The proposal represents a premium of approximately 16% to the current Twenty-First Century Fox (21CF) offer price of £10.75 for each Sky share that 21CF and its affiliates do not already own and a premium of approximately 13% to the closing price of £11.05 per Sky Share on February 26 2018, being the last business day prior to the date of the announcement.

21CF was bidding for Sky ahead of selling a range of assets to Disney, including its Sky shareholding. It seems this Comcast offer could trigger a bidding war for the European broadcaster.

Highlights of the proposal:

• Possible all-cash offer of £12.50 per share, premium of 16% to the current 21CF offer

• Minimum acceptance condition of 50% plus one share

• Confident in receiving all necessary regulatory approvals in a timely manner

• Strategic opportunity to acquire a leading content and distribution business in the UK and Europe

• Specific intentions to maintain a strong presence in the UK for the combined business via continued investment in creative industries in the UK and support for high broadcasting standards and news impartiality in the UK

Commenting on the proposal, Brian L. Roberts, chairman and chief executive officer of Comcast, said:

“We think Sky is an outstanding company. It has 23 million customers, leading positions in the UK, Italy and Germany, and is a consistent innovator in its use of technology to deliver its customers a great experience. Sky has a proud record of investment in news and programming. It has great people and a very strong and capable management team.

“We think that Sky would be very valuable to us as we look to expand our presence internationally.

“We would like to own the whole of Sky and we will be looking to acquire over 50% of the Sky shares. We are confident that we will be able to receive the necessary regulatory approvals. If successful, the acquisition will enhance our free cash flow per share in the first year.

“The UK is and will remain a great place to do business. We already have a strong presence in London and Comcast intends to use Sky as a platform for our growth in Europe. We intend to maintain and enhance Sky’s business.

“Adding Sky to the Comcast family of businesses will increase our international revenues from 9% to 25%.

“Comcast recognises that Sky News is an invaluable part of the UK news landscape and the company intends to maintain Sky News’s existing brand and culture, as well as its strong track record for high-quality impartial news and adherence to broadcasting standards. While Comcast does own a substantial international operation in the UK, with more than 1,300 employees, the company has only a minimal presence in the UK media market. Comcast therefore does not believe that this proposal should create any media plurality concerns in the UK.”

Banijay Group has announced the acquisition of 7Wonder, one of the fastest-growing non-scripted independents in the UK.

The deal marks the first UK non-scripted acquisition for Banijay following a number of scripted additions over the last year.

Alexandra Fraser, Liza Abbott, and Simon Ellse founded 7Wonder in 2014 and will continue to run the business as chief creative, CEO and CFO respectively, in a deal that will see over 160 hours of 7Wonder programming added to Banijay UK’s non-scripted slate.

Since its creation in 2014, 7Wonder has won a host of returnable commissions, with six second-series orders secured in the last year, including a supersized order (12×60’) of BBC Two’s Back to the Land with Kate Humble following a successful three-part debut run; landmark Sky Arts series Tate Britain’s Great British Walks (6×60’), CBeebies pre-school reality series Do You Know?, winner of a Children’s BAFTA for Best Presenter; and the UK adaptation of My Kitchen Rules for Channel 4 – a hit format from the indie’s previous backers, the Seven Network.

A Seven West Media spokesperson told Mediaweek:

“Seven is proud of the achievements of 7Wonder over the past three years. We made many world-class shows together, particularly the production of 70 hours of the UK version of MKR.

“The deal was good for Seven, and we wish 7Wonder the very best for the future as part of the Banijay Group.

“We remain focused on content creation and continue to pursue opportunities around the world, including our recent investment in Great Southern Television in Auckland.”

Seven remains a partner in 7Beyond, a joint venture with Seven and Beyond productions.

Read Mediaweek’s recent interview with 7Beyond’s SVP Mike Krupat here.

There is little detail available yet on the timing for the new venture.

The combined operations would provide economies of scale by consolidating infrastructure for the two businesses, and create an industry facility company able to service other broadcasters and companies.

The move would mean Seven’s broadcast centre in Melbourne would no longer be needed, which would affect up to 150 staff.

The JV will see the new business reaching out to other broadcasters to take advantages of cost saving by moving playout operations.

Matt Granger

Granger will take on the role of Nine’s director of sales – sport and previously held senior sales roles, including commercial director, for Australian Radio Network (ARN) for the past six years.

“Matt is a fantastic appointment for Nine,” said Richard Hunwick, director of sales – television. “He has a strong commercial background across both television, digital and radio and is the right person to continue to drive the growth of our premium sports revenue.”

Granger replaces Sam Brennan, who was promoted last year to director of sales – Melbourne, leading Nine’s sales operation across the city.

