MASS MEDIA – AUSTRALIA

$1bn NRL broadcast deal kicks off

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Original article by Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 13 & 20 : 29-May-20

The National Rugby League has negotiated a revised broadcasting rights deal with Fox Sports and Nine Entertainment for the 2020 season. The two broadcasters are believed to have been granted a 30 per cent discount for the remainder of their existing rights deals, which expire at the end of the 2022 season. Fox Sports has also agreed to extend its NRL rights deal for a further eight years. The NRL season resumed on 28 May, after a two-month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED

News Corp Binges to ease Foxtel’s streaming woes

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Original article by Zoe Samios
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 25-May-20

Binge CEO Julian Ogrin says he is confident that the new entertainment streaming service will attract more subscribers to Foxtel. Ogrin also runs Foxtel’s Kayo sports streaming service; he says that like Kayo, Foxtel is going for "a whole new audience" with Binge. He believes that Binge will complement Netflix’s local subscriber base, while industry observers believe the money that Foxtel is putting into Binge is similar to the amount it put into Kayo when it was launched in November 2018. News Corp Australia owns 65 per cent of Foxtel.

CORPORATES
BINGE, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

AAP bid: consumer watchdog warns Nine and News Corp against any attempt to block sale

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Original article by Paul Smee
The Guardian – Page: Online : 25-May-20

Former News Corp CEO Peter Tonagh is heading a consortium that has tabled a bid for Australian Associated Press. The consortium also includes Samuel Terry Asset Management MD Fred Woollard and Australian Impact Investments MD Kylie Charlton. It is believed that AAP’s shareholders – News Corporation, Seven West Media and Nine – have yet to accept any offer for the news wire service. Australian Competition & Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims has stressed the importance of AAP to media diversity and competition, and he warns that any attempt by Nine and News to block its would raise concerns in regard to competition law.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

Bauer says subscriptions to its magazines have surged by over 60%

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Original article by Vivienne Kelly
Mumbrella – Page: Online : 21-May-20

Bauer Media Australia has advised that its magazine subscription sales have risen by over 60 per cent in the past month when compared to the previous month. Subscription increases for individual titles include a 97 per cent increase for ‘The Australian Women’s Weekly’ and an 81 per cent rise for ‘Woman’s Day’. When compared to the corresponding period in 2019, Bauer’s magazine subscriptions are up by 111 per cent over the past 30 days.

CORPORATES
BAUER MEDIA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

News key for tech titans: so pay up

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Original article by Leo Shanahan, David Swan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 20-May-20

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has released a ‘concepts paper’ on the proposed mandatory revenue-sharing code of conduct for digital companies. ACCC chairman Rod Sims says the revenue from placing advertisements adjacent to news stories is clearly a direct benefit for Google and Facebook. However, he adds that the indirect value of having news on their platform is a much bigger benefit for them. Sims says a number of payment models could be considered, noting that implementing a per-click model could be difficult.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED

Jobs go as Ten closes 10 Daily website

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 15 : 19-May-20

The Ten Network has advised that its 10 Daily news and entertainment website will be discontinued as part of the network’s integration with US parent company ViacomCBS. About 20 jobs are expected to be lost due to the closure of 10 Daily, although it is uncertain as to whether the broader integration strategy will result in more job cuts at Ten. ViacomCBS Australia’s chief content officer Beverley McGarvey has stressed the need for Ten to be "platform-agnostic".

CORPORATES
TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, VIACOMCBS INCORPORATED

Whips cracking as Seven, Ten race for spring carnival deal

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Original article by John Stensholt
The Australian – Page: 19 : 18-May-20

Seven West Media’s broadcasting rights deal for about 21 races in Victoria’s Spring Racing Carnival expires on 30 June. These races include the Cox Plate and ­Caulfield Cup. The Ten Network is believed to have expressed interest in gaining the rights to these race meetings, given that it already broadcasts the four-day Melbourne Cup Carnival. Racing Victoria wants to renew its deal with Seven, although there is a push within the state’s racing industry for it to consider a bid from Ten. Seven and Racing Victoria are also joint venture partners in the Racing.com free-to-air TV channel.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, RACING VICTORIA LIMITED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, RACING.COM

News Corp regional strength is in Queensland whereas Australian Community Media is strongest in NSW/ACT

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 18-May-20

The latest Roy Morgan readership results show that News Corp’s regional newspaper strength is based in Queensland while regional newspaper rival Australian Community Media is strongest in New South Wales and the ACT. The two companies control the publishing industry in regional and rural Australia. There has been talk recently that the two brands would come together under one banner; however, in recent days News Corp has decided against selling its regional titles. News Corp’s leading regional titles include the Gold Coast Bulletin with a four-week print readership of 215,000, The Hobart Mercury (read by 171,000), the Townsville Bulletin (read by 129,000), the Geelong Advertiser (read by 127,000), the Cairns Post (read by 115,000) and the Northern Territory News (read by 56,000). ACM’s leading titles include the Newcastle Herald with a four week print readership of 246,000, the Illawarra Mercury (read by 154,000), Canberra Times (read by 151,000), the Launceston Examiner (read by 102,000) and The Advocate in Tasmania (read by 61,000). The best performing regional newspaper over the past year has been ACM-owned The Examiner, based in the Tasmanian city of Launceston, which increased its weekday average issue print readership by 14.3 per cent to 32,000. Meanwhile, the total cross-platform audiences of Australia’s leading regional titles in the March quarter were led by the Canberra Times with a total cross-platform audience of 1,052,000 in an average four weeks, ahead of The Hobart Mercury on 429,000 and the Newcastle Herald on 380,000.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA

News Corp set to gain increased visibility with over 4.8 million Chemist Warehouse customers

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 18-May-20

New research from Roy Morgan shows that 11.4 million Australians in NSW, Victoria, Queensland or South Australia either read one of the print editions of the local News Corp metropolitan daily newspapers or were customers of Chemist Warehouse during the March quarter. News Corp and Chemist Warehouse recently announced a trial to sell the media company’s four leading metro dailies at 100 Chemist Warehouse stores over the next few months. Analysing the two separately shows that 6.6 million Australians currently read one of the News Corp metropolitan dailies in print in an average four weeks and almost 7.2 million in NSW, Victoria, Queensland or South Australia shop at Chemist Warehouse in an average four weeks. Of the 11.4 million who either read print editions of the News Corp dailies or shop at Chemist Warehouse 4.82 million (42%) only shop at Chemist Warehouse. A further 21%, or 2.35 million, read one of the print editions of the News Corp metropolitan dailies and shop at Chemist Warehouse, while 4.23 million (37%) only read a print edition of one of the News Corp metropolitan dailies. The findings are from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth interviews with 50,000 Australians each year.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, CHEMIST WAREHOUSE

Foxtel to Binge on seismic change

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Original article by Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 19 : 18-May-20

Foxtel has yet to confirm speculation that its new entertainment-focused streaming service will be called Binge. Internally codenamed Project Ares, the new subscription video-on-demand service will debut on 25 May, featuring movies and full seasons of TV shows. It is expected to cost between $10 and $14 a month, while people who already use the Kayo Sports streaming service will be offered discounts and free trials. The new product is part of Foxtel’s shift in focus from traditional pay-TV to streaming services.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS