TELEVISION BROADCASTING – AUSTRALIA

Shotgun wedding a threat to independence, say journos

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Original article by Stephen Brook, John Ferguson
The Australian – Page: 6 : 27-Jul-18

Fairfax Media journalists have expressed concern about the long-term impact of the merger with Nine Entertainment Company on the newspaper publisher’s editorial independence. Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood and Nine counterpart Hugh Marks have given assurances that the two companies’ newsrooms will not be merged. The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance has warned that the deal will reduce media diversity and has urged the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to block it.

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

Fairfax-Nine merger to fight Facebook, Google

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Original article by Jemima Whyte, Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 19 : 27-Jul-18

Chris Stott of Wilson Asset Management estimates that the proposed $4.2bn merger between Nine Entertainment Company and Fairfax Media will generate cost and revenue synergies of at least $100m. The deal is the first since the changes to cross-media ownership laws, and there is speculation that there will be further consolidation in the sector. Nine Entertainment CEO Hugh Marks will head the new company, which will combine print and broadcasting assets, as well as the Stan streaming video service and a 60 per cent stake in the Domain real estate listings business.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, WILSON ASSET MANAGEMENT, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, TPG CAPITAL LP, HELLMAN AND FRIEDMAN, THORNEY INVESTMENTS PTY LTD, AUSBIL INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, ISPT PTY LTD

Nine legendary lives of TV’s original star-maker

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Original article by Darren Davidson, Stephen Brook
The Australian – Page: 3 : 11-Jul-18

Australian media identities have praised the contribution of industry veteran Sam Chisholm, who has died at the age of 78. New Zealand-born Chisholm became CEO of the Nine Network in 1975, and it became Australia’s top-rating free-to-air broadcaster during his tenure. Chisholm subsequently took the helm of British pay-TV company Sky and oversaw its merger with British Satellite Broadcasting and its sharemarket listing. He returned to Australia in 1997, where he took on roles at Foxtel and Nine.

CORPORATES
NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, SKY PLC, BRITISH SATELLITE BROADCASTING, BSKYB, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

Calls for Netflix to back local content

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Original article by Dana McCauley
The Australian – Page: 24 : 2-Jul-18

Screen Producers Australia has used its submission to the competitive neutrality inquiry into public broadcasting to push for local content quotas to be extended to streaming video providers. It noted that Netflix has a larger library of Australian content on its US platform than it offers to local subscribers. SPA has called for government intervention to ensure that local content producers are not disadvantaged, while it has also urged legislative action to protect content producers against unfair contracts with regard to broadcasting and streaming rights.

CORPORATES
SCREEN PRODUCERS AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS), NETFLIX INCORPORATED, AMAZON PRIME VIDEO, CBS CORPORATION, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS PTY LTD

Feud for thought: Grant Denyer takes home gold at the Logies

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Original article by Michael Idato
The Age – Page: Online : 2-Jul-18

Family Feud host Grant Denyer has won the 2018 Gold Logie, despite the game show having been axed. Ray Meagher and Jessica Marais won the awards for the most popular actor and actress at the 60th annual TV Week Logie Awards, while "Wentworth" won the award for the most popular drama program. Meanwhile, subscription video-on-demand provider Stan won its first Logie, with "Romper Stomper" taking out the award for the most outstanding miniseries or telemovie. The Nine Network’s "60 Minutes" was inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame.

CORPORATES
TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS)

Ten looks local to weather cricket loss

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Original article by Dana McCauley
The Australian – Page: 24 : 2-Jul-18

UBS forecasts that Australia’s free-to-air TV advertising market will record growth of 1.5 per cent in 2018-19. The firm says elections at federal and state level will boost the ad revenue of the Seven and Nine networks. Meanwhile, UBS figures show that the Ten Network’s share of ad revenue fell sharply during the first half of 2018. Ten intends to ramp up its local content after losing the Big Bash League broadcasting rights, with a number of new shows set to debut in the second half.

CORPORATES
UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, CBS CORPORATION, BIG BASH LEAGUE, CRICKET AUSTRALIA

Sky News goes free-to-air for regions

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 24 & 26 : 28-May-18

Pay-TV channel Sky News Australia has secured a content supply deal with regional broadcaster WIN Corporation. Sky News hopes to attract new subscribers to its full suite of channels via the deal, which is believed to includes a revenue-sharing arrangement. WIN will broadcast selected content from Sky News and Fox Sports News on a new 24-hour news channel to be called Sky News on WIN. Sky News has also held preliminary discussions with Seven West Media regarding a program supply deal, and Sky News Business has held talks with Nine Entertainment Company.

CORPORATES
SKY NEWS, WIN CORPORATION PTY LTD, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, AUSTRALIAN NEWS CHANNEL PTY LTD, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, MULTI CHANNEL NETWORK PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, PRIME MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX PRT, SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SKY PLC

Seven claims ratings win as millions tune in

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Original article by Dana McCauley
The Australian – Page: 8 : 21-May-18

The Seven Network’s coverage of the royal wedding on 19 May has been widely criticised, despite the fact that it topped the ratings with an average metropolitan audience of nearly two million. This delivered Seven an audience share of 36.4 per cent share for the night, well ahead of Nine’s 26 per cent share. The audience share of Ten’s primary channel sunk to just 3.4 per cent after the network opted to relegate coverage of the wedding to its Ten Daily news website.

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

Stokes sees value in media mergers

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith, Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 4-May-18

Seven Group Holdings CEO Ryan Stokes says a merger between a newspaper publisher and a TV network could have synergies, although he argues that such deals should only proceed if they will deliver value for shareholders. Stokes notes that the cross-media model has worked well for Seven West Media, which owns newspaper assets in Western Australia. Stokes has also indicated that Seven Group is likely to eventually offload its investment portfolio and reinvest the proceeds in "active" assets.

CORPORATES
SEVEN GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SVW, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, BEACH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX BPT, SGH ENERGY, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, WESTRAC HOLDINGS PTY LTD, COATES HIRE LIMITED, LATTICE ENERGY LIMITED, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC

Regional TV urges more deregulation

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 30-Apr-18

WIN Corporation, Prime Media and Southern Cross Austereo want the Federal Government to further relax cross-media ownership laws by scrapping the rule that a company can own just one TV broadcasting licence in a single market. This would enable regional broadcasters to merge, which Prime CEO Ian Audsley warns is crucial to the sector’s survival. He notes that the cost of buying content is rising while audiences and advertising revenue are fragmenting. Regional broadcasters have also called for the "two radio licences to a market" rule to be scrapped.

CORPORATES
WIN CORPORATION PTY LTD, PRIME MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX PRT, SOUTHERN CROSS AUSTEREO PTY LTD, SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