“It’s an exciting time to be joining Nine,” Granger said. “Wide World of Sports (WWOS) is recognised across the world as leading the way in sports broadcasting and with franchises like NRL, netball and the US Masters Golf, all kicking off in the next six weeks, there is a great opportunity to drive growth through WWOS’ proven track record in partnering and integrating client brands within the unique environment of sport.”

Granger has previously held senior sales roles at ARN, where he was promoted from national agency sales director to commercial director, and the Seven Network.

Granger will report to Richard Hunwick and starts on March 5.

Stuart Jaffray

Jaffray replaces Peter Toone, who left the business in December 2017. In the new role, Jaffray will lead Starcom in Melbourne and be accountable for the performance of the business, clients and talent. He will report to Barbour.

Jaffray was previously the GM of Marketing at BMW, where he worked for 11 years.

Commenting on the appointment, Toby Barbour said: “Stuart is a respected leader in the Melbourne market. His appointment is a statement of our intent to provide genuine thought leadership for our clients on the future of brands, consumers and the media and to connect media metrics to business outcomes.”

More at mediaweek.com.au.

Charles Wooley, a veteran journalist with the Nine Network, has come under fire from some viewers and critics for marvelling at Ardern’s age and appearance, rather than her policies.

“I’ve met a lot of prime ministers in my time, but none so young, not too many so smart, and never one so attractive,” he said during the 13-minute segment that aired on Sunday night.

On New Zealand radio yesterday, Wooley said Australians and New Zealanders are “culturally different” and conceded, while he thought the details of the pregnancy were funny, he may have been wrong.

“It’s a bit Orwellian, you know I think. You’ve got to be so careful now with newsspeak and thought crime and everything else. We suffer the same thing in Australia. It’s not a good time to be a journalist,” he told Newstalk ZB.

[Read the original]

Listen to Charles Wooley on New Zealand radio here.

There were plenty of ZZ Tops beards in the crowd – some belonging to clients and listeners!

Jane Kennedy was very impressed with the table arrangement and noted they wouldn’t look out of place at a French palace.

The Triple M roadshow rolls into Sydney today before heading west.

While many had become used to hearing the sounds of the duo every afternoon across Australia on their radio drive program, Hamish Blake and Andy Lee left their regular slot in a bid to focus on other projects.

Hamish & Andy will return to the format that originally made them known around the world.

“We’ve loved the podcast since we got going,” said Lee. “[When we started] we pestered the boss to do a podcast and we got it up ourselves.

“In 2006, we were one of the first podcasts on the market. We were a bit like Red Bull: we might not have tasted very good but we were the only ones doing it. We never expected for it to go as well as it did.”

Lee said that old listeners to the drive show and podcast can expect a similar show in 2018 with just a few differences.

“Hamish and I don’t have many tricks,” he said. “The difference is these days we don’t have a radio beast to serve. We don’t have to rush into a song or an ad. It’s also a chance for more people around the world to tune in.”

[Read the original]

Nine has indicated it would not pursue Seven for ripping off its hit show Australian Ninja Warrior because Spartan had fallen well short of beating Nine’s Married At First Sight on its first outing on Sunday night.

Last week came talk Nine, wrong-footed by Seven’s bold programming move, was keeping an eye on Spartan and weighing up whether it would sue Seven for stealing the concept of its top-rating Ninja Warrior.

A Nine spokeswoman today said Nine would not be proceeding. Such legal challenges over copycat programs are seldom successful.

Seven is believed to have commissioned only six episodes of Spartan from production companies Matchbox Productions and Eureka Productions.

A network spokesman could not be reached for comment yesterday and to confirm executives are preparing to move Spartan to a new timeslot.

[Read the original]

Pop star and performer Dannii Minogue will fly the flag for Australia alongside rugby star Nick Cummins (aka The Honey Badger), while UK Fox Sports and former Sky Sports News presenter Kate Abdo will be the UK host alongside wrestler and actor Stu Bennett.

The series was the first competition show approved by Netflix.

It has hosts from each of the participating countries commentating alongside one another so that each territory sees a localised version of the show, as well as seeing the presenters of all the competing countries interact with each other throughout the course of the show.

Contestants from the UK and Australia will go up against those from the US, Brazil, France, Italy, Mexico, and South Korea. China and India don’t take part this time out.

Ultimate Beastmaster is produced by 25/7 Productions and Dave Broome for Netflix.

In an Australian first, filming will take place in Southeast Queensland, along with post-production at Cutting Edge.

The series will film 10 one-hour episodes in Queensland for its first season and will be available through Netflix in 190 countries.

