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Empire grows as Seven West Media takes control of Community Newspapers

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Original article by Hamish Hastie
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 28-May-19

Seven West Media has struck a deal to buy out News Corp Australia’s 50.1 per cent stake in their Community News joint venture in Perth. Seven West Media’s Maryna Fewster says the portfolio of 12 community newspapers and 17 digital titles will complement the company’s existing media assets in Western Australia. Community News was incorporated in 1985, and its acquisition by Seven West Media will be completed by the start of July.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, COMMUNITY NEWS, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

ABC gives edge to progressive voices

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Original article by Zoe Samios, Alice Workman, Jessica Cortis
The Australian – Page: 24 : 27-May-19

Analysis shows that Labor politicians were interviewed 12 times by the ABC’s flagship news and current affairs programs during the federal election campaign. A total of 10 politicians from the Liberal Party were interviewed on ‘7.30’, ‘Insiders’ and ‘AM’, while three Greens and one Centre Alliance politician were interviewed. ‘7.30’ featured three live interviews with Coalition politicians, four with Labor and one Greens. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and former Opposition leader Bill Shorten were both interviewed on ‘7:30’ twice during the election campaign.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, CENTRE ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF FINANCE

New minister ready for big to-do list

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 27-May-19

Paul Fletcher has replaced Mitch Fifield as Minister for Communications and the Arts in a cabinet reshuffle following the federal election. The former Optus executive will face a number of challenges in the portfolio, including lobbying by telcos for a reduction in the national broadband network’s wholesale pricing and a push by TV networks for drama and children’s content quotas to be relaxed. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s final report on its inquiry into digital platforms will also be released shortly.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, NBN CO LIMITED, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, TPG TELECOM LIMITED – ASX TPM, FREE TV AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED

Geoffrey Rush awarded almost $2.9 million after defamation win

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Original article by Jamie McKinnell
abc.net au – Page: Online : 24-May-19

Nationwide News has been ordered to pay nearly $2.9 million in damages to Hollywood actor Geoffrey Rush. He was found to have been defamed by ‘The Daily Telegraph’ over allegations that he had behaved inappropriately towards actress Eryn Jean Norvill during a Sydney Theatre Company production of ‘King Lear’. Rush’s payment includes $850,000 for general and aggravated damages, $919,678 for future economic loss and $42,000 in interest. Rush’s barrister Sue Chrystanthou noted there had been an offer to settle for $50,000, but Nationwide News had instead chosen to mount a truth defence.

CORPORATES
SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY, NATIONWIDE NEWS PTY LTD

Rare earths dispute lifts Lynas

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 20 : 22-May-19

Lynas Corporation produced 5,444 tonnes of neodymium and praseodymium in fiscal 2018, but it has outlined plans to lift this to 10,500 tonnes a year via a $500m capital investment program. Lynas has also advised that it will undertake the initial processing of ore from its Mt Weld project in Western Australia at a site near the mine, rather than exporting the raw materials to its processing plant in Malaysia. Meanwhile, Lynas share closed 14.4 per cent higher at $2.26 on 21 May, after China flagged plans to cease exporting rare earths to the US amid ongoing trade tensions between the two nations.

CORPORATES
LYNAS CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX LYC, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES

Nine dices up inherited events arm

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 19 : 22-May-19

Sydney’s City2Surf race is among five sports events that the Ironman Group will acquire from Nine Entertainment in a deal worth $31m. Nine will retain about seven of the events that were previously part of Fairfax Media’s events business, including the Night Noodle Markets and Good Food Month. They will be integrated into Nine’s publishing division, while a number of smaller events will be discontinued. Chinese-owned Ironman Group manages more than 230 events in 53 countries.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, IRONMAN GROUP, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED, WANDA GROUP, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA, THORNEY INVESTMENT GROUP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

ABC staff told to brace for cuts

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Original article by Andrew White
The Australian – Page: 7 : 21-May-19

ABC MD David Anderson has warned the public broadcaster’s employees that it will need to reduce costs by $14.6m in 2019-20 after the federal government failed to reverse its funding freeze in the April 2019 Budget. Anderson has reiterated that investing in content must be the ABC’s priority; he had previously indicated that jobs and services would need to be cut if the funding freeze remained in place. Labor had committed to scrapping the freeze if it won the federal election.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

Foxtel focus on satisfied subscribers

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Original article by Andrew White, Zoe Samios
The Australian – Page: 28 : 20-May-19

Foxtel’s recently-appointed chief product and strategy officer Alice Mascia has been recruited to help bolster its Kayo Sports and Foxtel Now streaming services and to help retain subscribers. Mascia says Foxtel is planning to introduce a loyalty scheme for customers, while customers who want to get a satellite set-top box for free when they get Foxtel installed are being asked to sign a 12-month contract; she says this should reduce customer churn. Foxtel’s churn rates increased to 17 per cent in the March quarter following a 11 per cent price rise in October, but they improved in April.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS

BHP warned of potash mission impossible

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian – Page: 19 & 24 : 20-May-19

BHP recently advised that the first stage of its proposed $US5.7 billion ($8.3 billion) Jansen potash project in Canada will produce 10 per cent more a year than previously forecast, but that it will cost around 10 per cent more to construct. Green Markets research director Alexis Maxwell says rival potash producers would seek to keep prices sufficiently low so that BHP did not have sufficient incentive to develop Jansen, while JP Morgan analyst Lyndon Fagan says BHP is using unrealistically high potash prices to justify the economics of Jansen. BHP is expected to make a decision on whether to proceed with Jansen within 18 months.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, GREEN MARKETS, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Aunty takes ratings crown

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Original article by Zoe Samios, Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 26 : 20-May-19

The ABC had the highest-rating federal election coverage on 18 May, with its audience peaking at 1.336 million – including 940,000 metropolitan viewers – from 8-9pm. The ABC News channel attracted an average metropolitan audience of 258,833, while some 300,000 people watched the public broadcaster’s election coverage via iview. Meanwhile, the Nine Network’s election coverage attracted some 450,000 metropolitan viewers, and pay-TV channel Sky News was watched by an average of 132,000 viewers.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SKY NEWS, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), RMIT UNIVERSITY