestic violence charges following an alleged altercation with a woman at his home, reports News Corp’s Lauren Ferri.
The 53-year-old Daily Telegraph and Fox Sports rugby league journalist is fighting allegations he attacked a 33-year-old woman at his home in Lilyfield on Friday following an alleged domestic dispute.
NSW Police charged Kent with common assault and intentionally choke person without consent, but indicated in court on Wednesday a more serious charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm will be laid against him.
The 53-year-old sat in the public gallery of Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday as his lawyer entered pleas of not guilty.
Outside court, Kent told reporters he was looking forward to the “full story” to come out.
When asked what his employers thought about the charges, Kent said “they fully support me”.
“I’m embarrassed about it, but unfortunately it’s beyond my control so I’ll just let the court process see its way through now and once we get to the end then we can hopefully see some things through different eyes,” he said.
“It’s the rugby league soap opera, it’s the way it rolls…that’s fine, people are entitled to their opinions and we’ll get to the end of it and everything will be OK.”
See Also: Foxtel reportedly pulls NRL 360 back catalogue after Paul Kent arrest
A slew of new cricket docos will whet fans’ appetites ahead of the 2023 Ashes
In Alfred Hitchcock’s hugely enjoyable 1938 comedy thriller, The Lady Vanishes (Amazon Prime), Charters (Basil Radford) and Caldicott (Naunton Wayne) are two very English chaps on a mission. To get back to Blighty ASAP. A heavy snowstorm has held up their train somewhere in Europe, where the clouds of World War II were gathering, reports Nine Publishing’s Tom Ryan.
What little news they’ve heard from home has been concerning. “That last report was pretty ghastly,” Charters worries. “England on the brink!” Caldicott tries to reassure his friend: “Yes, but that’s newspaper sensationalism. The Old Country’s been in some tight corners before…”
Eventually it emerges that the crisis confronting England and troubling Charters has nothing to do with the war. What he and Caldicott are talking about is the third Test at Manchester’s Old Trafford between England and Australia.
They’re only secondary characters, but they’re members of a special breed: cricket lovers for whom a Test match is the pinnacle. And their high regard for the game is one still shared across the world, explaining why June 16 – when the 2023 Ashes series begins at Edgbaston, preceded by the Test Championship final between Australia and India at the Oval – matters.