Tidelands will shoot in Queensland from March to July 2018.

South Australian company Resin has been named as the sole VFX vendor on the production.

Survivor: Ghost Island, the 36th season of award-winning adventure reality series Survivor, will premiere on Thursday March 1. The new season will be fast-tracked from America on 9Go! with episodes available to watch just hours after the USA: from 3pm the same day on 9Now.

Unlike anything you’ve ever seen on Survivor, the worst nightmares of past contestants will haunt the dreams of the new castaways when, in a new twist, players may be sent to Ghost Island – a haunted island filled with Survivor relics from the previous 35 seasons.

Returning to the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji, Survivor: Ghost Island features 20 new castaways divided into two groups of 10, and centres on the bad decisions of past players that ultimately led to them being voted off their island by the tribal council.

More at mediaweek.com.au.

eOne will distribute the film in Australia and New Zealand, with its boutique sales outfit Seville International handling worldwide sales.

Produced by Bryan Brown for New Town Films and Deb Balderstone for Soapbox Industries, Palm Beach is a drama/comedy about a group of lifelong friends reuniting to celebrate a special birthday, with Sydney’s iconic Palm Beach providing a stunning backdrop for the unfolding drama. The good times roll, with loads of laughter, lavish meals, flowing wine and fantastic music, but slowly tensions mount and deep secrets arise.

Palm Beach is a New Town Films and Soapbox Industries production with principal production investment from Screen Australia, in association with Create NSW and Spectrum Films and with support from Destination NSW.

Joanna Murray-Smith is an award-winning playwright, novelist and screenwriter. Her plays have been produced around the world including productions of Honour on Broadway and in London (both at the National Theatre and in the West End) and she has also published three novels “Truce”, “Judgement Rock” and “Sunnyside”.

Rachel Ward adapted and directed her first feature film Beautiful Kate in 2009, starring Ben Mendelsohn, Rachel Griffiths and Bryan Brown. In her former life as an actress, Rachel Ward was the recipient of several international awards and nominations, which include two Golden Globe nominations.

Under the new agreement Macquarie Media will broadcast more games than in previous seasons into the Sydney and Brisbane markets via 2GB and 4BC respectively, and it will also broadcast games on its Talking Lifestyle stations in both cities.

Confirming the new rights agreement, Macquarie Media executive chairman Russell Tate said he was very pleased that Macquarie’s long association with Rugby League would continue.

“Ray Hadley’s Continuous Call Team is the game’s most successful and longest-running commentary team in the code,” Tate said. “It has dominated ratings and established loyal audiences in Sydney on 2GB, in Brisbane on 4BC, throughout regional New South Wales and Queensland, and in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Our audiences love the passion, enthusiasm and professionalism the team brings to the coverage of rugby league and we are looking to take that to a new level under this agreement.”

Macquarie’s rights under the agreement will continue to extend into other capital city markets, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, and regional markets in NSW and Queensland. “We look forward to working with the NRL to extend its footprint in other capital cities and have already confirmed broadcast partners in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea,” said Tate.

With respect to regional markets in NSW and Queensland, Tate said he was pleased to announce that, as part of the new agreement, Macquarie Media would sub-license rights to service these markets to Crocmedia, Australia’s biggest radio sports syndicator.

“Crocmedia has well established relationships in these markets,” he said. “It will have rights to syndicate Continuous Call Team broadcasts into regional markets and will also produce its own NRL Nation calls of up to four games not being called by the Continuous Call Team. Regional networks and stations will therefore have access to every NRL game played every week and the combined effect of a broader regional station base and access to more NRL games will significantly expand the game’s radio reach.”

Crocmedia CEO Craig Hutchison said the NRL sub-licence partnership with Macquarie Media and the ARLC represented a key asset in the company’s whole-of-sport expansion strategy.

“We are thrilled to add a broadcast partnership with Macquarie Media and the NRL as the latest addition to our growing stable of sport properties with an incredible ensemble of on-air talent,” Hutchison said.

NRL Nation will call four matches each round: Thursday (8pm), Friday (6pm), Saturday (3pm) and Sunday (4pm), across the Super Radio Network throughout regional NSW and Southeast Queensland, the Grant Broadcasters in regional NSW and regional Queensland, Resonate Regional Radio and Coastal Broadcasters in Queensland, Capital Radio Network in Canberra, CAAMA Network (Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association) through Central Australia and QRAM (Queensland Remote Aboriginal Media) throughout Remote Queensland.

NRL Nation officially launches on Thursday March 8 and can be heard across radio broadcast partners, NRL app, NRLNation.com.au and NRL.com.au.

Follow @nrlnationradio across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.