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Seven’s streaming arm fuels success

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Original article by James Madden
The Australian – Page: 19 : 27-Jun-22

Seven West Media’s 7plus broadcast video-on-demand platform recorded year-on-year growth of 57 per cent in 2021. Seven’s chief digital officer Gereurd Roberts recently indicated that 7plus accounted for 45 per cent of all BVOD streaming minutes in the free-to-air sector during the year, while Seven CEO James Warburton wants BVOD viewing numbers to be included in the official ratings data. Seven has dominated the ratings so far in 2022, winning 13 of the 17 weeks in metropolitan areas and every week in regional areas.

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SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, 7PLUS

Wilkinson warned over Higgins speech

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Original article by Sarah Ison, Emily Kowal
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 22-Jun-22

The ACT Supreme Court has indefinitely delayed the trial of a man who allegedly raped former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in Canberra. Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said the trial will have to be postponed after Ten Network presenter Lisa Wilkinson referred to Higgins in her Logies acceptance speech on Sunday night. Wilkinson won a Logie award for her interview with Higgins in 2021. Justice McCallum warned that the publicity generated by the speech had ‘obliterated’ the distinction between an allegation and a finding of guilt. The court heard that ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold had told Wilkinson the case could be postponed if she referred to it at the Logies.

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SUPREME COURT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED

Swiss cheese shield laws set for review

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Original article by Lydia Lynch
The Australian – Page: 23 : 30-May-22

Queensland recently became the last Australian jurisdiction to pass legislation to protect journalists from naming their confidential sources in court. Adam Portelli of the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance says the introduction of uniform ‘shield’ laws is urgently needed, and the MEAA will urge the new federal government to do so. Portelli argues that the "Swiss cheese" nature of Australia’s shield laws deter potential whistleblowers from coming forward. Human Rights Law Centre lawyer Kieran Pender has also called for consistent shield laws nationwide.

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MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE, HUMAN RIGHTS LAW CENTRE LIMITED

Eyeballs on the march as free-to-air TV slumps

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Original article by James Madden, Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 15 & 23 : 30-May-22

Analysis of ratings data from OzTAM highlights the decline of free-to-air television in Australia. SBS has increased its audience by 15 per cent since 2012, but viewership of the other FTA broadcasters has declined. This decline is particularly acute in the breakfast timeslot; the average weekday metropolitan audience of Seven Network’s ‘Sunrise’ was 260,650 in 2021, compared with 364,445 in 2012, while the average audience of Nine’s ‘Today’ has fallen from 334,954 to just 219,032. The increasingly crowded streaming market has accelerated the decline of FTA in recent years. However, Ben Willee of Spinach Advertising says TV is still a powerful medium for reaching audiences.

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OZTAM PTY LTD, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SPINACH ADVERTISING PTY LTD

Pilbara Minerals achieves another record lithium price at auction

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Original article by Stuart McKinnon
The West Australian – Page: Online : 26-May-22

Pilbara Minerals has advised that a 5,000-tonne cargo of its lithium concentrate has fetched $US5,955 per tonne in auction. The company says this equates to $US6,586 on a cost, insurance, freight price basis. Kaan Peker of RBC Capital Markets says the sale price is 35 per cent above the current spot price in China, and six per cent above the reported weekly Platts index price. The price of lithium has almost doubled since the start of 2022, and Pilbara Minerals MD Ken Brinsden recently forecast that the price will continue to rise.

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PILBARA MINERALS LIMITED – ASX PLS, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, PLATTS

News bargaining code a success not to be repeated: Sims

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Original article by John Davidson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 1-Mar-22

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims claims that the news media bargaining code has been one of the most successful policy initiatives in 50 years. The code requires technology platforms such as Google and Facebook to pay Australian media outlets for their content, and has seen Facebook and Google pay Australian media companies over $200 million since it took effect in March 2021. However, Sims does not consider the code should be used as a ‘template’ for a wider crackdown on big technology companies.

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AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, GOOGLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FACEBOOK AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

News bargaining code a success not to be repeated: Sims

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Original article by John Davidson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 1-Mar-22

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims claims that the news media bargaining code has been one of the most successful policy initiatives in 50 years. The code requires technology platforms such as Google and Facebook to pay Australian media outlets for their content, and has seen Facebook and Google pay Australian media companies over $200 million since it took effect in March 2021. However, Sims does not consider the code should be used as a ‘template’ for a wider crackdown on big technology companies.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, GOOGLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FACEBOOK AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Chinese hackers attack local media group

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 2 : 10-Feb-22

Cybersecurity firm CyberCX has revealed that a major Australian media company was targeted by hackers on 10 December, immediately after the ‘Log4j’ vulnerability was exposed. CyberCX’s chief strategy officer Alastair MacGibbon says the hackers used techniques that are consistent with Chinese ‘state-sponsored actors’. He adds that media companies are attractive targets for such hackers because they receive and analyse information that has intelligence value. The media company has not been identified, although it is not News Corp; it is also not believed to be Nine Entertainment, which was targeted by a cyber attack in March 2021.

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CYBERCX, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

The ABC’s budget hasn’t been restored – it’s still facing $1.2 billion in losses over a decade

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Original article by Alexandra Wake, Michael Ward
The New Daily – Page: Online : 10-Feb-22

The ABC’s management has welcomed the federal government’s new three-year funding package and the abolition of the budget indexation freeze that was imposed in 2018. The ABC will receive $3.284bn over the three years from 2022-23, including $45.8m to continue its enhanced news gathering program for local public interest journalism in regional areas. However, analysis shows that the ABC’s funding has been cut by $783m in total since 2014, and it faces accumulated funding cuts of $1.201bn over the period from 2014-15 to 2024-25.

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AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Anger after News Corp and Google Australia set up journalism academy at university business school

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Original article by Amanda Meade
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 9-Feb-22

News Corporation executive Campbell Reid will be the inaugural head of the Digital News Academy, which is a joint venture between the media giant and Google Australia. Reid says the University of Melbourne’s business school was selected to provide the nine-month course because it is "unashamedly about the business of journalism". However, the decision to offer the course via the business school has been criticised by Andrew Dodd, the director of the university’s Centre for Advancing Journalism. He says it reflects News Corp’s long-standing antagonism for university journalism programs. Dodd adds that he was not aware of the new initiative until he read about it in a press release.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, GOOGLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. BUSINESS SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. CENTRE FOR ADVANCING JOURNALISM