MASS MEDIA – AUSTRALIA

Rivals roll up sleeves as Hamish and Andy lift Hit

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Original article by Michael Bodey
The Australian – Page: 7 : 30-Sep-15

Australian Radio Network executive Duncan Campbell has downplayed a rise in the ratings of the Southern Cross Austereo-owned Hit network. The drive-slot team of Hamish Blake and Andy Lee enjoyed a two per cent increase in ratings in four capital cities in the latest radio ratings survey. However, Campbell notes that Hit continues to have lower ratings than rival networks. Nova’s Paul Jackson notes that Hit has also been heavily promoting Hamish and Andy.

CORPORATES
SOUTHERN CROSS AUSTEREO PTY LTD, SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL, HIT NETWORK, AUSTRALIAN RADIO NETWORK PTY LTD, NOVA ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, KIIS 101.1, KIIS1065, TRIPLE M BUILDERS PTY LTD, 2DAY FM AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MACQUARIE RADIO NETWORK LIMITED – ASX MRN, 3AW SOUTHERN CROSS RADIO PTY LTD, 2GB, ABC RADIO, 97.3 FM, MIX 94.5, MIX102.3, SMOOTHFM

Cricket Live app in Optus digital rights deal

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Original article by John Stensholt
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 33 : 28-Sep-15

Cricket Australia has declined to comment on speculation that it is set to secure a deal with Optus regarding digital broadcasting rights, saying only that it is in talks with the telco. The deal is expected to cover cricket matches that were played prior to Cricket Australia’s current TV rights deal with Nine Entertainment Company. It is also believed that Optus customers will have free access to the Cricket Live app. Optus flagged a greater push into sports broadcasts earlier in 2015.

CORPORATES
CRICKET AUSTRALIA, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, APPLE INCORPORATED, BT SPORTS

Stan comedy show wins over Hollywood execs

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 32 : 28-Sep-15

Stan CEO Mike Sneesby says 70 per cent of people who took up the subscription video on-demand service’s one-month free trial offer have become paid subscribers. He also says the Fairfax Media-Nine Entertainment joint venture is approaching 400,000 gross customers. Stan is investing in the production of Australian content, and Sneesby says several of its shows have attracted interest in the US.

CORPORATES
STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, TELSYTE PTY LTD, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, HULU LLC, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, PRESTO ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, QUICKFLIX LIMITED – ASX QFX, HBO

ABC sets new prime-time target of 60pc Australian content

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Original article by Dominic White
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 22-Sep-15

Local productions will comprise just 43 per cent of the content broadcast in prime time on the ABC’s main channel in 2015. The public broadcaster’s director of television, Richard Finlayson, says ABC budget cuts have significantly affected local content, but he aims to lift this to 60 per cent within five years. The ABC is pushing for an increase in its funding and a requirement for global video-on-demand providers to help finance local TV productions.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, SCREEN PRODUCERS AUSTRALIA, BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION, CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Netflix, Google ‘should invest in Aussie content’

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Original article by Dominic White
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 37 : 21-Sep-15

Australia’s free-to-air and pay-TV industry is estimated to invest about $A3bn in content each year. The former Australian Labor Party’s Convergence Review in 2012 noted that free-to-air broadcasters invest 3-4 per cent of their revenue in local content. Screen Producers Australia and the ABC argue that subscription video-on-demand providers such as Netflix should have a similar obligation to invest in local content.

CORPORATES
SCREEN PRODUCERS AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, GOOGLE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

ACCC alarmed by Foxtel plan for Ten

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 15-Sep-15

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) will decide the fate of the proposed Ten Network-Foxtel equity alliance on 22 October 2015. The ACCC has raised a number of concerns about the deal in a statement of issues. They include the potential for Ten and Foxtel to dominate bidding for sports broadcasting rights and the impact of the alliance on the television advertising market, as Ten’s advertising sales team would be merged with Foxtel’s MCN. The role of 8.5 per cent Ten shareholder and News Corp executive Lachlan Murdoch is also a concern for the ACCC.

CORPORATES
TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TEN, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, MULTI CHANNEL NETWORK PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FOX SPORTS, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, CONSOLIDATED MEDIA HOLDINGS LIMITED, PRESTO ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY

Subscription outpaces free sites in flight to quality

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 23 : 14-Sep-15

A Nielsen Online Ratings survey shows that Australian consumers are embracing news websites that require a subscription to access the majority of content. The number of unique visitors to the five most-visited sites with a comprehensive paywall rose by 19.4 per cent year-on-year in August 2015. Meanwhile, the number of unique visitors to the top five new sites with a moderate paywall fell by 2.8 per cent. The top five sites with free access recorded growth of 2.5 per cent.

CORPORATES
THE NIELSEN COMPANY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD

TV rating measures stretch to a month

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Original article by Michael Bodey
The Australian – Page: 25 : 14-Sep-15

OzTAM’s TV ratings methodology is being updated to embrace time-shifting and multiscreens. The new data will begin to be available later in 2015, and OzTAM will report ratings for programs that are viewed up to 28 days after initial transmission. OzTAM CEO Doug Peiffer says preliminary data suggests that taking time-shifting into account can lift a program’s overall ratings by up to 10 per cent. He adds that multiscreen data is unlikely to have much impact on ratings, as most people still watch traditional TV.

CORPORATES
OZTAM PTY LTD, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, THE NIELSEN COMPANY (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Pay-TV’s spend on local content jumps to $800m

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 20 : 10-Sep-15

New figures show that Australia’s pay-TV industry invested $A796 million in new local productions in 2014-15, compared with $A656m in the previous fiscal year. Foxtel CEO Richard Freudenstein says the company’s investment in new content has spanned all genres, adding that overseas TV production groups have also invested in local content. Foxtel plans to further invest in local drama, entertainment and comedy over the next three years.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN SUBSCRIPTION TELEVISION AND RADIO ASSOCIATION (ASTRA) INCORPORATED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, VIACOM INCORPORATED, BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, 21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, ESPN INCORPORATED, DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS INCORPORATED, PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS AUSTRALIA (INTERNATIONAL) PTY LTD

Netflix reaches 2.2 million Australians

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Sep-15

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that 9.3 per cent of Australian households had access to Netflix in August 2015. This equates to more than 2.2 million Australians aged 14+. However, growth is slowing, with an additional 118,000 households subscribing to the subscription video on demand service in August. This is the lowest net gain since its first full month of Netflix’s local operations in April. It is the first time Netflix gained less than in the month before: it previously grew by 133,000 homes in May, 152,000 in June and 166,000 in July.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, PRESTO ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD