MASS MEDIA – AUSTRALIA

News mulls its options in big Fox refinance

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Original article by Max Mason, Tony Boyd
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 30 : 29-Apr-19

Asian investors are said to have expressed interest in a potential $2.5bn refinancing deal for pay-TV group Foxtel. Major shareholder News Corp is believed to be considering a range of options for the refinancing, rather than raising the entire amount via debt. These options are said to include an equity injection of up to $500m or a direct loan from News Corp. Foxtel is facing growing competition from subscription video-on-demand services such as Stan and Netflix; it could also potentially lose customers to its own Kayo Sports streaming service.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, KAYO SPORTS, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Monitor’s win cuts copyright payments

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Original article by Andrew White
The Australian – Page: 23 : 29-Apr-19

Media monitoring firm Isentia expects a slight ­reduction in its copyright costs for 2018-19 after successfully challenging a 2018 deal between the Copyright Agency and newspaper publishers. The interim ruling could affect the revenue of news publishers, but Campbell Reid of News Corp says the company will await the final ruling. Isentia says the interim ruling will not affect its EBITDA guidance for the financial year. The company is facing growing competition from rivals such as Streem and Meltwater.

CORPORATES
ISENTIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX ISD, COPYRIGHT AGENCY LIMITED, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, STREEM PTY LTD, MELTWATER AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, BAUER MEDIA AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, COPYCO

Hadley facing legal action over bullying

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Original article by Zoe Samios
The Australian – Page: 2 : 18-Apr-19

A former employee of Sydney radio station 2GB is believed to planning to sue broadcaster Ray Hadley, claiming that bullying contributed to his mental health problems. Chris Bowen alleges that he was subject to ‘intense bullying’ over a 16-year period at 2GB. He first raised allegations of bullying via social media in March, but did not name Hadley at the time. Bowen has yet to file any documents in court.

CORPORATES
2GB, MACQUARIE MEDIA LIMITED – ASX MRN, LAXON LAWYERS

Free TV miffed by government’s iceberg of policy in a sea of nothing

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 15-Apr-19

Free TV Australia CEO Bridget Fair has criticised the federal government’s failure to relax the content requirements of traditional broadcasters after nearly six years in office. She was responding to its decision to allow streaming video companies to access tax offsets for content that is filmed in Australia. Traditional broadcasters remain subject to quotas for content such as children’s programs and adult dramas. Fair contends that such quotas do not reflect changes in viewing habits.

CORPORATES
FREE TV AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, AMAZON PRIME VIDEO, TEN ALL-ACCESS

Apple TV+ targets market of over 17 million Aussies

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 8-Apr-19

Research by Roy Morgan shows that the potential market for the Apple TV+ streaming video service is huge, given that over 17 million Australians aged 14+ (83.4%) currently access streaming video services or own Apple-branded devices. This includes 14.7 million Australians (71.8%) who already use streaming video services such as Netflix, Stan, ABC iView and others who would be interested in the Apple TV+ streaming service, as well as nearly 11.7 million Australians (57%) who own Apple devices. Analysing this potential market by Generation shows the biggest potential for Apple TV+ is with the 4.6 million Millennials who use streaming services or use an Apple device capable of streaming. This is closely followed by the over 4 million members of Gen Z and just under 4 million members of Gen X who use streaming services or use an Apple device capable of streaming.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, APPLE INCORPORATED, APPLE TV+, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD

Fifield demands more efficiency from Aunty

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 5 : 5-Apr-19

The ABC was given a modest funding increase in the April 2019 Budget, to allow the public broadcaster to increase its newsgathering capacity in regional and rural areas. Acting MD David Anderson has welcomed the increased funding for the Enhanced News initiative, but he has criticised the decision to retain a freeze on overall funding for the next three years. He says this will require some difficult decisions regarding staffing and services, but Communications Minister Mitch Fifield argues that the ABC has greater funding certainty than any other Australian media organisation.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC SECTOR UNION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Violent content bill could criminalise journalism

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Original article by Rosie Lewis, Zoe Samios
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 4-Apr-19

Legislation targeting social media companies for failing to remove violent content from their platforms is expected to be passed by the House of Representatives on 4 April. It was endorsed by the Senate on 3 April. Media industry executives have expressed concern that the proposed laws could extend beyond social media and impose criminal sanctions on traditional media companies for news reports that are broadcast on TV or on their websites. Attorney-General Christian Porter has stressed that the bill will only apply to video or audio content that is supplied by the perpetrator of a crime or terrorist attack.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FREE TV AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NEWSMEDIAWORKS, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, LAW COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, VODAFONE AUSTRALIA LIMITED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, TWITTER INCORPORATED, MICROSOFT CORPORATION, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, DIGITAL INDUSTRY GROUP, COMMUNICATIONS ALLIANCE LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED

Room for other streamers but not at scale-player level, says Stan

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Original article by Andrew White
The Australian – Page: 24 & 26 : 1-Apr-19

Brian Han of Morningstar estimates that market penetration of subscription video-on-demand services in Australia is probably still below 50 per cent, although he says this will grow. Apple and Disney are expected to launch SVOD services in Australia, but Stan CEO Mike Sneesby says any new entrants to the market will need to make a big investment in content if they are to compete against established players. Sneesby adds that Stan boasts 1.5 million active subscribers.

CORPORATES
STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, APPLE INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, MORNINGSTAR PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED, STARZ ENTERTAINMENT GROUP LLC, SHOWTIME, 21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, CBS CORPORATION, 10 ALL ACCESS, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, TELSYTE PTY LTD, LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION

New public interest test just one part of Greens’ wide-ranging media reforms

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Original article by Samantha Maiden
The New Daily – Page: Online : 26-Mar-19

The Greens want to encourage public interest journalism by extending tax breaks for news media subscriptions. Its plans are part of a media reform package that would also involve a clampdown on false news on social media and the possible breakup of media companies such as News Corporation. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says regulators should be given stronger powers so that they can penalise broadcasters that provide proponents of hate speech a platform for their views.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED, SKY NEWS, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, SEVEN GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SVW, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION

Morrison includes telcos in social media crackdown

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Original article by Paul Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 21-Mar-19

The federal government will meet with representatives of ISPs and digital platforms on 26 March to discuss measures to prevent the distribution of objectionable content. Social media companies have come under scrutiny after their platforms were used to live-stream the Christchurch mosque shootings, and they were initially expected to be the focus of the government’s talks. However, representatives of Telstra, Optus and Vodafone will also attend the meeting in Brisbane. The telcos have announced that they will block access to footage of the mosque attacks.

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, VODAFONE AUSTRALIA LIMITED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET