Business of Media
Ryan Stokes’ Seven Group wins Boral control, waves white flag
Seven Group chief executive Ryan Stokes is in line to become chairman of Boral after the conglomerate controlled by his father, billionaire Kerry Stokes, won control of the construction materials company, handing it the power to accelerate a turnaround of its core Australian operations, report News Corp’s John Durie and Perry Williams.
The Seven Group boss waved the peace flag after winning absolute control of Boral on Thursday, promising to maintain a board with a majority of independent directors.
Stokes is expected to replace Kathryn Fagg as Boral chair and Seven Group CFO Richard Richards will be reinstalled on the board along with a potential third director role.
Quadrant thought to be seeking exit from MediaWorks as IPO pushed back
Australian private equity firm Quadrant is understood to be sounding out the market for buyers to take its stake in MediaWorks, with plans for an initial public offering of the New Zealand broadcaster now pushed out until next year, reports News Corp’s Bridget Carter.
MediaWorks’ owners, Quadrant and Oaktree Capital Management, were looking to list the business by December through Jarden and UBS.
However, with a listing in 2022 now expected, it is believed that Quadrant is hoping for an earlier exit and has been in talks around the market with possible buyers.
Lionsgate nabs about 200 films from Spyglass Media in stake deal
Lionsgate has picked up a 20 percent stake in the Spyglass Media Group, while also nabbing around 200 titles, or most of the feature film library belonging to Spyglass, reports The Hollywood Reporter‘s Etan Vlessing.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Lionsgate, always a subject of M&A chatter as digital titans like Facebook, Apple and Amazon muscle into Hollywood, said it has taken an investment stake in Spyglass. Former MGM chief Gary Barber will continue to lead Spyglass as its chairman and CEO and the studio’s senior leadership team will remain in their current roles.
The major assets held by Spyglass include the latest instalment of the Scream blockbuster horror franchise set for a January 14, 2022, the movie The Upside, the TV fashion competition series Project Runway and the revival of the Hellraiser franchise, currently in pre-production.
News Brands
Indigenous newspaper sues Jacinta Price over Sky News comments
Indigenous e-newspaper First Nations Telegraph is taking News Corp-owned Australian News Channel and Alice Springs deputy mayor Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to the Federal Court over comments the aspiring federal politician made on the Outsiders program, reports AFR‘s Miranda Ward.
In documents filed to the Federal Court last Friday, the three applicants First Nations Telegraph Pty Ltd, managing editor Dr Stephen Hagan, and his wife and First Nations Telegraph co-owner, Rhonda Hagan, said a statement made by Price on Australian News Channel’s Sky News was defamatory.
Price appeared on Sky News’ Outsiders program on July 12, 2020 in an interview with the show’s co-hosts, Rowan Dean and Rita Panahi, discussing the Black Lives Matter protests around the globe and issues concerning Indigenous Australians.
During the segment, Price made allegedly defamatory remarks about First Nations Telegraph, according to a statement of claim filed in the Federal Court.
Television
Restrictions hit Q+A, HYBPA?, Mad as Hell, The Cheap Seats
With Victoria thrown into a snap 5 day lockdown, studio audiences have already been impacted, reports TV Tonight.
In Melbourne, Q+A last night abandoned most of its audience.
Have You Been Paying Attention?, which normally records on Sunday and fellow new Working Dog series The Cheap Seats will both screen without studio audiences next week.
Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell, which cheerfully welcomed back a studio audience just two weeks ago (for the first time in 18 months) will also be without a crowd next week. It records on Tuesdays.
The Project, ABC News, 7:30 to keep traditional place names on screen
In NAIDOC Week when traditional place names began being added to screens, there was some question of whether this was a one-off gesture, reports TV Tonight.
But both The Project, ABC News and 7:30 have indicated it will be longer lasting. These will include dual place names.
Chris Bendall, executive producer of The Project said on Twitter, “Last week @theprojecttv added traditional place names to all our interview locations for #NAIDOCWeek. This is now a permanent practice.
ABC has increased the use of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nation names through supers in video programming, news reporting and in social media and TV and commissioned screen content.
Ronny Chieng sets martial arts comedy at Sony
Sony is developing an action-comedy from comedian and Daily Show correspondent Ronny Chieng, reports The Hollywood Reporter‘s Mia Galuppo.
The untitled movie will be written by Chieng and his Daily Show collaborator Sebastian DiNatale. The film is based on an idea that originated at a comedy roundtable led by Chieng and run by Ivan Reitman’s Montecito Picture Company and Sony.
The feature project, described as a martial arts comedy set in San Francisco, will be produced by Reitman and Amie Karp of Montecito Picture Company. Additional plot details are being kept under wraps.