Business of Media
Hulu and Disney+ content to be combined in one app, services to stay separate
Disney will be combining Hulu content with Disney+ content into one app, CEO Bob Iger announced Wednesday, reports The Hollywood Reporter’s Caitlin Huston.
The company will begin to roll out the new app by the end of the calendar year.
“While we continue to offer Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ as standalone options, this is a logical progression of our DTC offerings that will provide greater opportunities for advertisers, while giving bundle subscribers access to more robust and streamlined content, resulting in greater audience engagement and ultimately leading to a more unified streaming experience,” Iger said on the earnings call.
“The advertising potential of this combined platform is incredibly exciting,” Iger added.
The Disney exec had previously signaled a greater willingness to part with the streaming platform. Iger appeared on CNBC on Feb. 9, and spoke about Disney wanting to move away from “undifferentiated entertainment,” saying of Hulu: “Everything is on the table right now, so I am not going to speculate whether we are a buyer or a seller of it.”
The CEO doubled down on that at an investors conference in March, saying the company was continuing to evaluate the best options for Hulu.
Piers Morgan knew of phone hacking when at the Mirror, high court hears
Piers Morgan knew about illegal phone hacking when he was editor of the Daily Mirror, it has been alleged at the high court, reports The Guardian’s Jim Waterson.
The first day of the phone-hacking trial initiated by Prince Harry and other well-known figures heard claims that illegal activity, including voicemail interception, was “carried out on an industrial scale” by staff at Mirror newspapers.
David Sherborne, the barrister acting for Harry and the other alleged victims, told the court that Morgan “must have known” about illegal behaviour at the newspaper he edited between 1995 and 2004.
According to legal filings:
• In one alleged incident, Morgan asked a journalist to name the source of a celebrity story and was told “the information had come from voicemails”.
• In another, a witness described how Morgan was “laughing mockingly” as he entertained the Daily Mirror newsroom by repeatedly playing staff a private voicemail left by Paul McCartney for his then girlfriend, Heather Mills.
• In another, a witness claimed Morgan knew the default pin codes that could be used to illegally access voicemails on different mobile phone networks.
Morgan, now a presenter on Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV, has always denied knowingly commissioning or publishing stories based on illegally obtained voicemails.
News Brands
ABC staff brace for redundancies in major restructure despite $6b budget boost
ABC staff are bracing for redundancies in senior ranks from a major restructure that is widely expected to be announced as soon as this week, despite the federal government providing five years of funding certainty to the broadcaster in Tuesday’s budget, reports Nine Publishing’s Nick Bonyhady.
The reorganisation will shift the broadcaster from having three divisions to just two: news and content, putting executives first in the firing line for job losses that will help the ABC cover an 11 per cent pay rise it agreed to give staff over the next three years.
The ABC has emphasised the restructure is designed to improve how it commissions content, simplify its structure and help it chase digital audiences rather than being a money-saving measure. But it has refused to rule out job losses in correspondence with the Community and Public Sector Union obtained by this masthead.
“The [union] often asks the ABC to give a commitment that no employer can give, and that is to guarantee that there will be no redundancies resulting from a change,” ABC employee relations head Vanessa MacBean wrote on Tuesday in response to a question about regional staff. “What we can do is reiterate the managing director [David Anderson’s] message that this change is not about a reduction in roles.”
See Also: Budget 2023-24 roundup: Funding for ABC, SBS and AAP, Screen industry boost
Radio
ABC Brisbane presenter Loretta Ryan marks 40 years in radio broadcasting
Forty years in any industry is nothing to scoff at, especially in a cutthroat industry like the media. That is why Loretta Ryan‘s journey is worth celebrating, reports the ABC’s Crispian Yeomans.
Last month the ABC Radio Brisbane Breakfast presenter marked four decades in radio.
What makes it all the more special is that Ryan is known for walking that path with deep compassion and authenticity — in an industry known for anything but that.
“I just love making others happy,” she says.
But despite her sterling career, broadcasting wasn’t always on Ryan’s radar.
“I remember saying to Mum, ‘I don’t know, I just want to be something. I don’t know what I want to be’,” Ryan says.
“I thought I wanted to be a vet nurse from year 10 [onwards], but I did work experience and sort of changed my mind on that one.
“I didn’t have the stomach for the surgery side of it.”
Television
Production underway on RFDS season two
Production is underway on Season Two of RFDS in Broken Hill, set to premiere on Seven later this year, reports TV Tonight.
Based on real-life stories of doctors, nurses, pilots and support staff in the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Season Two picks up one year after Eliza (Emma Hamilton) left Broken Hill behind.
Much has changed, with lives at RFDS South East progressing at a rapid rate. The determined team will face some of their most confronting challenges to date – in the air, on land, with each other, and within themselves – set against the isolation, beauty and brutality of the outback.
Returning cast also include Stephen Peacocke (Home and Away, Five Bedrooms, The Newsreader), Rob Collins (Total Control, The Drover’s Wife), Justine Clarke (Going Country, The Time of Our Lives), Ash Ricardo (Offspring, Force of Nature: The Dry 2), Jack Scott (Hardball, Joe v Carole), Sofia Nolan (Home and Away), Rodney Afif (Ali’s Wedding, Lucky Miles), Ash Hodgkinson (Heartbreak High) and Thomas Weatherall (Heartbreak High, Blue).
Television
Alone Australia’s Gina Chick talks about intimacy and human connections
I’ve snagged the coveted green velvet chair in my favourite second-hand bookstore cafe. I can’t count the hours I’d spent here, bare feet curled under my legs, buried in the endless unfurling wonder of a decent book, writes Gina Chick for News Corp.
I’d arm wrestle anyone who claims there’s a better chai, and delight in welcoming the ongoing parade of oddball locals likely to take the other velvet chair for an impromptu chat about the vagaries of life, love and other Earth-stopping questions like whether Tim Tams are better tea-dunked or au natural.
That day was no different, except it was.
The woman next to me looked sideways under her eyelashes. The man at the end of the communal table snuck glances. The couple who’ve just sat down were more overt. I was mostly oblivious until the new guy waved to catch my attention and said, “You’re Gina from Alone.” My cover, flimsy as it was, was officially blown.
Sports Media
‘We cannot walk alone’: FIFA leans on broadcasters to support World Cup pay parity
FIFA wants to achieve prizemoney parity between the men’s and women’s World Cups by 2027 – but one of the world governing body’s highest-ranking officials says they can only do it if broadcasters “play their part” by spending more, reports Nine Publishing’s Vince Rugari.
Days after FIFA president Gianni Infantino threatened a European blackout of the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, his No.2, Fatma Samoura, said “nothing has changed” in the governing body’s stand-off with TV networks which have tabled derisory bids, and directly linked the situation to the ongoing fight in football for equal pay.
For the first time, FIFA is trying to commercialise the men’s and women’s World Cups separately, having previously bundled them together in negotiations with broadcasters and sponsors, but is struggling to attract the revenues they were hoping for.
Some broadcasters in Europe’s top five football nations – Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Spain – have offered what Infantino says is in some cases 10 to 100 times less than what they had paid for the last round of World Cup rights, calling the situation a slap in the face to all women worldwide, and dismissing their complaints about Australia’s unfavourable time zone.
If those networks don’t up their bids, Infantino has said FIFA will not sell the rights in those countries, although it’s believed the tournament would instead be shown on the FIFA+ streaming service rather than be withheld from fans entirely.