Room for other streamers but not at scale-player level, says Stan

Original article by Andrew White
The Australian – Page: 24 & 26 : 1-Apr-19

Brian Han of Morningstar estimates that market penetration of subscription video-on-demand services in Australia is probably still below 50 per cent, although he says this will grow. Apple and Disney are expected to launch SVOD services in Australia, but Stan CEO Mike Sneesby says any new entrants to the market will need to make a big investment in content if they are to compete against established players. Sneesby adds that Stan boasts 1.5 million active subscribers.

CORPORATES
STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, APPLE INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, MORNINGSTAR PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED, STARZ ENTERTAINMENT GROUP LLC, SHOWTIME, 21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, CBS CORPORATION, 10 ALL ACCESS, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, TELSYTE PTY LTD, LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION

Facebook in global ban on white nationalism, separatism

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 29-Mar-19

Facebook has advised that it intends to ban "praise, support and representation" for white nationalism and separatism. It will initially focus on removing such content; those who continue to voice such views could find themselves being banned from all Facebook services, including WhatsApp and Instagram. The ban follows continued criticism of social media companies in the wake of the Christchurch mosque shootings over their failure to deal with the issue of hate speech on their platforms.

CORPORATES
FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, WHATSAPP INCORPORATED, INSTAGRAM LLC, ONE NATION PARTY

Twitter upgrades terror fight

Original article by
The Australian – Page: 19 : 28-Mar-19

A spokesman for Twitter says the social media company is constantly monitoring its platform for keywords and hashtags that might be associated with content advocating terrorism or other extremist activity. Twitter says more than 90 per cent of terrorist content is proactively removed from its platform, and it will continue to invest in technology to address the issue as well as co-operating with governments and industry. Social media companies have attracted scrutiny after the Christchurch mosque shootings were live-streamed on Facebook.

CORPORATES
TWITTER INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT

Social media chiefs get jail term warning

Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 26-Mar-19

Social media companies and internet service providers will meet with Prime Minister Scott Morrison on 26 March. The meeting has been convened in the wake of the live-streaming of the Christchurch mosque shootings on Facebook. Morrison says the federal government will act if social media companies are not prepared to take steps to prevent the use of their platforms in a similar fashion. The threat of jail terms for social media executives who are not seen to be co-operating with the government on the issue has been raised.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, GOOGLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FACEBOOK AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, TWITTER AUSTRALIA HOLDINGS PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, VODAFONE AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Morrison includes telcos in social media crackdown

Original article by Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 21-Mar-19

The federal government will meet with representatives of ISPs and digital platforms on 26 March to discuss measures to prevent the distribution of objectionable content. Social media companies have come under scrutiny after their platforms were used to live-stream the Christchurch mosque shootings, and they were initially expected to be the focus of the government’s talks. However, representatives of Telstra, Optus and Vodafone will also attend the meeting in Brisbane. The telcos have announced that they will block access to footage of the mosque attacks.

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, VODAFONE AUSTRALIA LIMITED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Push to curb social giants like traditional media

Original article by John Davidson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 20-Mar-19

Sacha Molitorisz of the Centre for Media Transition says digital platforms should be subject to the same regulation as traditional media companies with regard to the distribution of objectionable content. He supports the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s proposal for a single media regulator. The issue has attracted renewed scrutiny in the wake of the Christchurch mosque attack, with digital companies unlikely to be censured for allowing it to be streamed live on their platforms.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, SYDNEY. CENTRE FOR MEDIA TRANSITION, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY, SKY NEWS

Watchdog targets Google’s advertising

Original article by David Swan
The Australian – Page: 23 : 18-Mar-19

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims has told the ThinkTV conference that he wants advertising technology companies such as Google to be more transparent about their pricing. Sims says insufficient transparency means advertisers are unsure what they are paying for, and that higher advertising prices are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices for goods and services. Gary Nissim, the founder and MD of search agency Indago Digital, says there is still uncertainty as to how Google calculates cost per click and how its algorithms work.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, THINK TV, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, INDAGO DIGITAL, SEEK LIMITED – ASX SEK, REA GROUP LIMITED – ASX REA, DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA

Global backlash against social media live-streaming of atrocity

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 18-Mar-19

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called for social media platforms to suspend live streaming in the wake of the Christchurch terrorist attack. Brenton Tarrant used Facebook to live stream his attack, and versions of his video were then seen on Twitter and YouTube. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have blocked and removed hundreds of versions of the video, while Facebook took down 1.5 million videos of the footage within 24 hours of the attack. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she intends to take up the issue of live streaming with Facebook directly.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, YOUTUBE INCORPORATED, TWITTER INCORPORATED, NEW ZEALAND. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET

Dated media policies need fixing: Labor

Original article by Zoe Samios
The Australian – Page: 7 : 15-Mar-19

Shadow communications minister Michelle Rowland has accused the federal government of adopting a piecemeal approach to media policy, claiming that it lacks a "coherent reform agenda". She adds that Australia’s media policy and industry regulation is a legacy of the analogue era and needs to be updated to take into account the rise of digital platforms.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

Break up Google to level field in media

Original article by Zoe Samios
The Australian – Page: 3 : 13-Mar-19

News Corp Australia has used its submission to the Australian Competition & Consumer Com­m­ission’s landmark review of digital platforms to propose forcing Google to sell either its search or advertising business. The media group contends that forced divestment may be the best way to address the market power of digital platforms. ACCC chairman Rod Sims recently noted that digital platforms are not subject to the same regulations as traditional media companies.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION