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Nine feels squeeze of ad market

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 17 & 24 : 13-Nov-19

Nine Entertainment Company has downgraded its underlying earnings growth forecast for 2019-20 due to challenging conditions in the advertising market. CEO Hugh Marks has told the group’s AGM that there was a 6.4 per cent decline in the metropolitan free-to-air TV advertising market in the first quarter, and the outlook has not improved in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Nine chairman Peter Costello has called for digital platforms to be subject to the same regulations as traditional media companies.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, MACQUARIE MEDIA LIMITED – ASX MRN, 2GB, RADIO 4BC BRISBANE PTY LTD, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, WALT DISNEY COMPANY

AFP raid on journo’s home trespass

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Original article by Olivia Caisley
The Australian – Page: 7 : 13-Nov-19

The High Court has been told that a warrant to search a News Corp Australia journalist’s home was invalid as it did not state the exact nature of her alleged offence. The lawyer representing Annika Smethurst also alleged that the Australian Federal Police’s search warrant infringed the implied freedom of political communication. Stephen Lloyd SC said the AFP should be either forced to delete any files it had extracted from Smethurst’s mobile phone during the raid in June, or be subject to a court order preventing any use of those files.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NATIONWIDE NEWS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN SIGNALS DIRECTORATE

King Karl’s cut-price rescue bid

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Original article by Leo Shanahan, Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 23 & 25 : 11-Nov-19

Clemenger BBDO Sydney CEO Peter Bosilkovski says the return of Karl Stefanovic should generate renewed interest in Nine’s ‘Today’ show, but he adds that the bold move may not necessarily result in a sustained ratings boost. Nine has confirmed that Stefanovic and Allison Langdon will co-host the breakfast show in 2020, a year after the former was sacked. Ratings have slumped in 2019, with new hosts Georgie Gardner and Deb Knight failing to resonate with viewers. Gardner responded to Stefanovic’s appointment by quitting the ‘Today’ show, effective immediately.

CORPORATES
NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, CLEMENGER BBDO (SYDNEY) PTY LTD, SPINACH ADVERTISING PTY LTD, IPG MEDIABRANDS, VIZEUM, OZTAM PTY LTD

Orocobre swims as its lithium rivals experience sinking feeling

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 11-Nov-19

The share price of lithium miner Orocobre has fallen by just 13.7 per cent so far in 2019, while some of its peers have shed more than 50 per cent of their value. Orocobre also defied the general downtrend in the lithium sector by posting an underlying profit of $US24.8m ($36m) for 2018-19 and cashflow from operations of $US8.48m. Orocobre’s focus is on lithium carbonate, the price of which has not fallen as sharply as that of spodumene concentrate, which is produced by its major rivals.

CORPORATES
OROCOBRE LIMITED – ASX ORE, GALAXY RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX GXY, PILBARA MINERALS LIMITED – ASX PLS, ALTURA MINING LIMITED – ASX AJM, MINERAL RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX MIN, ALITA RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX A40, LIVENT INCORPORATED

Tennis Australia risked disaster if Ten won Open

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Original article by Liz Main
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 8-Nov-19

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has launched legal action against former Tennis Australia board members Harold Mitchell and Stephen Healy. It alleges Mitchell went over the heads of other board members to ensure Seven secured a five-year deal in 2013 to cover the Australian Open, despite Network Ten putting in a competing offer, and it alleges Healy was complicit in the deal. Mitchell’s lawyer Neil Young QC suggested to former Tennis Australia executive Stephen Ayles during hearings on 7 November that if there was a risk that Ten could go into administration during the five years of a possible deal that it would be disastrous for Tennis Australia, to which Ayles agreed.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, TENNIS AUSTRALIA, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED

Murdochs agree to cap on Fox voting power

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 8-Nov-19

The Murdoch Family Trust has agreed to limit its voting rights in the new Fox Corporation to 44 per cent, with the cap to apply in perpetuity or until the Murdochs sell out of the company. The limit will help to facilitate $US2 billion ($2.9 billion) worth of share buybacks that Fox announced as part of its latest quarterly results. The buyback will include a mix of Class A and Class B Fox shares, with Fox’s independent directors keen to increase the liquidity of its Class B shares.

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MURDOCH FAMILY TRUST, FOX CORPORATION

Ita Buttrose pulls ABC’s Q&A show over call to violence

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Original article by Matthew Denholm
The Australian – Page: Online : 8-Nov-19

ABC chairwoman Ita Buttrose says it will pull the 4 November edition of ‘Q&A’ from its platforms, following a number of complaints about the program. Panellists on the program appeared to advocate arson, violence and extrajudicial killings, and ABC MD David Anderson says it will investigate whether the program breached the ABC’s editorial standards. The Australian Communications & Media Authority has so far received 53 complaints about the program.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY

Nine CEO calls in Karl, at a cut price

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Original article by Nick Tabakoff
The Australian – Page: 1 & 8 : 7-Nov-19

Nine Entertainment Company CEO Hugh Marks has flagged the possibility of Karl Stefanovic returning as co-host of the "Today" breakfast show in 2020. Stefanovic remains contracted to Nine for another year, on an annual salary of more than $2m, having been sacked from "Today" in late 2018. However, Marks says Stefanovic would have to agree to a significant pay cut if he were to return to the show he co-hosted for 14 years. The ratings for "Today" recently fell to a record low of 155,000 across the five major capital cities.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED

Melbourne Cup in turmoil as ratings and attendance plunge in 2019

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Media Update – Page: Online : 7-Nov-19

TV viewership of the Melbourne Cup has plunged in 2019, dropping by more than half-a-million viewers compared to 2018 (a drop of 28% in only one year) and down over 330,000 in Melbourne – the home of the race. In total 1.324 million Australians in the 5 Capital Cities tuned in to Network 10’s coverage of Australia’s most important horse race. Sydney viewing was down by over 100,000 and down by tens of thousands in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. As reported yesterday attendance at the Melbourne Cup was only 81,408, the lowest attendance for nearly a quarter of a century since 1995. In line with plunging attendance figures, TV viewership was down across the whole day including the Race, Presentation, Mounting Yard and other viewing segments. Attendance at the Melbourne Cup has now dropped for five years in a row and is a clear indicator of problems facing Australia’s Racing Industry which Roy Morgan shows has among the highest level of distrust of all sports.

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No market for new uranium mines: Cameco

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 20 : 6-Nov-19

Canada-based Cameco will produce just nine million pounds of uranium in 2020; instead, the bulk of the uranium it supplies to customers will be sourced from the spot market. CEO Tim Gitzel says there is no economic case at present for the construction of new uranium mines, given the large amount of uranium that has been stockpiled. The spot price of uranium averaged $US25.68 a pound in the September quarter, which is well below the long-term price that is required for Cameco’s mines in Australia to be viable.

CORPORATES
CAMECO CORPORATION, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, ENERGY RESOURCES OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX ERA, PALADIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX PDN, DEEP YELLOW LIMITED – ASX DYL