When Mediaweek first interviewed Hugh Marks after he was appointed Nine Entertainment chief executive just over five years ago it was inside his office at Willoughby. Last week in what was the last Mediaweek interview with Marks before he steps away from the now much bigger media company it was in his new highrise office in North Sydney. The difference between the two venues couldn’t be starker.
In February 2016, after Hugh Marks was appointed CEO after being on the board since 2013, you got to his office by the slowest elevator in Sydney. If you wanted to take the stairs though, good luck. Navigating the maze of offices across several floors at Willoughby was not recommended for visitors.
At the new North Sydney Nine Entertainment HQ the company has much of the office tower and you get there after checking in at the ground floor reception and then clearing the level Nine reception. It’s still shiny new with the floors joined by a cascading central staircase that will (nearly) get you back to ground level.
Back in February 2016, Marks presented group revenues of $692m for the first half. Five years later the expanded group first half revenue was $1,162m.
Hugh Marks should probably still be running Nine, and the exact sequence of events that led to his shock resignation are still unclear. However he looks relaxed about his imminent departure, expected to be sometime in March.
See also: Hugh Marks delivers his final Nine Entertainment results – Revenue steady as profit surges
[Indicates yes, but explains in more detail.] When we started, we changed the rhetoric from we are a television business to we are content business. We are in three forms of content – entertainment (which includes drama), sport and current affairs. I wanted to ensure all of those genres of content had a long-term future, rather than managing a terminal cost decline environment.
With 9Now, Stan and Nine the entertainment business is in growth. Sport, with the addition of Stan Sport, gives us the ability to offer sports organisations both reach and revenue. News and current affairs was the last one – audiences were shifting to digital platforms and we couldn’t monetise it. We needed to get to an outcome. The close of the digital platform enquiry is the end of that journey where we have re-invented how those three different content types look in this market.
Changing what was a television business to a content business with such big digital media earnings is the thing I am proudest of and the thing that puts this business in great long-term growth.
Stan has just had its best half. There was some moderation in the market for the SVOD services given the growth in the six months to June 30, 2020. What CEO Mike Sneesby has done really well with the business is completely understand what it costs to acquire a subscriber and what revenue you are going to get from that subscriber. To have a business that is making decisions for profitability talks to the discipline overall at the business. There will be some investment this half with NBC content and sport coming in which will impact profitability. But long term we are focused on being #2 in the market, if not compete with Netflix.
Absolutely. It will also still generate positive cash flow. To be able to invest in its growth assets without having to draw on the resources of the company is fantastic.
Audience. How many new subscribers it generated and how many people on the platform consumed the whole series. You get a lot of series where people come in and watch one or two episodes, but the engagement from the subscriber base for Bump was the best we have seen. The creative team did a great job under John and Dan Edwards, and Claudia Karvan is not just a great actor, she is also a marvellous producer. She goes at everything with unbelievable passion and dedication. That series, when you look at the cost per hour, is not too different to buying a premium show internationally. With the rise of on-demand there will be a significant growth in the number of productions that will happen in this country to support that rise in SVOD services.
It is inevitable. You can ask if Nine will ever produce a drama again we would play on FTA first? Or will we commission dramas we will play on Stan first and FTA second? Those are the sort of questions the business is looking at. They will be closer together when it comes to commissioning. For acquisition, they will remain separate businesses.
Stan has the largest user-base of any pay TV platform in the market, apart from Netflix. We have been looking at what we can do with that platform. Can we offer opportunities to other market participants? That is really an interesting area we will explore in the future.
The audience watching Married at First Sight on the app is close to 10% of the linear overnight audience. There is a growing shift of an audience consuming in-app. This makes the numbers from OzTAM slightly inaccurate. There is a challenge for the industry to get its act together on how best to report numbers reflecting that shift.
We are the industry that has robust measurement and we didn’t want to release data into the market we weren’t 100% confident with. It is important we get it right because we need to tackle measurement by other market participants that is not as accurate it should be. Some of the demographics quoted by other mediums are not substantiated by robust measurement. There is a lot of marking your own homework going on.
It is harder to get the return [at that time of night], but that is not to say it will never happen. I have been looking at an experiment with midday as a timeslot that used to be popular, now we have written it off as a spot for original content. But as you build a model of multiplatform distribution and you think about the types of shows you might commission maybe your mind might change on those things. Anything is possible in the future.
The future of advertising will be addressable advertising. A combination of technology and data. We have made a lot of inroads into that, but we are not executing well on that to-date. That is a major initiative the business needs to pursue over the next couple of years. What that talks about is can we get a higher price for our advertising because it is more efficient to the advertiser because they are reaching a more accurate audience. That requires new energy and it is time for someone new to come in and go at that whole area.
Great audience results, poor monetisation. We need to convert that audience into revenue. We have gained some share with agency markets, but we lost a lot of direct clients and part of that is Covid impacted. I expect Nine Radio will improve over the half and certainly over the next year.
[Hugh Marks was reluctant to talk about the amount the tech giants will be paying Nine under recently agreed deals. He does indicate though that a recently published figure of $30m+ was “the wrong number”. Nine had previously indicated it might get around $600m from these deals.]
We will make an announcement when we have an outcome. Hopefully we can agree to an amount with Facebook and Google after further discussions take place. It will be material for our business.
In our results we have included a new category in the publishing division called Subscription and Licensing which is where you will see that revenue.
[While Nine won’t put a figure on it at this stage, an amount of $150m from Google and $100m from Facebook has not been challenged.]
There will be growth from subscribers, the numbers are up more than 20% year-on-year. Add that to the licensing income for the content and both of those numbers are significant. That should far outweigh any further declines in print. Those businesses should become great businesses – who would have thought we would have said that 18 months ago?
Yes. I haven’t given too much thought to what I’ll do next. The first thing is to finish here and hand over to a new CEO. I am very committed to making sure the changeover is handled as well as it possibly can be. I will be in the background helping that transition over the next little while.
How much I contribute will be up the new CEO of course. I have a love for this business and whatever I can contribute, if asked, I will.
Possibly. It is one option available to me. I have had thoughts about that, but haven’t advanced them and I won’t at this stage. I need to finish up here and then recover from the responsibility that comes with this role which is significant.
I don’t think so. Getting your personal life and business career in line can be hard things to do together.
Under Investigation with Liz Hayes is Nine’s new investigative series that aims to provide viewers with clarity about some of Australia’s most baffling crimes when it premieres Monday, March 1, at 9.00 pm on Nine and 9Now.
The series will take viewers behind closed doors with a panel of experts inside an unfolding television event as the setting of the case under investigation is recreated with laser projectors inside Hayes’ studio.
Mediaweek spoke with Liz Hayes about the show’s new approach to the crime investigation format and why she thinks Australians will be drawn to this fresh approach.
What is different about this format?
The show has been described as a new genre of TV, and Hayes doesn’t disagree with that description by explaining the show is different from the traditional type of 60 Minutes stylings that viewers are used to.
“It’s not just come and watch people sit around the table, you will get an illustration of what we are talking about and a certain amount of storytelling brought to the table.”
Hayes said the format wasn’t untested – it had been trialled before on 60 Minutes and appealed to both the team and viewers.
“We did a test run previously on 60 Minutes when there would be a special event, and we could see it was a good way for experts in their field to explore a subject more deeply and we decided to explore this further.”
New series a bit of a risk
Hayes said that one of the main appeals of the format for her was the wide range of experts that she talked with from all walks of life.
“I like the instant conversations that follow with our experts, and when I say experts our first episode included a contract musterer because he came from that area so it’s not just a bunch of academics sitting around, it’s a whole variety of people that bring expertise.
“The show gives the panel the ability for people with great knowledge to come around and interact, and I find it quite interesting to watch them decide what information is important which sometimes gives you an uh-huh moment.”
Hayes admits that the show is a bit of a risk, but she likes that aspect, and that the show is trying to do something different.
“We are challenging ourselves and I hope the audience will feel genuinely intrigued by what we are trying to do. It is a new way to pull back the layers of a story, and that’s what I was intrigued by.”
Inside Liz Hayes’ studio: Time to have something new
The show features an innovative set to help take viewers inside the crime which Hayes describes as an interesting space.
“In the background, we have a load of projectors showing scenes from crimes and locations playing behind us and we have the ability to use that and to take people to the areas we are talking about.
“It is all new and at some stages, we questioned whether it worked or not, but I liked the challenge of trying something new. I think it’s time for television and in particular free to air to have something new.”
Behind the scenes of Under Investigation with Liz Hayes
The show has a small team with Hayes and Gareth Harvey as the senior producer along with two other producers who are all equally hands-on
“We sit around and discuss who would be good, who we could get, and who would be available. I am deeply involved in all aspects of it and who I would be talking to and who would bring something bright and clever to the table.”
The show features a mix of local and international stories and when asked about the secret to getting the right balance, Hayes said that it comes down to gut instinct.
“It’s what we hope people will find interesting. I think Covid-19 is there in our face which is both international and very home-based, Putin’s Poisons is frightening warfare not just in Russia, those sorts of areas are worthwhile having a conversation.”
The first episode: High Hill Mystery
In the premiere episode, Hayes’ forensic team will discover new clues and new lines of inquiry in the case of Victoria’s “High Country Mystery” – the disappearance of elderly lovers Russell Hill and Carol Clay from a remote alpine campsite.
“It is a new crime that is barely reported on because it has so few clues attached to it. It is also a different type of case with an elderly couple who were in a long-time affair. That is important not because of the gossip aspect but because of human behaviour and what happens in investigations and how people react.”
Nothing else like this on TV
When asked for shows that have influenced this new series Hayes said that there isn’t a show like this to her knowledge to draw inspiration from.
“I did go looking to see if I could find something. We had this concept and were already playing with it but I stopped to think about what else was happening in the world and I didn’t find anything that satisfied me or added to my process. It doesn’t mean it’s not there, but I don’t think it is because I did go looking.”
Sky News Australia presents the world-first exclusive interview with Kylie Moore-Gilbert, the Australian academic convicted and imprisoned in Iran for spying.
In the Sky News special, Moore-Gilbert shares her incredible story with journalist and interviewer Melissa Doyle, who joins Sky News for this special assignment. Doyle left Seven last year after co-hosting Sunrise and hosting Sunday Night.
In September 2018, Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert had checked in to her flight home to Australia when she was arrested by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Convicted of spying and sentenced to serve 10 years on espionage charges, she spent more than two years fighting for her freedom. Her 804 days behind bars included seven months in solitary confinement.
She was interrogated and beaten by guards, but refused to be broken. Now, for the first time, Kylie shares her inspirational story of survival.
During the one-hour exclusive interview nothing is off-limits, no question goes unanswered.
Is Kylie Moore-Gilbert a spy? How did she survive her ordeal? What really happened behind the scenes to secure her release? How is she coping with the heartbreak of discovering her husband had an affair with one of her colleagues while she was in prison? And what will she do now she is free?
Melissa Doyle said: “Kylie is one of the most remarkable women I have had the privilege of interviewing. Her experience will both frighten and shock you, her determination to survive will leave you in awe, but above all, her grace and strength will inspire you.
“I do not know how she survived years of hell – solitary confinement, starvation and the constant fear of what could happen next. Her dignity can only be admired.”
Escape From Iran: Kylie Moore-Gilbert
Premieres Tuesday 9 March, 7pm AEDT exclusive to Sky News
See also: Melissa Doyle to depart Seven: Farewell on 7NEWS Friday
Barry Hall added another prize to his trophy case, when he pushed aside NRL star Mat Rogers and Olympic speed skating gold medallist Steven Bradbury to take first place in Celebrity Holey Moley, on Seven and 7 Plus.
“This is a big achievement,” said the retired professional AFL player, who celebrated his win with a backward somersault into the Polcano pool. “I’m very proud.”
Halls’s victory in the mini golf showdown followed a dramatic incident on Frankenputt earlier in the night when Denise Drysdale, tripped on the course during her head-to-head battle with Bradbury. Sustaining a shoulder injury, she was treated by medics and was forced to leave the competition immediately, graciously handing the win to Bradbury by default.
“Can you believe it? Arm in a sling!” said Drysdale, as she was wheeled from the course. “Steven, I’m out!” Celebrity Holey Moley commentator Matt Shirvington quickly chimed in with: “Bradbury has pulled another Bradbury!”
This follows garbo Mark Duncan being crowned Australia’s first Holey Moley champion, bagging $100,000 in prize money.
Greg Norman’s top-secret final hole, The Tomb of Nefer-Tee-Tee, was the final hurdle where Mark would compete against pro-golfer, Montana Strauss and drone-pilot, Jayden Lawson.
Each player had to putt through the sphinx onto the rotating pyramids and then onto the green with a 100-ft shot at a hole-in-one. Trading shots, Montana had three very near misses, Jayden came close on his putts, but on the third round Mark hit an outstanding putt which saw his ball sink the hole and win him the $100,000.
Read more: Holey Moley Grand Final: Garbo Mark Duncan wins $100,000
On Monday night, in a world first, Holey Moley Junior will turn the spotlight on eight of Australia’s brightest golfing prodigies as they battle it out across three wild rounds.
The competitive kids are chasing the ultimate prize: the Holey Moley plaid jacket, a golden putter, a $10,000 golf shopping spree and the title of the world’s first-ever Holey Moley Junior Champion. While the kids take the putts, their adult caddies will take the hits on diabolical course favourites, including Putter Ducky, Dutch Courage, Putt the Plank and many more.
The Seven Network today confirmed Ultimate Tag will premiere 7.00pm Sunday, 7 March.
Ultimate Tag turns the childhood game into a tournament between Players and Pro Taggers. Players must run, spin, dodge, tumble and dive their way through huge obstacle courses with the simple goal: Don’t get caught.
The elite Pro Taggers, whose job it is to stop the Players at every turn, have backgrounds including world champions, parkour icons, sprinters, gymnasts, and martial arts professionals. These Taggers will stop at nothing to claim their tag.
The Players, everyday Aussies from all walks of life, must avoid being tagged at all cost, leading to thrills, spills, and a show of skills.
Fresh from commentating Holey Moley, Ultimate Tag host, Matt Shirvington, said: “I’m so excited to introduce Australia to these extraordinary Players and Pro Taggers. I’ve been lucky enough to line up against some of the best athletes in the world and our Pro Taggers are on the same elite level. Their mind-blowing feats of athleticism, lighting fast pace and strategic skill will keep you on the edge of your seat and yes they’ll even be wearing lycra, thank god it’s them and not me.”
Ultimate Tag‘s other host, Abbey Gelmi, added: “It’s finally here! I cannot wait for everyone to fall in love with this show like I have. Expect high-octane thrills, big characters and even bigger courses. Ultimate Tag is like nothing you’ve ever seen before.”
Commentator Bill Woods will follow and call the action as it happens across six Heats, three Semi Finals and the Grand Final.
The last standing male and female Player will take home $100,000 prize money as well as the title of Australia’s first Ultimate Tag Champion.
Ultimate Tag is produced by Endemol Shine Australia for the Seven Network.
Ultimate Tag airs 7.00pm Sunday, 7 March on Channel 7 and 7plus
After six weeks in a row at the top of the singles charts, Olivia Rodrigo’s Drivers License has lost its spot and moved to second. Hottest 100 winner Heat Waves by Glass Animals has taken #1, making Heat Waves the British band’s first chart-topping single anywhere in the world.
New on the singles chart this week is ARIA award winner Amy Shark, with her first new singles chart entry for 2021 debuting at #22. Love Songs Ain’t For Us featuring Keith Urban was co-written with Ed Sheeran, and is the fourth single released from Shark’s forthcoming second album, Cry Forever.
The other new entries to the singles chart are Your Love (9PM) by ATB at #45 and Martin & Gina by Polo G at #50.
Terra Firma, the highly anticipated second album from Tash Sultana was released this week and has shot straight to the top of the album charts. The Melbourne singer-songwriter’s second studio album is the follow-up to Flow State, which peaked at #2. Terra Firma includes collaborations with Matt Corby, Dann Hume, and Jerome Farah.
Speaking about taking the top spot, Tash Sultana said “I’ve had the most incredible, emotional, and overwhelming week after releasing Terra Firma and I’m just really lost for words that it’s number 1. Like I really am lost for words. I was really unsatisfied with the work I’ve done in the past prior to Terra Firma and my mission for this record was to try to be better than I was the day before, the month before, the year before. I produced, arranged, composed, co-engineered, and played everything on this record and did it all in my own studio. This was my mission, my entire soul, the air in my lungs and to have it received this way is so much more than I ever expected. I feel seen. I feel heard in a way I’ve been trying to communicate for a long time.”
ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd added “Congratulations to Tash Sultana and the teams at Lemon Tree Music, Lonely Lands, and Sony Music Australia on their #1 ARIA album. It’s been an incredible journey for Tash, from busker to Bandcamp to breaking through and now having the #1 album in the country. We know that the rest of the world has already caught on, and we couldn’t be more excited to follow the next part of their career.”
Also entering the charts, Australian country singer-songwriter Adam Harvey‘s fifteenth studio album, Songs From Highway One, coming in at #6.
Following the news that Daft Punk would be splitting after 28 years together, their fourth studio album Random Access Memories returns to the ARIA album chart at #24. Released in May 2013, their final studio album became their first #1 on the Albums Chart when it spent one week in the top spot. Random Access Memories featured the pair’s only #1 single, Get Lucky.
Singles
January 4 24Goldn Mood
January 11 24Goldn Mood
January 18 Olivia Rodrigo Drivers Licence
January 25 Olivia Rodrigo Drivers Licence
February 1 Olivia Rodrigo Drivers Licence
February 8 Olivia Rodrigo Drivers Licence
February 15 Olivia Rodrigo Drivers Licence
February 22 Olivia Rodrigo Drivers Licence
March 1 Glass Animals Heat Waves
Albums
January 4 Taylor Swift Evermore
January 11 Taylor Swift Evermore
January 18 Barry Gibb Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers’ Songbook
January 25 Illy The Space Between
February 1 Bluey Bluey The Album
February 8 The Kid Laroi Fuck Love (Savage)
February 15 Foo Fighters Medicine at Midnight
February 22 The Rubens 0202
March 1 Tash Sultana Terra Firma
Last week’s charts: Rubens get their first #1, two other Aussie albums top 10
Primetime News
Seven News 862,000
Nine News 847,000
ABC News 689,000
10 News First 257,000 (5:00 pm)/ 194,000 (6:00 pm)
SBS World News 150,000
Daily current affairs
Insiders 431,000
The Project 257,000 (6:30 pm)/ 390,000 (7 pm)
Breakfast TV
News Breakfast 214,000
Sunrise 200,000
Today 176,000
Nine had the top primary share for the 21st night in a row with 26.6%, Nine also had the top network share with 35.3%.
This win was in large part due to the dominance of Married at First Sight which has been the top non-news show each night that it has aired this year. The show had 898,000 last night and featured two more weddings as Belinda/Patrick and Beth/Russell walked down the aisle, and the episode then followed the couples on their honeymoon.
MAFS was followed by 60 Minutes with 664,000 which covered Brittany Spear’s fight for freedom and the saga engulfing the royal family of Dubai about Princess Latifa claiming she is being held hostage by her father.
Seven’s Celebrity Holey Moley had 426,000 which was down on the show’s penultimate episode last Sunday which had 498,000.
Barry Hall pushed aside NRL star Mat Rogers and Olympic speed skating gold medallist Steven Bradbury to take first place.
Halls’s victory in the mini-golf showdown followed a dramatic incident on Frankenputt earlier in the night when Denise Drysdale, tripped on the course during her head-to-head battle with Bradbury. Sustaining a shoulder injury, she was treated by medics and was forced to leave the competition immediately, graciously handing the win to Bradbury by default.
Celebrity Holey Moley was followed by the marvel film Venom with 205,000.
On 10, Amazing Race Australia had 464,000 which was down on last Sunday’s 523,000
The teams were in Townsville and found themselves back at Castle Hill, despite The Body Builders coming last no teams were sent home due to the episode being a non-elimination leg.
The Project had 256,000 (6:30 pm) and 390,000 (7:00 pm) and featured an interview with comedy legend Eddie Murphy.
10 Bold was #1 multichannel thanks to a combination of Bondi Rescue, NCIS, and NCIS: Los Angeles
On ABC Grand Designs New Zealand had 509,000 followed by Harrow with 487,000 which was up on last week’s 419,000
SBS aired Searching for Cleopatra with 182,000 and The Queen and the Coup which had 111,000.
FRIDAY METRO | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Seven | Nine | 10 | SBS | |||||
ABC | 15.9% | 7 | 18.2% | 9 | 18.4% | 10 | 8.6% | SBS One | 4.6% |
ABC KIDS/ ABC TV PLUS | 2.3% | 7TWO | 2.9% | GO! | 2.4% | 10 Bold | 4.0% | VICELAND | 1.3% |
ABC ME | 0.4% | 7mate | 3.6% | GEM | 2.4% | 10 Peach | 2.5% | Food Net | 0.7% |
ABC NEWS | 2.9% | 7flix | 3.8% | 9Life | 1.8% | 10 Shake | 0.6% | NITV | 0.2% |
9Rush | 1.4% | SBS World Movies | 1.3% | ||||||
TOTAL | 21.5% | 28.4% | 26.2% | 15.8% | 8.1% |
SATURDAY METRO | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Seven | Nine | 10 | SBS | |||||
ABC | 15.0% | 7 | 17.4% | 9 | 19.2% | 10 | 5.2% | SBS One | 5.9% |
ABC KIDS/ ABC TV PLUS | 2.5% | 7TWO | 4.2% | GO! | 3.4% | 10 Bold | 4.2% | VICELAND | 1.2% |
ABC ME | 0.4% | 7mate | 2.4% | GEM | 3.0% | 10 Peach | 3.1% | Food Net | 0.7% |
ABC NEWS | 2.6% | 7flix | 3.1% | 9Life | 2.5% | 10 Shake | 0.7% | NITV | 0.3% |
9Rush | 1.4% | SBS World Movies | 1.5% | ||||||
TOTAL | 20.5% | 27.0% | 29.6% | 13.3% | 9.6% |
SUNDAY METRO | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Seven | Nine | 10 | SBS | |||||
ABC | 13.9% | 7 | 15.0% | 9 | 26.6% | 10 | 10.7% | SBS One | 4.7% |
ABC KIDS/ ABC TV PLUS | 2.4% | 7TWO | 2.3% | GO! | 2.4% | 10 Bold | 3.6% | VICELAND | 0.6% |
ABC ME | 0.5% | 7mate | 3.0% | GEM | 3.1% | 10 Peach | 2.7% | Food Net | 0.7% |
ABC NEWS | 2.0% | 7flix | 1.2% | 9Life | 1.9% | 10 Shake | 0.6% | NITV | 0.1% |
9Rush | 1.3% | SBS World Movies | 0.7% | ||||||
TOTAL | 18.8% | 21.4% | 35.3% | 17.6% | 6.9% |
SUNDAY REGIONAL | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ABC | Seven Affiliates | Nine Affiliates | 10 Affiliates | SBS | |||||
ABC | 14.3% | 7 | 17.9% | 9 | 20.5% | WIN | 7.9% | SBS One | 4.0% |
ABC KIDS/ ABC TV PLUS | 1.8% | 7TWO | 3.7% | GO! | 3.1% | WIN Bold | 5.4% | VICELAND | 1.0% |
ABC ME | 0.4% | 7mate | 3.5% | GEM | 5.6% | WIN Peach | 3.0% | Food Net | 0.8% |
ABC NEWS | 1.9% | 7flix (Excl. Tas/WA) | 1.2% | 9Life | 2.1% | Sky News on WIN | 1.3% | NITV | 0.3% |
SBS Movies | 0.8% | ||||||||
TOTAL | 18.4% | 26.4% | 31.4% | 17.6% | 6.9% |
SUNDAY METRO ALL TV | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FTA | STV | ||||||||
88.8% | 11.2.% |
Friday Top Ten
Saturday Top Ten
Shares all people, 6pm-midnight, Overnight (Live and AsLive), Audience numbers FTA metro, Sub TV national
Source: OzTAM and Regional TAM 2021. The Data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) without the prior written consent of OzTAM
Facebook News pays publishers for content that will appear in a dedicated section within the Facebook app – similar to Google’s News Showcase product – which is likely to be part of deals with local publishers.
However, the sources suggest deals are again stalling over Facebook’s “poison pill” clause, allowing the social giant to blow up a deal at any time. The clause is understood to be a more watered-down version than what has previously been presented to publishers.
Those so swift to criticise the code as a victory for big business and pandering by government to old media forces are wrong and missing the point.
Last Friday’s announcement that Facebook has signed letters of intent for commercial agreements with three small, independent publishers — Private Media, Schwartz Media and Solstice Media – demonstrates starkly that we are witnessing a welcomed turning point.
Fletcher said the “competition approach was a well-established policy tool” in Australia when dealing with industries where bargaining power imbalances existed.
Several ministers from countries including Canada, France, Germany, Finland and the UK, have contacted Fletcher to discuss Australia’s strategy in legislating a mandatory news media bargaining code, in addition to the conversations that Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg had with heads of state including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canada’s leader Justin Trudeau.
In the wake of Facebook’s shock blacklisting of local news pages and following more than a dozen calls, Frydenberg wanted confirmation from the social media network founder – worth $100 billion – that they had reached a compromise and Facebook would reboot its full services.
Frydenberg had deliberately engaged one-on-one with Zuckerberg to short-circuit the “lawyers at 50 paces”.
He set Zuckerberg a deadline of Tuesday to agree to changes, coinciding with the Coalition’s joint party room meeting to sign off on legislation. It went down to the wire, but the investment banker-turned-politician and the tech titan finally agreed to a deal. Frydenberg even joked to Zuckerberg he had been speaking with him more than his wife.
The Silicon Valley billionaire knew he had a deadline to meet. No matter how much he disliked Australia’s news media bargaining code for tech platforms, he was told the Morrison government would make it law within days. Zuckerberg had to choose whether to take a deal or go to war.
Following intense negotiations over the government’s media bargaining code, the country’s biggest media companies – Nine Entertainment Co (owner of this masthead), News Corp Australia, Seven West Media and Guardian Australia – have in recent weeks signed multimillion-dollar agreements for their content with Google. Seven, Private Media and Solstice Media and Schwartz Media have signed agreements with Facebook and others are expected to soon follow.
But as yet, just how media companies plan to spend this money, if and when the agreements become legally binding, remains unclear.
The television, radio and publishing company started talks with Southern Cross in early January about extending the current agreement to broadcast Nine’s television programs in regional areas. That exclusive period expired on Sunday and Southern Cross has not secured a new arrangement, which means that WIN Corp can now enter negotiations.
Nine received an anonymous email in early February accusing Falloon, who is also the chairman of online property group Domain, of giving his son Troy Falloon access to a corporate golf membership at Terrey Hills Golf and Country Club from the middle of 2018, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The corporate membership was held through Domain which was 60 per cent owned by Fairfax Media until a $4 billion merger in late 2018. Falloon was the chairman of Fairfax before the merger.
Campbell said he was looking forward to the new role, starting this week.
“I’m really excited to be given this opportunity to speak to the biggest newspaper audiences in Australia about the issues that matter to them,’’ he said.
Campbell had been Investigations Editor for the Herald Sun and Sunday Herald Sun. He was formerly National Political and State Politics Editor.
In 2013 Campbell was awarded the Walkley Award for Scoop of the Year for revealing secret recordings that led to the resignation of Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu.
He also won the Gold Quill from the Melbourne Press Club in 2013.
Saturday and Sunday Herald Sun editor Nick Papps said: “James has a history of breaking the big stories that matter in print and online, and this is a terrific appointment.
“Federal politics has never been more important and James’ focus will be delivering the stories that matter to the people of Victoria and Australia, and breaking them first.
“With an election expected in the next year, the vaccine rollout, Covid recovery, climate change and so many households facing real financial pain, it has never been more vital to have an experienced, proven news breaker covering federal politics for our readers.
“James knows what matters to our readers.”
Campbell has been a strident critic of Victorian Premier Dan Andrews. In a column on the weekend in the Herald Sun, Campbell wrote:
“At the time of the second lockdown last August, when it was clear that hundreds of people were dying because his government had screwed up hotel quarantine, I wrote that Andrews must know in his heart of hearts that there was no getting out from under this, some disasters are just too big.
“I was wrong. Not for the first time I should add.
“Here we are six months and another lockdown later the Premier is up and about.
“Nobody seems to think Labor is in any danger of losing the next election.
“Meanwhile the scandals roll on.
“Once upon a time the news of a royal commission into Crown casino would have been big news.
“Instead, it felt like just another day in Dan’s Victoria. He didn’t even bother turning up for the announcement.”
In June last year the Herald Sun columnist wrote: “Victoria’s coronavirus outbreak exposes the stupidity of that multicultural slogan ‘diversity makes us stronger’. Oh, really? It’s exactly that diversity – taken to extremes – that’s helped to create this fear of a second wave.”
He said Australia had a “lethal” problem in an emergency like the coronavirus because we were was becoming “a nation of tribes” with no common language.
The article published online in 2019 quoted a police officer alleging Gatto had threatened to kill Nicola Gobbo if he discovered the gangland lawyer was a police informant.
Gatto took the national broadcaster to the Victorian Supreme Court claiming the article imputed he had threatened to kill Gobbo, he had organised murders in the past and was responsible for the murders of Victor Peirce and Frank Benvenuto.
As big companies across banking and the automotive industry resume spending on national TV ad campaigns, medium to smaller advertisers have refrained, which has hurt radio companies.
Last week’s earnings results of Nine Radio — which consists of Sydney’s 2GB, Melbourne’s 3AW and Brisbane’s 4BC — plus HT&E’s radio business ARN and Southern Cross Media, underscored the ad recovery lag despite an increase in listeners during the coronavirus crisis.
The former My Kitchen Rules star recently announced his plans to run for the Senate as part of The Great Australian Party.
The Twitter account Chaser Interns, which is linked to satirist outlet The Chaser, revealed the prank on Friday.
“Thought we’d help Pete out by setting up a campaign site on his behalf,” the group wrote on Twitter, with a link to a website with the domain peteevansforsenate.com.
But instead of providing information on Evan’s political run and how to support him, users are instead directed to the immunisation page on the Department of Health website, which states vaccines are a “simple, safe and effective”.
A spokesman on Saturday denied Seven was still extracting its pound of flesh for a rumoured lucrative deal — put at $2 million at the time though denied by Seven — following Corby’s release from a Bali jail for drug smuggling.
As veteran reporter Mike Willesee was sent to Bali to negotiate with the Corbys at the time, an AFP raid — which roped in then Federal Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a personal friend of Seven lawyer Bruce McWilliam — searched for evidence Seven had paid Corby for her interview, an offence under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Industry sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the contract is confidential said Supercars had agreed to remove a requirement for Seven to generate a particular amount of money through sponsorship and advertising under a revenue sharing arrangement.
The renegotiation occurred after a legal letter was fired off to the Supercars by Seven over concerns that Foxtel’s decision to air popular races for free on its streaming service Kayo Sports was in breach of exclusivity provisions given to the free-to-air broadcaster in its new deal. The company also threatened to terminate its rights agreement.
Warren, who earlier this month confirmed he had shelved retirement plans to call another season, described a home invasion he slept through in the early hours of Saturday morning as “a bit scary” as the hunt to find the ring escalated on Sunday.
While he will continue to be part of the 7AFL team, McAvaney won’t be in the commentary box for the 2021 AFL season.
The iconic broadcaster, who has been the voice of footy for decades, says stepping back was one of the toughest calls he’s ever had to make.
“I felt like I got to a stage in my career where I had to reduce my workload,” Bruce told 7NEWS.
“I’m going to miss it enormously, I just visualise when Richmond and Carlton run out there in round one, and the ball is bounced, I’m going to climb a wall somewhere.
“I’m going to have to move on and just be a fan like everybody else.”
During 2021 he will be leading Seven’s horse racing coverage, and McAvaney will again be behind the microphone for the Tokyo Olympics.
“I still feel like there’s a bright future, in a ridiculous way I feel like I haven’t reached my potential, I still want to get better, and that’s what I’m hoping to do over the next few years,” he added.
The rest of the 7AFL commentary team remains the same with James Brayshaw joining the Friday night crew alongside Brian Taylor, Luke Darcy, Wayne Carey, Daisy Pearce and Hamish McLachlan.
Sports Flick – a streaming service that launched late last year and broadcasts predominantly fringe sports and football leagues with extremely niche local followings – has emerged as the shock winners of a blind auction-style tender process for the rights to the world’s most-watched club tournament, according to sources with knowledge of the deal.
The UEFA Champions League had been a cornerstone of Optus Sport’s football offering but the telco, along with other competitors, was left stunned by Sports Flick’s bid, which sources suggest was about $60 million for a three-year period, starting in the 2021-22 season – a significant increase on the last deal.