MASS MEDIA – AUSTRALIA

Publishers should be wary of online giants, says Seven, Nine

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 23 & 25 : 11-Jul-16

Media groups are increasingly seeking to generate traffic to their websites by allowing their content to be republished by companies such as Google and Facebook. However, Facebook recently made changes that give priority to content that is posted by individuals rather than media companies. Seven West Media CEO Tim Worner notes that Facebook and Google are solely content aggregators and do not create their own content, and argues that they should reinvest some of their Australian profits into producing content.

CORPORATES
GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, KLEINER PERKINS CAUFIELD AND BYERS, GUARDIAN MEDIA GROUP PLC

Troubled Guvera’s London IPO plan

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Original article by Misa Han
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 7-Jul-16

Documents filed in court show that Australian streaming music provider Guvera originally intended to list on the London Stock Exchange rather than the local bourse. Guvera abandoned plans for a London listing following the collapse of its UK subsidiary Blinkbox, which boasted about 2.5 million subscribers when it was bought in early 2015. Guvera had acquired Blinkbox in order to facilitate its British IPO. Guvera’s Australian IPO was subsequently rejected, prompting two subsidiaries to be placed in administration.

CORPORATES
GUVERA LIMITED, BLINKBOX, LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, ASX LIMITED – ASX ASX, TESCO PLC, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED

ABC boss expands Netflix content deal

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Original article by Michael Bodey
The Australian – Page: 29 : 4-Jul-16

ABC MD Michelle Guthrie has told the Crawford Australian Leadership Forum that the public broadcaster must continue to establish alliances with third parties to ensure that its content is accessible on any platform. The ABC has made more of its contents available to Netflix’s Australian subscribers, while some of its programs are also offered by Netflix in the US. Some of the ABC’s content is also available via Netflix’s local rivals, Presto and Stan.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, PRESTO ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, WORKING DOG PRODUCTIONS PTY LTD, BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION, APPLE INCORPORATED, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

Networks seek new strategy for Presto

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Original article by Jake Mitchell, Michael Bodey
The Australian – Page: 28 : 4-Jul-16

Data from Telsyte suggests that the Presto video-on-demand service had about 418,000 subscribers in June 2016, including 112,000 paid subscribers. In contrast, rival Netflix boasted 1.29 million subscribers in total, while Stan had 640,000. Presto’s joint venture partners Foxtel and Seven West Media are said to be considering their options, which could include merging Presto with one of Foxtel’s other video-on-demand products.

CORPORATES
PRESTO ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, TELSYTE PTY LTD, HBO, SHOWTIME, BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION, 21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, FOX UK, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, SKY PLC

Nine fades to black in the midnight hour

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Original article by Jake Mitchell
The Australian – Page: 28 : 4-Jul-16

The Nine Network’s content was temporarily unavailable in regional areas of Western Australia after negotiations with West Digital Television regarding an affiliation deal stalled. WDT is a joint venture between WIN Corporation and Prime Media Group, and it had proposed to pay an affiliation fee of less than 20 per cent of its revenue. Nine in turn is believed to have sought a percentage of revenue based on audience share. WDT began broadcasting Nine’s signal nearly two days after the negotiations’ deadline of 30 June had lapsed.

CORPORATES
NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, WEST DIGITAL TELEVISION, WIN CORPORATION PTY LTD, PRIME MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX PRT, SOUTHERN CROSS AUSTEREO PTY LTD, SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL, IMPARJA TELEVISION PTY LTD, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, GILBERT AND TOBIN LAWYERS, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE

Last-minute deal keeps Nine in Tassie

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Original article by Jake Mitchell
The Australian – Page: 21 & 24 : 1-Jul-16

The Tasmanian Digital Television joint venture between WIN Corporation and Southern Cross Media Group has agreed to broadcast the Nine Network’s content. The affiliation deal will ensure that viewers in the broadcast area will continue to have access to Nine’s TV shows. WIN and Southern Cross switched metropolitan affiliation partners in some states and regional areas on 1 July 2016.

CORPORATES
TASMANIAN DIGITAL TELEVISION PTY LTD, WIN CORPORATION PTY LTD, SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, PRIME MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX PRT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, NBN TELEVISION

Nine escapes with fine as mum, abductors face seven years’ jail

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Original article by Jacquelin Magnay
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 1-Jul-16

Members of a "60 Minutes" team will be fined less than $A1,000 for their role in the Lebanon child-kidnapping scandal, after being charged with minor offences by a Beirut court. However, Sally Faulkner will face kidnapping charges over the failed attempt to remove her children from the custody of her estranged husband and return them to Australia. Adam Whittington and three member of his child-recovery team also face kidnapping charges. The Nine Network is believed to have paid more than $A2m in legal and other costs as a result of the scandal.

CORPORATES
NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

Nine beats deadline with deal

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Original article by Jake Mitchell
The Australian – Page: 21 : 29-Jun-16

Mildura Digital Television (MDT) has secured an affiliation agreement with Nine Entertainment Company to broadcast its content. MDT is a joint venture between WIN Corporation and Prime Media Group, and the deal is said to provide Nine with 10-20 per cent of MDT’s advertising revenue. The deal was secured just days before Nine’s new affiliation agreement with WIN rival Southern Cross takes effect in many other regions of Victoria.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MILDURA DIGITAL TELEVISION PTY LTD, SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL, PRIME MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX PRT, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN

Netflix streams ahead of the rest

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Original article by Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 27-Jun-16

Research by Telsyte has concluded that Australia will boast 2.7 million active online streaming video subscriptions by the end of June 2016, including 1.9 million paid subscriptions. The number of paid subscriptions is expected to rise to 4.1 million by mid-2019, based on current growth rates. Meanwhile, Telsyte MD Foad Fadaghi forecasts that the pay-TV sector will record compound annual growth rate of less than four per cent over the next four years.

CORPORATES
TELSYTE PTY LTD, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, PRESTO ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, QUICKFLIX LIMITED – ASX QFX, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, AMAZON PRIME, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION, ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP

Ten deal opens board seat to Gordon

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Original article by Jake Mitchell
The Australian – Page: 23 : 27-Jun-16

The affiliation agreement with Bruce Gordon’s WIN Corporation may prompt Ten Network to offer a board seat to the billionaire. WIN CEO Andrew Lancaster is expected to become Gordon’s representative on the Ten board. Ten had previously declined to give Gordon board representation due to conflict of interests concerns, as he is a major shareholder in both Ten and Nine Entertainment Company. WIN’s content supply agreement with Ten commences on 1 July 2016.

CORPORATES
TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, WIN CORPORATION PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS