MASS MEDIA – AUSTRALIA

Nine jumps on remaining Macquarie stake for $113.9m

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 13-Aug-19

Nine has announced a $1.46 per share offer for the remaining 45.5 per cent of Macquarie Media that it does not already own, with Nine to pay around $114 million for the stake. Macquarie Media is the owner of radio stations 2GB in Sydney and 3AW in Melbourne. Businessman John Singleton, who owns 32.3 per cent of Macquarie Media, stands to receive $81 million if the deal goes through. Nine acquired its majority stake in Macquarie Media as a result of its $4 billion merger with Fairfax Media in 2018.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED, 2GB, 3AW SOUTHERN CROSS RADIO PTY LTD

Optus banks on EPL to boost subscribers

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Original article by Supratim Adhikari
The Australian – Page: 26 : 9-Aug-19

Optus’s sports streaming service currently boasts more than 700,000 subscribers, and the telco is optimistic that the new English Premier League season will attract more customers. Optus CEO Allen Lew notes that no EPL matches will broadcast on free-to-air networks during the new season; he adds that in addition to live streaming of all matches, Optus Sport will seek to deliver additional value to customers via its coverage of the EPL. Optus initially secured exclusive EPL rights in 2015, and its deal was renewed in 2018.

CORPORATES
SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Secretive government agency linked to AFP raid on ABC, documents show

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Original article by John Lyons
abc.net au – Page: Online : 7-Aug-19

The Australian Federal Police has released documents relating to the recent raid on the Sydney offices of the ABC, in response to a Freedom of Information request from Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick. However, the AFP has withheld some documents on the grounds that they contain material relating to a government agency that is exempt from FOI laws. Patrick says the AFP’s actions show that a second agency was involved in the investigation that led to the raid, and he believes that it is either ASIO or the Australian Signals Directorate. He has urged the federal government to reveal which agency was involved.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, CENTRE ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION, AUSTRALIAN SIGNALS DIRECTORATE, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN SECRET INTELLIGENCE SERVICE

Home Affairs fights to restrict media

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Original article by Mark Schliebs
The Australian – Page: 6 : 7-Aug-19

The Department of Home Affairs has used its submission to a parliamentary inquiry into press freedom to argue that the existing rules governing police search warrants are adequate. The Right to Know Coalition recently told the inquiry that the media industry should have the right to challenge warrants that are used to gather evidence against journalists. Home Affairs has contended that there is the potential for material evidence to be destroyed if there is advance notice that a warrant is to be issued. The ABC has rejected this suggestion, arguing that the destruction of ­evidence is a criminal offence under existing laws.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS, AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY JOINT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY, AUSTRALIA’S RIGHT TO KNOW COALITION OF MEDIA COMPANIES, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

Media coalition seeks right to fight warrants

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Original article by Leo Shanahan
The Weekend Australian – Page: 8 : 3-Aug-19

The Right to Know Coalition has used its submission to a parliamentary inquiry into freedom of the press to call for changes to the rules governing the issuance of police warrants. The coalition, which comprises 14 media companies and organisations, argued amongst other things that the media industry should have the right to challenge warrants that are used to gather evidence against journalists, and that all such applications should be put to an independent judge in open court. The inquiry was commissioned in response to the recent media raids.

CORPORATES
RIGHT TO KNOW COALITION, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS

Sky pulls videos from Twitter posts but embraces new Facebook deal

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Original article by Zoe Samios, Leo Shanahan
The Australian – Page: 23 : 5-Aug-19

Sky News Australia CEO Paul Whittaker says it will continue to use Twitter to post breaking news stories and links to content on its website. However, Sky News will cease distributing its video content via the social media platform, after online activists edited its videos to create fake news stories. Meanwhile, its free-to-air rivals will launch exclusive news bulletins on Facebook Watch, while Sky News will produce a daily show called ‘Unpacked’, which will focus on a major news story each day.

CORPORATES
SKY NEWS, TWITTER INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, JUNKEE MEDIA PTY LTD, PEDESTRIAN, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, YOUTUBE INCORPORATED, MICROSOFT CORPORATION, TABOOLA

15.5 million Australians read newspapers in print or online

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 2-Aug-19

Roy Morgan has released the latest readership results for Australian newspapers, for the 12 months to June 2019. Now 15.5 million Australians aged 14+ (75) read or access newspapers in an average seven-day period via print or online, a fall of 3.7 per cent from a year ago. The standout performer over the past year is ‘The Australian Financial Review’, which increased its total cross-platform readership by 15.8 per cent to 1,587,000; this was driven by a substantial increase in its digital audience (up by 23.5 per cent to 1,337,000). ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ is still Australia’s most widely-read masthead, with a cross-platform audience of 4,125,000, down 3.6 per cent from a year ago. Meanwhile, ‘Good Weekend’ remains Australia’s most widely-read newspaper inserted magazine, with print readership of 916,000 (down 19.6 per cent over the last year). These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth face-to-face interviews with 1,000 Australians each week and over 50,000 each year.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Magazine readership up year on year at over 15.2 million

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 2-Aug-19

Roy Morgan has released the Australian Magazine Readership report for the 12 months to June 2019. A total of 15,227,000 Australians aged 14+ (73.7 per cent) now read magazines in print or online, up 1.2 per cent from a year ago. Readership of print magazines is just over 13.5 million Australians (65.2 per cent), down 1.3% from a year ago. Twelve of Australia’s top 20 magazines grew their print readership over the past year, with six of the leading titles growing their readership by at least five per cent. The free ‘Coles Magazine’ remains the most widely-read print magazine, with a readership of 4,763,000 per issue (up 4.4 per cent), while ‘Better Homes & Gardens’ remains the most widely-read paid magazine with 1,572,000 million readers. Meanwhile, Taste.com.au remains the best-read magazine title across print and digital formats, with a total cross-platform audience of more than 3.2 million (up 1.6 per cent). These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth face-to-face interviews with 1,000 Australians each week and over 50,000 each year.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

New Foxtel streaming to follow Kayo

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 1-Aug-19

Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany continues to downplay speculation that the pay-TV group intends to launch a non-sports streaming video service. Kayo Sports has been a huge success since its launch in November 2018, with 209,000 paying subscribers in early May. Delany says Foxtel is continuing to look at streaming options for its non-sport content; the mooted drama and entertainment streaming service is known internally as ‘Project Jupiter’.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

NBL season on a roll in joint TV rights deal

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Original article by John Stensholt
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 31-Jul-19

The National Basketball League has struck a broadcasting rights deal with ESPN and public broadcaster SBS, which will replace Fox Sports and the Nine Network as its broadcast partners. However, the NBL will receive a share of the TV networks’ advertising revenue in lieu of a broadcasting rights fee. The two-year deal provides for 67 NBL matches to be shown on the SBS Viceland channel, while live streams of every match in the NBL season will be available via the SBS-on-demand service.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL BASKETBALL LEAGUE, ESPN SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ESPN INCORPORATED, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION, BASKETBALL AUSTRALIA