Business of Media
Major streaming players push back on regulation
The major mainstream streaming players except for Foxtel-owned Binge and Kayo have united to pitch to government the industry’s contribution to the Australian economy and screen industry in an attempt to avoid local content quotas or other regulation, reports AFR’s Miranda Ward.
Stan, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Paramount+ have issued a report highlighting their contribution to the economy and screen industry without putting a monetary figure on this. Instead, they rely on data about individual productions and anecdotal evidence to paint a picture of a thriving sector.
The report highlights the $268 million investment in Australian content for fiscal year 2020, a figure made public in August via the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s inaugural SVOD Australian content investment report. The 2021 financial year data is expected in the coming weeks.
Designed to fight a potential move by the Morrison government to make global streaming giants spend a proportion of local revenue on Australian content, the report argues the Australian creative economy and the Australian production sector is not at risk.
News Brands
Liberal senator attacks ABC for having ‘more lawyers than most law firms’
Victorian Liberal senator and former ABC presenter Sarah Henderson has called on the national broadcaster to reduce the number of in-house lawyers it employs, claiming there are too many people at the organisation doing the same job, reports SMH’s Zoe Samios.
Henderson, who has been a vocal critic of the ABC on issues such as its social media policy and legal costs, claims the national broadcaster could save at least $5 million in lawyers’ salaries that should be spent on news and information. The ABC has rejected the claims, arguing its lawyers work across many different areas in the organisation.
ABC productions contribute millions to economy: Deloitte
As Labor seeks to put funding of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on the federal election agenda, the public broadcaster is out to demonstrate how its productions contribute more than $700 million a year to the economy, reports AFR’s Miranda Ward.
According to a Deloitte Access Economics report commissioned by the ABC, from 2017-18 to 2019-20 a total of $765 million was spent on 433 screen productions that were commissioned either internally by the ABC or with external partners, creating more than 2500 hours of Australian content.
The ABC-commissioned productions contributed $744 million to the economy, including funding from third parties, and supported more than 8300 full-time or equivalent jobs, the report states.
Fred Hiatt, Washington Post editorial page editor, dies at 66
Fred Hiatt, the longtime editorial page editor of The Washington Post, who used his position atop one of the nation’s most visible and influential opinion platforms to support justice and human rights, died on Monday at a hospital in Manhattan. He was 66, reports The New York Times’ Katharine Q. Seelye.
He had been visiting his daughter in Brooklyn on Nov. 24 and was out shopping for the family’s Thanksgiving dinner when he went into sudden cardiac arrest, said his wife, Margaret Shapiro, who is known as Pooh. A bystander immediately called 911, she said, but Mr. Hiatt never regained consciousness. She said he had a history of heart ailments. He lived in Chevy Chase, Md.
Podcasts
Daniel Johns ’not anxious anymore’ to put out new record after his global podcast hit
Daniel Johns has fast-tracked his return to music after the viral success of his soul-baring, smash-hit podcast and will release his second solo album FutureNever in April, reports News Corp’s Kathy McCabe.
“I know I have a tendency to go missing but I’m back now,” Johns wrote in a “personal letter” to fans to unveil his album plans.
The podcast turned out to be the genius play to get the former Silverchair frontman to his end game; to release a Daniel Johns record completely “on my own terms.”
But no one was expecting the Who Is Daniel Johns? podcast to go viral when it kicked off in October, topping the Spotify chart throughout its six week season and finishing in the top 20 for 2021.
Radio
Chris Cuomo says he will end his radio show, two days after CNN firing
Chris Cuomo said on Monday that he was ending his daily SiriusXM radio program, two days after he was fired by CNN after an allegation of workplace sexual misconduct and amid an inquiry into his efforts to aid his brother, former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, report The New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum and John Koblin.
“The way my time ended at CNN was hard,” Chris Cuomo, who has denied the misconduct allegation, wrote in a statement on Monday posted to his social media. “While I have a thick skin, I also have a family, for whom the past week has been extraordinarily difficult. So, right now, I have to take a step back and focus on what comes next. That means I will no longer be doing my SiriusXM radio show.”
Television
Overlooked Tony Jones says he doesn’t want Peter Hitchener’s job
Tony Jones has laughed that he’s no longer “No.2” after confirmation that he’s not the heir apparent to the Nine newsreading job, reports News Corp’s Jackie Epstein.
Veteran Melbourne presenter Peter Hitchener will now read bulletins four nights a week next year, with Alicia Loxley reading from Friday-Sunday.
“The Sunday Footy Show boys will have to come up with a new gag now that I’m not “No.2”,’’ Jones said.
The news that ‘Hitch’, 75, will read from Monday-Thursday was reported in The Australian on Monday and has been confirmed by Nine as a move to prolong Hitchener’s career.
Three SA production companies for LA business opportunity
Three South Australian production companies have been chosen for the Charlie’s Virtual Residency, a new initiative from the South Australian Film Corporation and Australians in Film, reports TV Tonight.
An online version of AiF’s Los Angeles screen hub Charlie’s, it will enable three Adelaide companies to strengthen their connections with the US film and television industry:
• Kristian Moliere and Julie Byrne of Triptych Pictures (The Mountain, The Babadook)
• Kirsty Stark of Epic Films (First Day)
• Marion Pilowsky of Corner Table Productions (Recipe for Love, The Flip Side)