Legal
ABC under fire for leaving out Myf Warhurst’s role in fence feud story
Turns out that local fence dramas can spark national media storms, especially when one party is an ABC star.
As Steve Jackson writes in The Australian, Myf Warhurst, best known for her stint on Spicks and Specks, is smack in the middle of a neighbourhood stoush that made ABC headlines last year.
The issue? The broadcaster’s coverage didn’t mention that Warhurst was directly involved.
Journalism
REA CEO search tangled in power play between News Corp and REA board
The hunt for a new CEO at REA Group is getting messy, with internal tensions between News Corp heavyweights and the REA board slowing progress.
Owen Wilson is stepping down by the end of 2025, but, as Sam Buckingham-Jones reports in The Australian Financial Review, finding a successor to lead the realestate.com.au parent company, a crown jewel in the Murdoch empire, is proving less than straightforward.
Two frontrunners have emerged, but behind-the-scenes power struggles are reportedly stalling the final call.
Streaming
YouTube pulls ahead as Netflix rivalry hits the big screen
The streaming wars aren’t just about subscribers anymore, they’re about screen time.
And, as John Koblin details in The Australian Financial Review, in this next chapter, it’s not Disney or Prime Video that Netflix’s watching most closely. It’s YouTube, which has quietly but firmly claimed the top spot in US TV viewing hours.
Netflix once brushed off competition as anything from sleep to socialising. But with YouTube now commanding 12.5 per cent of total US television time compared to Netflix’s 7.5 per cent (per Nielsen’s May numbers), the narrative has shifted.
ABC signals end of satellite era for older Foxtel boxes
The ABC is pulling the plug on its satellite broadcasts to older Foxtel set-top boxes from 22 July 2025, cutting off access to its suite of channels for anyone still using legacy hardware.
As Kevin Perry writes in TV Blackbox, that includes ABC TV, ABC Kids, ABC NEWS, ABC Entertains and ABC Family.
Foxtel customers with ageing boxes like the iQ, iQ2, Mystar, and standard models will need to upgrade to the newer iQ4 or iQ5 if they want to keep watching the national broadcaster via satellite.
Warner Bros leans into local despite content quota limbo
Warner Bros Discovery is gearing up to beef up its Aussie content slate for HBO Max, even as the government’s long-flagged local content quotas remain stuck in the slow lane.
According to John Buckley in Capital Brief, the streamer only hit the Australian market in March, but WBD says it’s keen to bring more homegrown titles to its platform.
While the company stayed tight-lipped on Labor’s proposed local content investment rules, which are expected to apply to global giants like Netflix, Disney and Amazon, it made clear that more Australian programming is coming, regardless of regulation.
AI
Meta pushes back on privacy reforms over AI training limits
Meta has issued a pointed warning to the Albanese government, arguing that tightening privacy laws could undercut its efforts to build AI that mimics how Aussies actually speak.
In a submission to the Productivity Commission, the tech giant said it needs access to real user data from platforms like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp to train its AI tools with the nuance of local conversation.
As Noah Yim writes in The Australian, the company claimed that without this kind of data, which often includes personal information, it won’t be able to create AI that feels truly human or relevant to Australian users.
It dismissed the usefulness of cleaner data sets like legal texts, saying they’re too limited for building meaningful, responsive products.
Radio
Ben Lee says Triple J should split the Hottest 100 in two
Ben Lee has thrown a playful but pointed grenade into the Aussie music debate, suggesting Triple J should hand its beloved Hottest 100 countdown to commercial radio giants Kyle and Jackie O, and instead focus solely on celebrating Australian music.
As Thomas Mitchell writes in The Sydney Morning Herald, Lee, who knows the power of a well-timed countdown hit (he placed second twice, in 1998 and 2005), posted his bold pitch to Instagram this week.
He wants the Hottest 100 to be Australia-only from now on, arguing that with global streaming giants everywhere, local artists need more dedicated platforms, not fewer.
It just feels strange – it’s eerily quiet’: Radio insider on Dave Cameron’s SCA exit
The exit earlier this week of Southern Cross Austereo’s (SCA) Chief Content Officer Dave Cameron has left radio industry talking.
Since the announcement, there’s been radio silence from the broadcaster, a move former content director Irene Hulme told Mediaweek she found “really strange”.
On the most recent Game Changers podcast, Hulme’s co-host, programmer and Cameron’s former boss, Craig Bruce added: “You do not leave this role without being gently pushed. It just doesn’t happen.”