Mediaweek Roundup: ARIA Awards, SAS Australia, A-League + more

Georgina Lewis, Disney, Netflix, Mia Freedman, Angelos Frangopoulos and Grant Broadcasting

Business of Media

Former 10 News First anchor joins Brisbane-based Broadkast

Brisbane-based video production and digital agency Broadkast has signed former Channel 10 News First anchor Georgina Lewis (pictured).

After 25-years reporting and reading the news in Queensland, Lewis said, “It’s been great having some down time, but it’s good to get the brain ticking over again, and to do other things besides reporting sad stories on the news.”

Lewis will present, write and produce video and digital content for Broadkast and their stable of clients.

Broadkast co-director Dean Miller said “We’re very lucky to have one of Queensland’s most familiar faces come on board. Georgie will be a real asset to the team and we can’t wait to get her out and about exploring our wonderful state through our own in-house publications, and in partnership with our suite of clients.”

Broadkast’s major clients include Australia Post, Brisbane Racing Club, Hamilton Island, Racing Queensland, Jayco, ARB and Motorama.

Broadkast also owns and operates digital publications, Campr and Stable Boss.

Disney elevates streaming business in major reorganisation

Walt Disney Co said it is reorganising its operations to prioritise streaming video, creating new units that will produce content for digital and traditional platforms, in a shift that echoes similar moves by other entertainment giants, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint.

Under the new structure, Disney is creating content groups for its major film franchises, general entertainment and sports, as well as a distribution arm that will determine the best platform for a movie or television show.

The new alignment pushes Disney’s streaming platforms, including Disney+ and Hulu, even closer to the centre of the company. The various programming arms, including movie and television studios, will be focusing their efforts on feeding those streaming services, not just movie theatres and TV networks.

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ARIA awards nominations: Pop duo hog ARIA Lime-light, cordially

In a highly disrupted year for the Australian music industry, Sydney indie pop duo Lime Cordiale has led the pool of nominees at the annual ARIA awards with eight nominations including best pop release, best group, song of the year and album of the year, reports The Australian’s Andrew McMillen.

Founded by brothers Louis and Oli Leimbach on Sydney’s northern beaches, Lime Cordiale’s rise to national prominence has been more than a decade in the making.

“We’ve been doing our thing for almost 11 years now,” Louis Leimbach told The Australian. “It’s been a real slow incline of success, which has probably been good in terms of humbleness and our skill set.”

2020, then, looks to be the year where the Leimbachs truly arrive, despite the difficulties faced by many performers and recording artists across the sector due to the pandemic. The duo’s second album 14 Steps to a Better You debuted at No 1 in July, while the brothers and their three bandmates have also sold out 27 COVID-safe seated concerts in Newcastle, Brisbane and their hometown.

[Read more]

See also:
2020 ARIA Awards Nominations: Lime Cordiale leads with 8
• The winners will be announced on Wednesday, 25th November 2020 on the Nine Network

Mamamia’s Mia Freedman buys $12.75 million Point Piper house

Media entrepreneur Mia Freedman and her husband Jason Lavigne have bought a Point Piper house for $12.75 million following their recent eviction from the Bellevue Hill trophy home Fintry, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s Lucy Macken.

The home of orthopaedic surgeon Professor Lawrence Kohan and his wife Gail was snapped up by the co-founders of the news and lifestyle website Mamamia just weeks after it was listed with a $12 million to $13 million guide by Paul Rich, of Rich’s Double Bay.

Records show the purchase of the waterfront residence by Mr Lavigne and Ms Freedman, known by her married name Mia Lavigne on title, is more than double the $6.1 million the property last traded for in 2013 when sold by recruitment business woman Marissa Cameron.

[Read more]

News Brands

Will GB News’s Angelos Frangopoulos turn to Fox News formula again?

When GB News, the right-leaning rolling news channel coming soon to British TV, announced its launch plans, it was the hiring of the veteran BBC interviewer Andrew Neil that grabbed the headlines, reports The Guardian’s Amanda Meade and Jim Waterson.

But within the broadcast news industry a different name caught the eye: the appointment of Angelos Frangopoulos, a former Sky News Australia boss, as chief executive offered potential pointers as to the new channel’s direction.

Frangopoulos, barely known in the UK, spent almost two decades helming Rupert Murdoch’s Sky News Australia, developing a Fox News-style formula mixing respected news reporting during the day with influential rightwing punditry programmes during its evening After Dark slots.

Any attempt by Frangopoulos to introduce a similar model to the UK would face restrictions under Ofcom’s broadcasting guidelines. He also faces competition from his old boss Murdoch, who is developing a parallel but more modest proposal for an opinionated TV news channel in the UK.

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Radio

Grant Broadcasting hires new journalist for Shoalhaven stations

An increased commitment to local broadcasting and news gathering has seen the appointment of former Milton-Ulladulla Times editor Katrina Condie (pictured) to an additional journalist position in the Shoalhaven at Grant Broadcasting NSW stations Radio 2ST/Power FM.

Condie joins veteran senior journalist Rob Gooda and Highlands journalist Mitchell Kleem as part of the 2ST/Power FM team and will cover news across the entire Shoalhaven listening area from Kiama to Ulladulla in the new role.

The Condie family are born and bred, active members of the Shoalhaven community and Katrina has extensive experience as a journalist with many years as senior journalist and managing editor of the Times, while in recent years Katrina has worked as a freelance journalist, and in the corporate sector.

2ST/Power FM general manager Gavin Flanagan said Condie’s appointment shows the station’s commitment to localism is as strong as ever despite recent redundancies across the entire media sector.

“2ST and Power FM are the media leaders in providing live and local coverage across the Shoalhaven, and this appointment is extremely exciting for us given Katrina’s deep connections within the community. We know she will greatly assist the station to broaden our news coverage across broadcast, online and social media in a way no other media in the Shoalhaven can.”

Condie said: “I’m really thrilled to be getting back in touch with my community and representing our region as a reliable news source at a grass roots level. After losing our family home at Conjola Park in the bushfires, I’m looking forward to an exciting 2021 – new home, new job, new challenges.”

Katrina Condie joins the 2ST/Power FM team from October 6 and will contribute broadcast content, as well as interviews on air, and longer form articles and videos online at www.2st.com.au and www.949powerfm.com.au.

Television

Netflix, the great disruptor? With Emily in Paris, not so much

The new Netflix series Emily in Paris was created by Darren Star, whose hits over the last 30 years rewrote the conventions of television programming: Beverly Hills, 90210; Melrose Place; and Sex and the City, reports The Age’s Craig Mathieson.

Star is a name, and over the last 18 months Netflix has gone to great expense to assemble a roster of storied television names, paying over $600 million combined for the exclusive services of Ryan Murphy (9-1-1, Pose, American Horror Story) and Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal).

Having established itself as television’s supreme disruptor, Netflix is starting to embrace the totems and tactics of the networks it’s supplanting. The shows they’re commissioning from the likes of Star, Rhimes, and Murphy have to be assessed individually, but collectively they appear conservative.

This year Netflix pulled the plug on Glow, Teenage Bounty Hunters, I Am Not Okay with This, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Altered Carbon, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and more. Not all of those shows are major losses, but they spoke to Netflix’s willingness to use a subscription model to amplify niche ideas. Aside from The Crown and Stranger Things, the company’s most rewarding titles originated on the fringe and found a larger audience.

[Read more]

SAS Australia: Roxy Jacenko disappointed with reality TV performance

Roxy Jacenko says she was left feeling disappointed in herself after her latest bout at reality television, reports News Corp’s Jonathon Moran.

The Sydney publicist is one of 17 contestants on new Seven show SAS Australia and reports have already confirmed she didn’t last long.

“Disappointing, depressing and shocking,” the mother of two said of the experience.

“I wanted the challenge and to be taken out of the environment I am used to, where I am always in control and making the calls. I wanted someone else to run the show.”

SAS Australia sees contestants put through their paces attempting to pass the gruelling Special Forces selection course.

It is a mixed bag of ‘stars’ joining Jacenko on the reality show that will premiere on Monday night at 7.30pm.

Others to tough it out include former Bali inmate Schapelle Corby, cricket legend Mitchell Johnson, actor Firass Dirani, ironwoman Candice Warner and Olympic swimmer James Magnussen.

[Read more]

Sports Media

New A-League season set to begin during Christmas holidays

The next A-League season is set to begin in the peak of the summer holiday season, with clubs working towards a proposed December 27 kick-off, reports The Sydney Morning Herald’s Dominic Bossi.

Football Federation Australia, A-League clubs and the players’ union are making plans for a condensed 26-round regular season that will begin after Christmas and finish with a grand final played before June 30. While the draw is yet to be finalised, senior sources involved in discussions suggest the proposed format will likely include a number of midweek matches to fit 26 rounds plus finals into just six months.

Club sources suggested the need for a shortened season relates to the competition’s broadcast and the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics which are set to begin in July 2021.

A-League clubs wanted the season to be pushed back until early in the new year in hope of beginning with fewer regulations around crowd limits, border closures and other restrictions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the competition’s broadcast agreement with Foxtel requires the season to start in December and finish in July.

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