Business of Media
Seven West Media caught in major hack as online criminals target network in crypto scam
Seven West Media’s YouTube accounts have been hijacked, in what appears to be an attempt by online criminals to fleece Australians of their savings using Elon Musk’s likeness to spruik bogus cryptocurrency investments, reports News Corp’s Jared Lynch.
A Seven spokesman said the network was investigating the hack, which hit the company’s accounts on the Google-owned platform on Thursday morning.
“Seven is aware that some of its branded YouTube channels are not appearing as they should. Seven is investigating and working with YouTube to resolve the situation as soon as possible,” the spokesman said.
Southern Cross rejects Catalano’s offer to sell his newspapers
Antony Catalano has failed to convince regional broadcaster and radio network owner Southern Cross Media to acquire Australian Community Media and its portfolio of publications, including The Canberra Times, The Newcastle Herald, and The Land, reports Nine Publishing’s Kylar Loussikian.
Southern Cross, which operates regional television networks and runs the Hit and Triple M radio brands, told investors last month it was considering a proposal from Mr Catalano, the former chief executive of Domain, to buy those assets.
See also: SCA chooses ‘not to pursue’ ACM’s acquisition proposal
Trump Biopic inches toward distribution deal
Hollywood executives love to characterise themselves as fearless. The truth is that they spend most of their time trying to minimise risk, reports The New York Times‘ Brooks Barnes.
It’s why theatres are clogged with vacuous sequels. It’s why so many Hollywood power players hide behind P.R. people. And it’s why all of the big movie studios and streaming services — and, in fact, most indie film companies — declined to distribute The Apprentice, a dramatised origin story about Donald J. Trump that the former president has called “malicious defamation” and showered with cease-and-desist letters.
Time, OpenAI sign multi-year content deal
Time magazine has signed a multi-year content deal with OpenAI that would give the ChatGPT maker access to its archive of news content, the companies said on Thursday, reports Reuters.
In response to user queries, the chatbot will cite and link back to the source on Time.com, the companies added in a statement. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Sam Altman-led artificial intelligence firm has signed similar deals over the past few months with the Financial Times, Business Insider-owner Axel Springer, France’s Le Monde and Spain’s Prisa Media.
Harry ordered to explain loss of messages with ghostwriter that may be relevant to Sun legal case
Prince Harry has been ordered to explain to a High Court judge how private messages to the ghostwriter of his memoir were “destroyed” amid their potential relevance to his legal action against the publisher of The Sun, reports PA Media.
In a ruling on Thursday, Mr Justice Fancourt said the apparent deletion of the duke’s exchanges with John Moehringer on the Signal messaging platform, as well as drafts of Spare, before the book’s publication was “not transparently clear”.
Television
‘Daily Show’ veterans decry loss of clip archive after Comedy Central website gutted
A corporate decision to scrub Comedy Central‘s website of much of its content isn’t sitting well with a number of former and current Daily Show staffers, reports The Hollywood Reporter‘s Rick Porter.
The sites for Comedy Central and fellow Paramount-owned cable channels CMT, Paramount Network and TV Land, were largely stripped of content this week; what’s left mostly redirects users to the company’s streaming platform, Paramount+. The media conglomerate also shut down the MTV News site earlier this week.
Paramount, which is looking to cut half a billion dollars in costs amid declining profits, said the gutting of the sites was “part of broader website changes across” the company.
Mildura without Network 10: “TV will be so dreary!”
After Sunday, Mildura Digital TV is no more, leaving residents without Channel 10 shows after joint licence holders WIN TV and Seven chose to discontinue the station, after 18 years, reports TV Tonight‘s David Knox.
10 has said it is “bitterly disappointed” and advised viewers to watch programmes via 10Play.
On Wednesday the govt announced plans to offer VAST access which has been described as not realistic given the satellite costs for homes.
Ryan Moloney to leave Neighbours
Ryan Moloney will farewell Neighbours later this year after some 30 years with the long running soap -but will move behind the scene to pursue directing ambitions, reports TV Tonight‘s David Knox.
First gracing our screens in 1995, Jarrod ‘Toadfish’ Rebecchi, he has become synonymous with the soap in Australia, the UK and in multiple territories.
“After 30 years playing Toadie, I will be leaving Ramsay Street,” he said. “I can’t tell you what is happening to the character – maybe I could be the next Jim Robinson. Or maybe I’ll be the next Harold Bishop and keep popping back over the years….”
Sports
Socceroos land difficult World Cup qualifying group
The Socceroos have been handed a tough draw for the first decisive phase of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, landing in the same group as Japan and Saudi Arabia for the third cycle in a row, reports Nine Publishing’s Vince Rugari.
While they avoided the logistical nightmare of a potential trip to North Korea, fate has instead delivered Australia a very familiar outcome, pitting them against the two Asian heavyweights in Group C, as well as Bahrain, China and Indonesia.