MASS MEDIA – AUSTRALIA

Furious PM’s office threatens Ten over Waleed Aly’s emotional Christchurch plea

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

Sources at the Ten Network have confirmed that the office of Prime Minister Scott Morrison has complained about comments made by Waleed Aly on ‘The Project’ in the wake of the Christchurch mosque attacks. Aly did not mention Morrison by name in his editorial, in which he said a member of the Coalition’s shadow cabinet in 2010 suggested that the party should capitalise on anti-Muslim sentiment in the community. Aly then said the unnamed person is now Australia’s "most senior politician", a comment which prompted Morrison’s office to warn of the potential for defamation action.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED

Netflix surges beyond 11 million users in Australia

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

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey shows that nearly 14 million Australians aged 14+ now have access to some form of Pay TV/Subscription TV, up 11.8% on a year ago. Netflix has continued to lead the growth of Subscription Video on Demand services, with over 11.2 million Australians having a Netflix subscription in their household in the three months to February 2019, up by 25.2% on a year ago. Meanwhile, Stan is now accessible by over 2.6 million Australians, up 45.2% on a year ago. YouTube Premium (formerly YouTube Red) now has over 1.2 million users, up 31.9% on a year ago, and Fetch now has nearly 760,000 users, up by 9% on a year ago. However, the largest increase was for Amazon Prime Video, which more than doubled its user base over the last year, to over 570,000.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, YOUTUBE PREMIUM, FETCHTV PTY LTD, AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

Foxtel steps up incentives to retain premium customers

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 34 : 18-Mar-19

Foxtel is offering selected customers in Queensland a free upgrade to the iQ4 set-top box, which provides access to 4K content. The offer can be redeemed at Harvey Norman stores or by calling Foxtel, and it is expected to be extended to customers in other regions. Meanwhile, some Foxtel subscribers are being offered 12 months’ free access to its movies package, which usually costs $20 per month. The initiatives are part of a strategy to target premium subscribers, who might otherwise opt to scale back their package in favour of Foxtel’s Kayo Sports streaming service.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, KAYO SPORTS, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN

Break up Google to level field in media

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Original article by Zoe Samios
The Australian – Page: 3 : 13-Mar-19

News Corp Australia has used its submission to the Australian Competition & Consumer Com­m­ission’s landmark review of digital platforms to propose forcing Google to sell either its search or advertising business. The media group contends that forced divestment may be the best way to address the market power of digital platforms. ACCC chairman Rod Sims recently noted that digital platforms are not subject to the same regulations as traditional media companies.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

Guthrie’s pay day: $1.64m to go away

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich, Zoe Samios
The Australian – Page: 3 : 7-Mar-19

The ABC’s acting David Anderson has told a Senate committee that former MD Michelle Guthrie was paid $730,000 gross to settle her adverse action claim. He said the public broadcaster agreed to a confidential settlement after legal advice suggested that it could have incurred costs of up to $2m if the case had gone to court. Labor and the Community & Public Sector Union have criticised the size of the payout. Guthrie also received a $911,117 severance package following her dismissal in September.

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

Media takes hard line on tech titans

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Original article by David Swan, Lilly Vitorovich, Zoe Samios, Supratim Adhikari
The Australian – Page: 17 & 28 : 5-Mar-19

The preliminary report of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s landmark inquiry into digital platforms called for greater transparency regarding their algorithms and how news stories are ranked on their sites. Nine Entertainment Company’s submission has supported increased regulation of digital platforms such as Facebook and Google, as well as the introduction of a tax offset for news. Meanwhile, telco Optus has expressed concern that measures aimed at curbing the market power of digital platforms could potentially apply to the broader business sector.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY, COMMUNICATIONS ALLIANCE LIMITED, COUNTRY PRESS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, STAR NEWS GROUP PTY LTD, PROVINCIAL PRESS GROUP, AUSTRALIAN PRESS COUNCIL, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS)

ABC paid Michelle Guthrie $500,000 to drop lawsuit

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Original article by Aaron Patrick
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 5-Mar-19

Sources have indicated that investment banker and former ABC director Simon Mordant helped to negotiate a settlement with former MD Michelle Guthrie. Mordant has declined to comment on claims that he was asked to intervene in Guthrie’s dispute with the public broadcaster over her sacking in September. The settlement is said to include a payment of around $500,000 to discontinue her unfair dismissal claim, as well as a ‘nondisparagement clause’ that prevents all parties to the case from discussing the matter in the media.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM

Video-on-demand surges

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 26 : 4-Mar-19

New data shows that Australians viewed 2.9 billion minutes of TV programs and movies via broadcast video-on-demand platforms in February 2019, compared with two billion minutes during the same month in 2018. The figures also show that there was a 41 per cent increase in the number of viewers who watched a program live, while the number who watched content when it suited them rose by 44 per cent year-on-year. ThinkTV CEO Kim Portrate says BVOD is more effective for advertisers than other social video platforms, and she notes that 500 advertisers opted to use BVOD for the first time in 2018.

CORPORATES
THINK TV, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, 9NOW, 7PLUS, 10 PLAY, UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MULTI CHANNEL NETWORK PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, CBS CORPORATION

ABC rebuked over settlement

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Original article by Jennifer Duke
The Age – Page: 12 : 4-Mar-19

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield says the federal government has been given no details of the ABC’s confidential settlement with former MD Michelle Guthrie. A spokesman for Fifield says the government would prefer complete transparency regarding any portion of the settlement that will be funded by taxpayers. The Australia Institute, the Institute of Public Affairs and advocacy group ABC Alumni have also urged transparency, but a spokesman for shadow communications minister Michelle Rowland has indicated that it is a matter for the ABC.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED, INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS LIMITED, ABC ALUMNI, ABC AND FRIENDS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Google Play/YouTube Music news streaming to shake up media

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 4-Mar-19

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey shows that over 5.4 million Australians now use music streaming services available via websites or apps. Spotify is the clear industry leader, used by nearly 3.6 million Australians in an average week (around four times the size of SoundCloud, which is used by around 900,000 Australians in an average week). Although Google Play Music (used by over 660,000 Australians), and the newer YouTube Music (used by nearly 600,000 Australians) do not capture a huge market share at this time, there are clearly strong prospects for growth as both services introduce news capabilities. At a combined level over 1.1 million Australians use either Google Play Music or YouTube Music in an average week. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says the announcement by Google that it will soon be streaming news via its Google Play Music streaming service presents yet another challenge to the revenue models of traditional media channels including TV, radio and newspapers.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, SPOTIFY LIMITED, SOUNDCLOUD, GOOGLE PLAY MUSIC, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, YOUTUBE MUSIC, YOUTUBE INCORPORATED