MASS MEDIA – AUSTRALIA

Tabcorp to pay $35m-$40m for Melbourne Cup broadcast rights in new deal

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Original article by John Stensholt
The Australian – Page: 17 : 21-Feb-24

Tabcorp will sub-licence the free-to-air broadcasting rights to the Melbourne Cup to Nine Entertainment Company. Tabcorp has finalised a six-year deal with the Victoria Racing Club for exclusive broadcasting rights for the Melbourne Cup Carnival, at a cost of between $35m and $40m a year. Tabcorp was required to secure a sub-licensing deal with a free-to-air network to comply with the anti-siphoning laws for major sporting events; the Melbourne Cup will also be broadcast on Tacorp’s Sky Channel service. Nine’s deal with Tabcorp will commence with the 2024 Melbourne Cup Carnival; the rights were previously held by the Ten Network.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TABCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TAH, SKY CHANNEL, VICTORIA RACING CLUB LIMITED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED

Seven eyes rebound after worst TV market fall ever

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Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 14-Feb-24

Seven West Media has posted a 2023-24 interim net profit of $54m, which is 53 per cent lower than previously. EBITDA was down 40 per cent at $124m, and revenue was fiver per cent lower at $775m. Recent data from ThinkTV shows that television advertising revenue fell by 10.4 per cent in 2023, amid an economic slowdown and rising interest rates; Seven’s outgoing CEO James Warburton notes that TV revenue is typically the first to decline in a crisis and the first to rebound. CFO Jeff Howard is slated to succeed Warburton by the end of the financial year.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, THINK TV

ABC accused of bias over Israel-Hamas war

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Original article by James Madden, Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 3 : 14-Feb-24

The ABC has received more than 3,000 complaints about its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war since the conflict began in October. The public broadcaster’s editorial director Gavin Fang notes that the majority of complaints were about the ABC’s alleged bias, with a similar proportion of viewers accusing it of being pro-Israel or pro-Palestine. Meanwhile, MD David Anderson has emphasised the importance of the ABC’s impartiality and objectivity in an appearance before a Senate estimates hearing.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Catalano and Waislitz take fight to Seek in regional Australia

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Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 7-Feb-24

Australian Community Media’s owners Antony Catalano and Alex Waislitz will launch a new job listings website in partnership with SpotJobs’ co-founder Lewis Romano. ViewJobs is slated to be launched in early March, and will focus on job vacancies in regional areas. Romano says most of the existing sites do not necessarily cater to the requirements of regional and rural employers; he notes that there has been five per cent growth in regional job advertisements in recent months, while job ads in metropolitan areas have fallen by 10 per cent. ACM will use its portfolio of regional newspapers to promote ViewJobs, which is jointly owned by Catalano and Romano.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA PTY LTD, SPOTJOBS PTY LTD, VIEWJOBS

Streaming quotas may violate FTA

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Original article by Jared Lynch
The Australian – Page: 22 : 6-Feb-24

The federal government is under renewed scrutiny over its plans to impose local content requirements on streaming video services, which are largely based in the US. The Computer & Communications Industry Association has warned that local content quotas could constitute a breach of the free-trade agreement between Australia and the US. Amazon in turn notes that some of its TV shows and documentaries that are filmed in Australia will not qualify as local content because they were not produced under the complete control of Australians. Amazon adds that a quota system would increase production costs.

CORPORATES
COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED

‘Abhorrent’: Buttrose lashes ABC staff revolt

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Original article by James Madden
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 24-Jan-24

The ABC’s board unanimously passed a vote of confidence in MD David Anderson at an emergency meeting on Tuesday. This followed a union-led motion of no-confidence that was passed by the vast majority of 128 staff members on Monday. Amongst other things, they were critical of the public broadcaster’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war and its decision to sack journalist Antoinette Lattouf in December. The ABC’s outgoing chair Ita Buttrose has defended Anderson, saying any suggestion that he has ever shown a lack of support for independent journalism is "abhorrent and incorrect".

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

ABC staff pass no-confidence vote in boss as senior journalist lashes leadership

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Original article by Calum Jaspan, Michael Bachelard
The Age – Page: Online : 23-Jan-24

The ABC board will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday after the public broadcaster’s union members passed a motion of no-confidence in MD David Anderson by 125 to 3 at a meeting on Monday. The meeting was prompted by the public broadcaster’s sacking of journalist Antoinette Lattouf in December, while ABC global affairs editor John Lyons is said to have told the meeting he was embarrassed by it, accusing it of pro-Israel bias and of failing to protect its staff. The meeting outlined five demands it wants Anderson and senior ABC management to address in order to win back the confidence of its staff and the public, including upholding a transparent complaints process and developing clearer and fairer social media policies.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Government clamp on AI likely to be part of new media deals

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Original article by Jared Lynch
The Australian – Page: Online : 19-Dec-23

The federal government has endorsed the five recommendations that arose from a review of the news media bargaining code. The government has advised that another review of the code is slated be completed in early 2025, with the aim of ensuring that it remains ‘fit for purpose’ in a rapidly evolving technology environment for news publishers and digital platforms. Artificial intelligence technology was not specifically mentioned, but it may well be included in the next review. News Corp CEO Robert Thomson argued earlier in 2023 that media companies should be compensated when their content is use to train generative AI platforms.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

Amazon snaps up key cricket rights

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Original article by Zoe Samios
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 5-Dec-23

Amazon Prime Video has secured an exclusive deal with the International Cricket Council. The deal includes the Australian broadcasting rights for the Cricket World Cup, the T20 World Cup and the World Test Championship Final until 2027. Data from OzTAM shows that the Nine Network’s recent coverage of the 2023 Men’s World Cup final in India was watched by more than 1.6 million people nationwide; the final also attracted record viewer numbers on Foxtel and its Kayo Sports streaming service. World Cup and Championship matches are not subject to the anti-siphoning list unless they are played in Australia or New Zealand.

CORPORATES
AMAZON PRIME VIDEO, INTERNATIONAL CRICKET COUNCIL, OZTAM PTY LTD, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS

Coverage by ABC favoured Yes vote

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Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 2 : 5-Dec-23

The ABC has released its 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum report, with editorial policies manager Mark Maley concluding that the public broadcaster’s coverage of the referendum favoured the Yes vote. The report revealed that ABC Ombudsman Fiona Cameron had received 382 complaints relating to the referendum coverage, with 82 per cent relating to claims of bias or lack of balance. 121 of the complaints were investigated, but only four were found to have breached editorial standards.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION