NEWSPAPER PUBLISHING – AUSTRALIA

Nine to pay costs in Aston ruling

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Cameron England
The Australian – Page: 3 : 9-Feb-21

The Federal Court has awarded indemnity costs to Elaine Stead in her defamation case against newspaper columnist Joe Aston. The indemnity costs will be backdated to 22 April, when Nine Entertainment Company rejected Stead’s offer to settle the case for $190,000. Stead was recently awarded ordinary and aggravated damages totalling $280,000 over several articles that were published in the ‘Australian Financial Review’. Nine could potentially face a total bill of more than $2.5m arising from the defamation case.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC,FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

The three most likely: Nine’s search for new CEO narrows

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Lilly Vitorovich, James Madden
The Australian – Page: 19 : 8-Feb-21

Nine Entertainment Company is widely tipped to appoint an internal candidate to succeed Hugh Marks as CEO. Oscar Oberg of Wilson Asset Management and Brian Han of Morningstar both expect either Nine’s head of publishing Chris Janz or Stan CEO Mike Sneesby to get the job. However, Carl Fennessy of Endemol Shine Australia is believed to be the leading external candidate to replace Marks, who has stepped down in the wake of revelations of his relationship with a junior executive.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, WILSON ASSET MANAGEMENT, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, ENDEMOL SHINE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

News Corp rolls out 50 digital mastheads

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 19 : 13-Jul-20

News Corp Australia has chosen Ballarat, Port Lincoln and the Clare Valley as the launch sites for its new digital mastheads. The first 15 digital-only newspapers will be launched by September, with plans to launch more than 50 over the next three years. The mastheads will feature ‘hyperlocal’ news content, while subscribers will have access to content from metropolitan newspapers and the media group’s NCA NewsWire service. News Corp already has 92 digital-only mastheads, including 76 whose print editions were recently discontinued.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Newspaper publisher ACM may close presses in Victoria, SA and Canberra, shedding 200 jobs

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Emilia Terzon
abc.net.au – Page: Online : 9-Jul-20

Regional newspaper publisher Australian Community Media may shut down four of its nine printing plants. ACM has declined to comment on the likely job losses if the printing presses in Albury-Wodonga, Ballarat, Canberra and Murray Bridge are shut down; the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union estimates that about 200 people would be retrenched, primarily in Ballarat. ACM says reduction in printing volumes due to the coronavirus pandemic means it has excess print capacity.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA

Regional media to get $50 million lifeline

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 29-Jun-20

News publishers account for 92 of the 107 regional media companies that will receive a combined $50m in emergency relief funding under the federal government’s Public Interest News Gathering program. Some $20m has been allocated to TV broadcasters, publishers will receive $18m in total and radio broadcasters have been allocated $12m. The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a sharp fall in advertising revenue for the media sector.

CORPORATES

ACM brings back bulk of print titles

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 30 : 29-Jun-20

Regional newspaper group Australian Community Media will shortly resume publishing at least 50 of the print mastheads that were suspended in April due to the coronavirus pandemic. The move affected about 80 non-daily titles, and sources have indicated that a decision has yet to be made as to when the remaining mastheads will resume publication. ACM CEO Allen Williams has urged regional communities to support their local newspapers to ensure that they are financially sustainable.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA

News Corp spurns Google news deal

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Natasha Gillezeau, Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 27-Jun-20

Google has struck deals with a number of Australian news publishers to pay for content, while it is talks with a number of others, including Australian Community Media. Google Australia MD Mel Silva says it will have to "wait and see" whether its new product offering will be impacted by the code of conduct that the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission is putting together to govern how technology companies deal with news publishers. News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller has accused Google of not being genuine, and of trying to take advantage of certain publishers when they are at their most vulnerable.

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

Google finally agrees to pay for news content – but not with everyone

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Swan
The Australian – Page: 15 : 26-Jun-20

Digital giant Google has reached agreement with several media companies in Australia regarding a deal to licence their news content. The deal covers smaller news publishers such as Solstice Media, Schwartz Media and The Conversation. Google is also said to be in talks with larger news publishers such as News Corp Australia, Nine Entertainment Company and Australian Community Media. News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller says the deal shows that Google is willing to negotiate directly with small publishers. Google will also pay for news content from several media companies in Germany and Brazil.

CORPORATES
GOOGLE INCORPORATED

Tough love necessary, says News

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 22 : 18-Jun-20

News Corporation’s CEO Robert Thomson says the media group’s decision to axe the print editions of 112 regional and community newspapers was not taken lightly. The bulk of the titles will become digital-only publications, but 36 will be discontinued completely. Thomson says this was necessary to ensure the viability of the titles that will become digital-only. The number of News Corp journalists working on regional and community mastheads will be reduced from more than 1,200 to just 375.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Catalano and Seven discussed news deal

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Max Mason, Sarah Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 17-Jun-20

Sources have indicated that Antony Catalano is the previously undisclosed party to whom Seven West Media provided detailed financial information about its West Australian Newspapers business earlier in 2020. A deal for Catalano’s Australian Community Media to acquire WAN did not progress beyond initial discussions, and Seven West director Ryan Stokes advised at the time that the group had no plans to sell the business. Catalano was also holding talks with News Corp Australia about buying its portfolio of regional and community newspapers, a deal that also did not eventuate.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, WEST AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPERS HOLDINGS LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS