PUBLIC BROADCASTING – AUSTRALIA

ABC ups pay to lure Google exec as managing director

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Original article by Dominic White
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 16-Dec-15

The ABC has declined to comment on reports that Michelle Guthrie will succeed MD Mark Scott. Guthrie is currently Google’s MD of agency relationships for the Asia-Pacific region, and is based in Singapore. She has extensive experience in the Australian and international media industry, including roles at Foxtel, BSkyB and Hong Kong-based Star TV. It is believed that Guthrie will be paid an annual salary of about $A1m, compared with Scott’s remuneration of $A823,613 in 2013-14.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, BSKYB, STAR TV, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), AUSTRALIA. REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL, PROVIDENCE EQUITY PARTNERS INCORPORATED, ALLENS

UK executive tipped to lead ABC

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 10-Dec-15

The former controller of BBC One, Jay Hunt, has downplayed reports that she is a leading candidate to succeed Mark Scott as MD of the ABC. Hunt has been the chief creative officer at the UK’s Channel 4 since 2010, and says she has no immediate plans to leave the public broadcaster. ABC chairman Jim Spigelman is believed to favour Kim Williams as the new MD, although some ABC directors have reservations about appointing Williams to the role.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION, CHANNEL 4 TELEVISION, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, SCREEN AUSTRALIA, EGON ZEHNDER INTERNATIONAL, BRIGHTSPARK TV, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY

ABC sets new prime-time target of 60pc Australian content

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Original article by Dominic White
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 22-Sep-15

Local productions will comprise just 43 per cent of the content broadcast in prime time on the ABC’s main channel in 2015. The public broadcaster’s director of television, Richard Finlayson, says ABC budget cuts have significantly affected local content, but he aims to lift this to 60 per cent within five years. The ABC is pushing for an increase in its funding and a requirement for global video-on-demand providers to help finance local TV productions.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, SCREEN PRODUCERS AUSTRALIA, BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION, CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

ABC, SBS making ‘noise’ to compete

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Original article by Michael Bodey
The Australian – Page: 23 : 24-Aug-15

Australia’s public broadcasters, the SBS and ABC, are ratings-driven despite reassurances to the contrary. They recently tried to use terrorist sympathiser Zaky Mallah to increase their ratings which was an exercise in cynicism. ABC MD Mark Scott keeps saying that the public broadcaster does not need to seek higher ratings but this is just rhetoric.

CORPORATES
SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Little Christmas cheer for almost 100 ABC journalists who face redundancy

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Original article by Anna Patty
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 8 : 18-Dec-14

ABC employees have been given a deadline of 5pm on 19 December 2014 to accept voluntary redundancies. Some journalists were informed of their retrenchment on 17 December, and the ABC has been criticised for its handling of the job cuts. The ABC is expected to retrench about 100 staff, and a spokeswoman has indicated that they will not be leaving the public broadcaster immediately unless they choose to do so

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Free TV gets back on the licence fee warpath

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Original article by Lara Sinclair
The Australian – Page: online : 25-Nov-14

Free TV Australia CEO Julie Flynn has revived the lobbying body’s campaign for the Federal Government to significantly reduce the licence fees paid by commercial free-to-air TV networks. The trigger this time is a plan by the Government to allow public broadcaster SBS to lift the length of advertising slots by 100%, and gain as much as $A200m extra in half a decade. That decision had been meant by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull to compensate SBS for funding cuts worth $A53.7m

CORPORATES
FREE TV AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

ABC in apology over gaffe on gas

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Original article by Sid Maher
The Australian – Page: 19 : 7-Oct-14

The ABC recently repeated a claim made by the Australian Workers’ Union on a website, that all other gas-producing countries had a domestic gas supply reservation policy. This was disputed by the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association lobby group, and CEO David Byers has now accepted a formal apology for the incorrect statement from the public broadcaster

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN PETROLEUM PRODUCTION AND EXPLORATION ASSOCIATION LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, RADIO NATIONAL