MASS MEDIA – AUSTRALIA

Foxtel bows to demand by adding movie greats

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 26 : 5-Mar-18

Foxtel’s executive director of television, Brian Walsh, says broadcasters must offer exclusive content in order to remain competitive as viewers shift to watching films and TV shows on demand. Foxtel will increase the number of film channels it offers to 10 with the launch of Foxtel Movie Greats on 23 March. It will feature classic Hollywood films that have been digitally remastered in high definition. Foxtel will also add more than 1,200 classic films to its Foxtel Now on-demand service.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, FOXTEL NOW, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, 21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, HBO, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS

Seven not seeking legal costs from Harrison

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 28-Feb-18

The long-running legal dispute between Seven West Media and former employee Amber Harrison has returned to court. Seven alleges that Harrison was in contempt of court by posting tweets about the media group despite being subject to a suppression order. Seven is seeking a declaration to this effect from the Supreme Court of New South Wales, although sources have indicated that the company is unlikely to enforce a costs order against her. Harrison left the media group in the wake of an affair with CEO Tim Worner.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES, PACIFIC MAGAZINES PTY LTD, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

Seven not seeking legal costs from Harrison

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 28-Feb-18

The long-running legal dispute between Seven West Media and former employee Amber Harrison has returned to court. Seven alleges that Harrison was in contempt of court by posting tweets about the media group despite being subject to a suppression order. Seven is seeking a declaration to this effect from the Supreme Court of New South Wales, although sources have indicated that the company is unlikely to enforce a costs order against her. Harrison left the media group in the wake of an affair with CEO Tim Worner.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES, PACIFIC MAGAZINES PTY LTD, DELOITTE TOUCHE TOHMATSU LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

Seven post-Games Spartan bet hits the skids

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Original article by Stephen Brook
The Australian – Page: 19 : 27-Feb-18

Data from OzTAM shows that the debut episode of the Seven Network’s "Australian Spartan" boasted just 816,000 viewers on 25 February. This compares with 1.54 million viewers for the Nine Network’s "Married at First Sight", and 1.12 million viewers for Seven’s "My Kitchen Rules" in the same timeslot a week earlier. Seven had been hoping to capitalise on the strong ratings for its coverage of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games by scheduling "Australian Spartan" earlier in the year than it had originally intended.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, CBS CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), OZTAM PTY LTD

Media chiefs hail digital inquiry

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 19 : 27-Feb-18

Media industry executives are supportive of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s inquiry into the digital media sector. News Corp Australia executive chairman Michael Miller says it looks forward to actively participating in the inquiry, while Seven West Media CEO Tim Worner says the company is keen to express its views. Miller says the inquiry represents an opportunity to reform the digital media sector into one that offers the opportunity for all participants to compete on a "more even playing field"

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, NEWS CONNECT PTY LTD, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, TWITTER INCORPORATED, SNAPCHAT INCORPORATED, APPLE INCORPORATED

Nine and News Corp in tie-up talks on cricket

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 30 : 26-Feb-18

The Ten Network may lose the Big Bash League broadcasting rights if a potential deal between Nine Entertainment Company and News Corp’s Fox Sports comes to fruition. Sources have indicated that they may a joint bid for all forms of the game, with Nine to retain its existing coverage of international matches and share coverage of the domestic Twenty20 competition with Fox Sports. The two media groups are believed to be proposing to offer between $A130m and $A150m per year, although they have not yet approached Cricket Australia.

CORPORATES
NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, BIG BASH LEAGUE, CRICKET AUSTRALIA, CBS CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE

Nine has options if cricket broadcast rights escalate

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 19 : 23-Feb-18

Nine Entertainment Company has posted a 2017-18 interim net profit of $A116m, compared with $A75m previously, with revenue rising nine per cent to $A720m. Meanwhile, CEO Hugh Marks says that while Nine wants to retain the cricket broadcasting rights, it will not pay an excessive price. He has also signalled that Nine may be open to a joint bid for the cricket rights. Nine paid $A500m for international cricket broadcasting rights under the current five-year deal, with Ten paying $A100m for Big Bash League rights. There has been speculation that the next rights deal could cost close to $A1bn.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, BIG BASH LEAGUE, CRICKET AUSTRALIA

Seven cuts dividend to focus on debt

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 21-Feb-18

Seven West Media has posted a 2017-18 interim underlying net profit of $A100.7m, which is 5.2 per cent higher than previously. EBITDA was up 3.5 per cent at $A176.8m, but revenue fell 10.4 per cent to $A809.4m. The media group reduced its costs by $A13.8m during the first half, and it aims to cut costs by $A40m over the full year. CEO Tim Worner says dividends have been put on hold to enable Seven to reduce its debt and capitalise on potential merger opportunities in the wake of the federal government’s cross-media ownership reforms.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, YAHOO!7 COMMUNICATIONS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

Networks douse CA’s rights hopes

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Original article by Darren Davidson, Dana McCauley
The Australian – Page: 23 & 25 : 19-Feb-18

Cricket Australia hopes to gain nearly $A1bn for its next broadcasting rights deal, compared with $A600m for the five year-deal that expires in 2018. However, free-to-air TV network executives have warned that the industry cannot afford a large increase in the cost of broadcasting rights. Some have noted that the new rights deal between European pay-TV company Sky and the English Premier League is significantly lower than the previous deal. There is speculation that a free-to-air network will bid for the cricket rights in partnership with Fox Sports.

CORPORATES
CRICKET AUSTRALIA, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE, SKY PLC, BT PLC, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, YOUTUBE INCORPORATED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, CBS CORPORATION, BIG BASH LEAGUE

Telstra seeks Foxtel merger finetune

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Original article by Darren Davidson, Supratim Adhikari
The Australian – Page: 20 : 16-Feb-18

The Foreign Investment Review Board and the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission have approved the merger of Fox Sports and Foxtel. However, Telstra CEO Andy Penn says there are still some fine points to be worked out. Telstra’s stake in the merged entity will fall from 50 per cent to 35 per cent, with News Corporation to own 65 per cent. News and Telstra have indicated that they hope to complete the Foxtel-Fox Sports merger by the end of March. Meanwhile, Foxtel has reported 1.7 per cent growth in subscribers during the six months to December 2017.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE