Business of Media
ABC chief digital & information officer Helen Clifton to depart for UK role at NHS
ABC chief digital & information officer Helen Clifton has announced she will leave the national broadcaster to take up the role of executive director of product delivery for NHS Digital (part of the National Health Service), based in London, UK.
Clifton has been an ABC Director since 2017, leading the ABC Product & Content Technology division as it drives the organisation’s transition from a traditional broadcaster to a leading digital content provider. The ABC now has 18 million active users each week using a range of digital experiences across websites, apps and other products and services.
Helen Clifton
ABC managing director David Anderson paid tribute to Clifton’s time at the ABC and her significant contribution across the organisation.
“Helen has been an outstanding executive at the ABC and is highly respected and admired across the organisation.
“Her knowledge, leadership and vision in driving critically important work at the ABC as we continue the transition to digital products and experiences has been recognised across the industry, where Helen was recently named one of Australia’s top technology leaders.”
ABC head of content management Rebecca Matthews will become ABC chief digital & information officer in an acting capacity in the interim while a recruitment process for Clifton’s role is underway.
Simon Cowell axing staff and downsizing Syco empire to focus on family life
TV talent judge and music mogul Simon Cowell is letting go of almost his entire staff at his company Syco and “downsizing” after almost 20 years, reports the London Sun.
The paper reports Cowell has chosen to consolidate his multi-million pound global empire – which has sold over 250 million records worldwide – to focus on family life.
In recent days many of Cowell’s staff have begun “leaving” conversations – including some of his closest confidantes who have worked with him for decades.
A source said: “Simon has reached a time in his life when he doesn’t want the stress of running a global empire and so has made the difficult decision to wind down Syco.”
Cowell, 62, who first created the company as a record label in 2004, will now concentrate solely on being a television personality and is expected to start filming the next series of Britain’s Got Talent in London this week.
News Brands
Angelos Frangopoulos on changes at GB News: Hires Sky News presenter, DAB plans
GB News channel chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos has promised there would also be a “huge extra investment” in GB News’s digital service in 2022, reports Press Gazette, talking about plans for audio distribution.
He said: “With radio, we’re turning traditional media on its head because everyone will be able to continue with the same channel whether they’re at home, travelling, or at work.
“We set out to innovate and shake up news media and that’s what we’re doing, whether it’s on mass reach television and DAB radio, online, apps, live on YouTube, or digital platforms, GB News will be wherever audiences want us to be.”
Frangopoulos has hired a Sky News UK broadcaster who arrives at GB News this month.
Stephen Dixon is joining after 21 years at Sky and he would be familiar to Australian viewers watching the Sky News UK weekend breakfast shows. Dixon said: “I’m inspired by the energy, fun, and absolute passion at GB News to shed light on the real concerns of the Great British public, wherever they live in the UK. It’s many years since I felt this excited to get to work.”
Dixon will host the weekend breakfast program with former Good Morning Britain host Anne Diamond.
Boris Johnson tightens funding screws on beleaguered BBC
The British government plans a radical overhaul of the funding and even mission of the BBC, freezing and potentially axing the licence fee that bankrolls much of the state broadcaster’s work, reports AFR’s Hans van Leeuwen.
The licence fee – an unloved annual charge paid by anyone who owns a TV, which funds the BBC to the tune of about £3.8 billion ($7.2 billion) a year – will be frozen at £159 for two years, then rise in line with inflation.
This could force the BBC to find up to £500 million worth of savings, while the government weighs up whether and how to axe the licence fee altogether in 2027, when the broadcaster’s royal charter expires.
Radio
2GB’s Ray Hadley confronts NSW Premier: ‘Did you call me a bedwetter?’
Ray Hadley has taken NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet to task over COVID decisions which have arguably led to an explosion of cases in the state, reports 2GB.
Hadley has been vocal about his displeasure with the Premier for removing restrictions on December 15, as Omicron swept across the globe.
Perrottet has reportedly said he would not “give in to the bedwetters” before reintroducing mask mandates and capacity limits.
Ray Hadley: “It’s been reported directly to me that you’ve called people like me bedwetters.”
Dominic Perrottet: “Ray, I have no recollection of that.”
Hadley has confronted the Premier over claims he said he would not give into NSW Health on masks after the cabinet reshuffle.
“It’s no good denying it I know you said it,” Ray said.
[Read more and listen to the interview]
Ray Hadley and Dominic Perrottet
Ray Hadley claims Gladys Berejiklian leaked against successor Dominic Perrottet
Sydney shock jock Ray Hadley has claimed former premier Gladys Berejiklian and other MPs have been leaking information to him because they are unhappy with NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, reports News Corp’s Catie McLeod.
In a tense interview on Monday, Mr Hadley grilled Mr Perrottet over whether he labelled the 2GB host and others who warned about restrictions being eased too soon “bedwetters”.
The Premier scrapped mandatory mask wearing and QR code check-ins on December 15, despite advice from chief health officer Kerry Chant to the contrary, as Omicron-fuelled Covid-19 cases rose around the world.
A week later he reinstated the restrictions, before bans on dancing, singing and non-urgent elective surgery followed, as infections began to spiral in NSW over the festive period.
Kyle Sandilands confirms engagement to Tegan Kynaston
Kyle Sandilands has confirmed his engagement to partner of two years Tegan Kynaston, revealing he revealing he burst into tears while proposing over Christmas, reports News Corp’s Dana Pendrick.
The KIIS radio host revealed details of the upcoming nuptials during his first morning back on air on Monday.
Sandilands, 50, proposed to Kynaston, 35, while the pair was holidaying at his Port Douglas house over the summer break.
Television
More Hey Hey It’s Saturday nostalgia coming to Seven in 2022
Hey Hey it’s Saturday nostalgia will be returning to Seven this year, reports TV Tonight.
In a festive message on Facebook, Daryl Somers told fans, “Greetings! Would you believe Hey Hey hasn’t been on air for eleven years, yet the 50th Anniversary Special rated through the roof for Seven; so much so, I am excited to announce we’ll be back on the network with more in 2022. We also successfully launched www.heyhey.tv, offering over 800 digitised Hey Hey episodes and much much more for you to enjoy at your leisure.
“I sincerely want to thank you for your ongoing and passionate support throughout the year for both Dancing with the Stars: All Stars 2021 and the Hey Hey 50th. I look forward to you telling us what you’d like to see in the next Special. It could be anything from the 30 year run of the show – the more ‘out there’ ideas the better!”
Somers recently told TV Tonight that 30 years of footage was impossible to cram into a 90 minute special and he had plenty more in the archives.
“I said to Seven, ‘If you wanted a series we could provide it, because I’ve left so much on the cutting room floor, it’s ridiculous!’ he said. “There’s so many famous people that did not make it into the show.”
Things get steamy between two stars on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!
This year’s inevitable I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! romance has levelled up – with British reality star Joey Essex and Aussie model Maria Thattil sneaking a late-night “cuddle” in the jungle on Monday night, reports News Corp’s Bela Fowler.
The flirty pair are seen sharing a bed in a snippet from the Channel 10 show in the episode, briefly disappearing beneath the covers for a make out sesh away from the camera.
Watching on from their own sleeping bags, fellow campmates Brooke McClymont and faux influencer David Subritzky gasped and giggled as they looked over to see the pair moving under the covers.
Davina Rankin reveals the most shocking part of her MAFS cheating scandal
Davina Rankin was one half of Married At First Sight’s first cheating scandal in 2018, an on-screen incident which led to her being trolled mercilessly online for three months after the show aired, reports News Corp’s Amy Price.
Almost four years later the Brisbane reality TV star said the scandal was still what she was asked most about the dating show.
“I think a lot of people are just very surprised what the extent of my affair really was,” she said.
Rankin declined offers to appear on Love Island and the MAFS reunion special in the past, but made a return to reality TV this month, appearing on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! and becoming the first eliminated contestant on Sunday night’s episode of the Channel 10 show.
Karl Stefanovic reveals his whole family got Covid-19 during holiday break
Karl Stefanovic has revealed his whole family contracted Covid-19 over the Christmas holiday break, reports News Corp’s Lexie Cartwright.
The 47-year-old journalist returned to Today hosting duties alongside Ally Langdon on Monday, where he claimed his family got the virus in early January, adding it was “pretty intense in parts”.
“I am a little croaky. The last couple of weeks, going back to January 3 or 4, the whole family tested positive. The whole family went down with Covid-19,” Karl shared with his co-hosts and viewers.
“It was a bit awful to tell you the truth at times, but we’re all clear now.
“We got through the whole thing, and look, they say it’s mild, but it’s pretty intense in parts.”
Sports Media
Seven and Australian Test team triumphant at the end of Ashes Tour
Australia got behind Pat Cummins’ triumphant Australian Test team this summer, with the Seven Network’s coverage of the 2021-22 Australia-England Ashes series reaching 11.72 million people nationally and an average peak of 1.47 million each day.
Seven reported it delivered 77% of the Ashes TV broadcast audience across the five-Test series, while the national audience was up 2% on the 2017-18 series between Australia and England on home soil.
While an Australian win was the ideal result for broadcast rights holders, having two of the tests decided in three days meant some advertisers didn’t get the spots they were hoping for across the summer.
The Aussies capped off a 4-0 series victory when they obliterated England’s fragile batting line-up in an exhilarating day three of the fifth Test in Hobart, with Seven noting its coverage of the Fifth Test reached 6.9 million Australians and peaked at 1.58 million.
Seven’s day three coverage alone reached 4.8 million viewers nationally and peaked at 1.7 million people. The second session had 1.28 million viewers nationally, while 1.2 million tuned in for the third session and 1.17 million for the first session. All sessions dominated their timeslots, ranking #1 in 25 to 54s, 16 to 39s and total people.
Two Tribes: Inside Kerry Packer’s Super League ‘betrayal’
Hugh Marks had been legal counsel at Channel 9 for two years when he was called in to negotiate a deal that would rock the ARL, News Corp posts in a book extract from Steve Mascord.
Marks is the man who in April 2020, as Channel 9’s chief executive during the Covid-19 lockdown, attacked the NRL as bloated, called for clubs to be given more power and threatened that the sport’s long-time free-to-air broadcaster would walk away.
His comments led to the departure of CEO Todd Greenberg, and 23 years earlier the deal he did with Super League hastened Ken Arthurson’s exit from the game.
When Kerry Packer in 1995 insisted on enforcing a pay TV clause with the NSWRL even though he had no pay TV outlet, and threatened to “sue the pants” off any club that did business with News, the ARL went to war on his behalf.