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Nine swings the axe with 85 staff let go

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Original article by James Madden
The Australian – Page: Online : 21-Aug-24

A spokesman for Nine Entertainment has indicated that 85 employees of its publishing division will leave the media company in coming months after successfully applying for voluntary redundancy packages. They primarily comprise journalists and production staff at Nine’s newspaper mastheads, and include Ben Potter, Aaron Patrick and Michael Pelly from the flagship Australian Financial Review. Nine had previously announced plans to cut 200 positions across its operations, including up to 90 at its publishing arm; CEO Mike Sneesby attributed the move to the difficult advertising market and Meta’s decision to withdraw from revenue-sharing deals with news publishers.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

Foxtel, NRL, AFL face US privacy suit

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 19 : 21-Aug-24

Pay-TV group Foxtel has been accused of breaching the US Video Privacy Protection Act by using Meta’s tracking pixel to send targeted advertising to people outside of Australia who subscribe to its streaming video services. The AFL and the NRL have also been named as defendents in two separate class actions, which are being heard by the US District Court of California. The class actions centre on allegations that the Watch AFL and Watch NRL websites use the tracking pixels to send data to Facebook about the content the user is watching, even if they are not logged into the social media site.

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FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, DISTRICT COURT OF UNITED STATES

TV ad revenue tanks but broadcast video on demand offers hope

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Original article by James Madden
The Australian – Page: Online : 14-Aug-24

Data from ThinkTV shows that the combined advertising revenue of Australia’s commercial free-to-air broadcasters fell by 8.1 per cent in 2023-24, to $3.3bn. The figures cover metropolitan and regional free-to-air networks, plus their broadcast video-on-demand services; advertising-supported public broadcaster SBS is not included. The advertising revenue of metro and regional FTA networks fell by 12 per cent and 5.5 per cent respectively. However, this was partially offset by a 12.7 per cent increase in BVOD ad revenue.

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THINK TV

Four Corners investigation alleges culture of fear, misogyny, bullying at Seven Network

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Original article by Calum Jaspan
The Age – Page: Online : 13-Aug-24

Former Seven Network regional reporter Olivia Babb has told the ABC’s ‘Four Corners’ program that Seven is "one of the most degrading, soul-crushing places you can work". Babb is one of a number of current and former Seven staff who took part in the program, which alleged that the television network has a culture of bullying, harassment and misogynistic treatment. Employment lawyer Josh Bornstein told the program that there had been a noticeable pattern of hostility towards women at the network. Babb said that she was paid so little that she and other colleagues were often "one or two paychecks from homelessness".

CORPORATES
SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Why this could be Murdoch’s last chance to sell Foxtel

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Original article by Elizabeth Knight
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 13-Aug-24

Foxtel had been estimated to be worth between $1.2bn and $2bn when an IPO was being considered in 2021. However, an IPO now appears to be highly unlikely, and selling Foxtel may be the best option for News Corp and Telstra. Foxtel’s traditional pay-TV business now boasts about 1.2 million subscribers, well below the peak of 2.9 million in 2015; retaining as many of these customers as possible could be crucial to getting a decent price for Foxtel, given that they pay an average of $90 per month. Foxtel’s own streaming services Kayo and Binge have much lower monthly revenue per customer, and their subscriber growth is also slowing amid growing competition in the streaming sector.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, KAYO SPORTS, BINGE

Liontown wants lithium breaks as prices teeter

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 7-Aug-24

Association of Mining & Exploration Companies CEO Warren Pearce says it is holding talks with the Western Australian government with regard to royalty relief for lithium producers. The price of spodumene has fallen to $US870 ($1,337) per tonne, and Liontown Resources CEO Tony Ottaviano contends that the government should intervene in order to avert a similar crisis to the rout that hit the nation’s industry. He has also suggested that the federal government should expand its production tax credit scheme to include the upstream processing of spodumene.

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ASSOCIATION OF MINING AND EXPLORATION COMPANIES, LIONTOWN RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX LTR

Rupert, Lachlan and me: inside the Murdochs’ medieval fiefdom

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Original article by Amanda Meade
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 6-Aug-24

Eric Beecher has written a new book called ‘The Men Who Killed the News’, which looks at the abuse of power by media moguls from William Randolph Hearst to Elon Musk. Beecher’s career in journalism included a number of years with the Murdoch family-owned News Corporation, with Beecher saying that News Corp is like a "’medieval fiefdom", where editors learn through "a kind of osmosis" rather than through direct instruction. Beecher says he had been working on the book slowly for years, with the impetus to finish it coming in 2022, when he was personally sued by Lachlan Murdoch over an article that appeared in Crikey; Murdoch eventually dropped the case in April 2023.

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NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

West highly vulnerable to China on critical minerals

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Original article by Cameron England
The Australian – Page: 18 : 31-Jul-24

A new report notes that while rare earth elements are crucial to the global energy transition, countries such as Australia are vulnerable due to their reliance on China for critical minerals. The report from the Henry Jackson Society, Freshwater Strategy and the Centre for Resilient Society notes that China’s willingness to ignore the environmental harms associated with the production of rare earth elements has contributed to the nation’s domination of global supply. They warn that this reliance on China means that Australia and its Five Eyes partners risk running out of critical minerals in the event of a price spike or armed conflict.

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HENRY JACKSON SOCIETY, FRESHWATER STRATEGY, CENTRE FOR RESILIENT SOCIETY

Nine Entertainment CEO returns to office after Olympics trip as five-day strike comes to end

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Original article by Amanda Meade
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 31-Jul-24

The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance has advised that journalists from Nine Entertainment’s publishing division will return to work at 11am on Wednesday. The end of the five-day industrial action by about 500 journalists will coincide with the return of Nine’s CEO Mike Sneesby, after a week in Paris where he entertained corporate clients and attracted scrutiny for participating in the Olympic torch relay amid the turmoil in the company’s newsrooms. Michelle Rae from the MEAA says Nine’s management has committed to resuming negotiations with journalists when they return to work.

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NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE

ABC cops Buttrose blast over news bias

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Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 5 : 30-Jul-24

Media industry veteran Ita Buttrose says the ABC needs to present both sides of an argument, contending that this is "much better" for the viewer or the listener. However, Buttrose adds that some ABC interviewers are reluctant to tell both sides of a story; she also says that if the public broadcaster’s journalists cannot take criticism they should just "give up". Buttrose’s five-year term as the ABC’s chair ended in March. Meanwhile, she says the strike action by Nine Entertainment journalists on the eve of the Paris Olympic Games was an "unwise decision", given that the Olympics is a major investment for the company.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC