Business of Media
Foxtel makes key executive switch as company mulls IPO
Foxtel’s chief financial officer James Marsh has left the pay TV company as it begins to rejig its corporate structure and prepares for a potential float on the ASX, reports SMH’s Zoe Samios.
Marsh, who was the chief financial officer of Vodafone Hutchison Australia until 2018, will leave the business at the end of this week. Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany said in an internal note to staff that Marsh wanted to transition from a full-time role to a “flexible consulting career”.
Marsh will be replaced by Stuart Hutton, former chief financial officer at ASX-listed manufacturing company Orora. Hutton was behind the de-merger of Orora in from Amcor in 2013 and worked on processes that allowed the manufacturing company to operate as an ASX-listed company. The timing of his appointment is a clear signal of Foxtel’s growth ambitions.
Streaming players invest $270 million in Aussie content
Leading streaming entertainment services have invested almost $270 million in Australian content in fiscal year 2020, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s inaugural SVOD Australian content investment report, reports AFR’s Miranda Ward.
The SVOD (subscription video on demand) report, released on Friday, is part of a voluntary reporting system by the major players, including Netflix, Nine’s Stan, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video.
It is designed to demonstrate the burgeoning pipeline of local content coming to streaming services as the government considers implementing local content quotas, forcing global streaming platforms to spend a proportion of local revenue on Australian content.
The figure includes Australian content and Australian-related productions, which include shows filmed here but not set in the country, such as Netflix’s Clickbait. This was a $50 million production filmed in Melbourne, with the show set in the US.
James M Vernon chooses Penrith Lakes as the site of a $150 million film studio
The glitz and glamour of Hollywood will soon be coming to Sydney’s west amid plans for a $150 million film studio on the site of an old sandstone quarry, reports News Corp’s Ben Pike.
Driven by the insatiable demand generated by streaming services such as Binge and Netflix, the facility will also feature an 18-hole golf course, helipad and film production training school.
Lakeside Studio’s development will be spearheaded by industry veteran James M. Vernon. He has 35 credits as producer and executive producer, including on Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge and The King’s Daughter starring Pierce Brosnan.
Former Warner Bros. International president Wayne Duband will serve as international studio consultant.
“The demand for studio space in Australia has quadrupled in the past 10 years and recent inquiries from overseas producers have amounted to $2 billion in production expenditure,” Vernon told The Saturday Telegraph.
“Disney acquired Fox Studios Moore Park from Fox, which is now generally taken by Marvel’s big-budget productions.
“This has mostly rendered Sydney without a full-service film studio for both domestic and international producers who are having to resort to shooting in auditoriums, basketball courts and warehouses.”
‘Monumentally failed’: Rudd calls for media watchdog to be abolished over Sky News COVID-19 claims
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has called for the country’s media watchdog to be abolished, saying the regulator had “monumentally failed” in its responsibilities during the pandemic by not upholding broadcast standards at Sky News Australia, reports SMH‘s Lisa Visentin.
In a continuation of his campaign against the Australian arm of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, Rudd pointed to Sky News Australia airing claims denying the existence of the COVID-19 pandemic, questioning the safety of vaccines and promoting unproven treatments for the virus.
Rudd said he intended to recommend “ACMA be abolished and replaced” when he next gives evidence at a Senate inquiry into media diversity, which was established last year after a petition he circulated calling for a royal commission into Murdoch media amassed more than 500,000 signatures.
In a statement, Sky News rejected Mr Rudd’s comments about the network.
“Any assertion that Sky News has denied the existence of COVID-19 or contributed to vaccine hesitancy are baseless, evidenced by the thousands of hours of coverage devoted to this issue. Anyone who watches the channel knows that Sky News strongly supports the vaccine rollout,” a spokeswoman said.
ABC’s legal payouts over the last six years a mystery
The ABC claims it has no record of how much money it has spent settling legal claims brought against it over the past six years, reports News Corp’s Jared Lynch and James Madden.
Fresh from forking out at least $130,000 last week in damages and legal costs in relation to a defamatory tweet by high-profile reporter Louise Milligan — which “irrevocably” harmed the reputation of federal Liberal MP Andrew Laming — the ABC denied a Freedom of Information request from The Australian about the legal bills incurred by the public broadcaster since 2015.
The Australian requested documents — including those used in the preparation for its annual reports, which detail how it spends taxpayers’ money — to determine the cost of legal claims against the ABC over that period.
But ABC head of corporate governance and Freedom of Information co-ordinator Pamela Longstaff said searches within the government-owned enterprise found no documents detailing expenditure on legal claims existed.
ABC stars scramble on new Twitter rules
Last week’s warning by David Anderson to ABC staff about their social media activity had an instant impact on the Twitter and Facebook profiles of some of Aunty’s biggest names, reports News Corp’s Nick Tabakoff.
Numerous ABC journalists updated their profiles by taking ABC references out of their Twitter names or bios, and inserted “views my own” disclaimers.
But the prize for the most innovative adaptation of Anderson’s ruling went to Laura Tingle, 7.30’s chief political correspondent.
Where Tingle’s Twitter bio previously pointed to her roles at the ABC and Financial Review, she managed the dual objectives of simultaneously obeying Anderson’s directive and entertaining her 198,000 Twitter fans in her rewrite: “Is this thing working? What? Yes of course they are my own opinions, or others that might be interesting or diverting.”
Coalition’s attack on ABC’s Four Corners
On the week of the 60th anniversary edition of Four Corners, relations between the federal government and the ABC’s flagship current affairs program are about to hit an all-time low, reports News Corp’s Nick Tabakoff.
Diary has learnt that prominent Coalition senator and former ABC current affairs host Sarah Henderson has lobbed a grenade into the anniversary celebrations by establishing an encrypted email account that will allow ABC staff to dob in what she describes as “concerning decisions or incidents”.
And it’s clear the prominent government senator’s provocative move is particularly focused on Four Corners, and the program’s star investigative reporter Louise Milligan.
News Brands
The Daily Telegraph’s deputy editor Gemma Jones to edit The Advertiser
News Corp’s Gemma Jones has been appointed editor of South Australia’s largest selling newspaper, The Advertiser, reports News Corp’s James Madden.
Jones, 38, has worked at News for almost two decades, and is currently the deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph.
News Corp Australasia’s executive chairman Michael Miller said Jones “will bring to her new role considerable experience as an executive and reporter in Sydney, Canberra and New York.”
Jones joined News in 2002 as a newsroom assistant. She was awarded a cadetship on The Daily Telegraph soon after, before becoming a state and federal political reporter for the newspaper, and then its chief-of-staff. She also spent time in the US, on a reporting secondment to New York.
In 2016, Jones was appointed national chief-of-staff for The Australian, before returning to The Daily Telegraph as deputy editor.
Radio
2GB boss chooses “profit” over ratings
Much was made last month of KIIS FM’s Kyle Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson seizing 2GB’s breakfast radio crown for the first time in 17 years, after Alan Jones’s long reign in the slot, reports News Corp’s Nick Tabakoff.
But Nine Radio boss Tom Malone is stopping short of saying that loss was a momentary blip for 2GB, or that breakfast host Ben Fordham will return to the top of the ratings in a fortnight’s time when the next survey is released.
When Diary asked Malone if profits or ratings were most important, he said it was now making money that was Nine Radio’s “ultimate” preference.
“Of course, we always want to be No.1 – at breakfast, and across the day. But we need to be profitable, and Ben is exactly where we need him to be from a ratings and revenue perspective. Audience is very important, but profitability is our ultimate measure of success.”
Entertainment
Broadcaster Ernie Sigley dies aged 82 after battling Alzheimer’s disease
Beloved broadcaster, singer and “little Aussie battler” Ernie Sigley has died, reports News Corp’s Nui Te Koha.
Sigley, 82, passed away on Sunday with his family, wife Glenys, and four children, Matthew, Guy, David, and Emma, by his side.
Sigley battled Alzheimer’s disease for five years, and had been in residential care for most of that time.
In a career spanning six decades, Sigley’s talent and knowledge made him one of Australia’s most accomplished and award-winning entertainers.
A television host, radio presenter and singer, Ernie’s diminutive stature, working class roots and larrikin laugh often saw him referred to as the “little Aussie battler”.
Television
How Brian Walsh and Ian Hogg hatched plan to make Foxtel’s biggest drama hit
“The story behind how Wentworth came about started, as so many television shows do, at the annual conference of global television executives in Cannes,” Foxtel’s Brian Walsh tells The Australian’s Graeme Blundell.
Walsh is now leading the newly created Foxtel Originals division, in charge of all local production commissions across drama, lifestyle, factual and entertainment production, but for decades you will have seen his name on every original Foxtel show.
In Cannes all those years ago, Walsh was meeting with the Australian head of production company Fremantle Television, Ian Hogg, a former colleague of Walsh’s from their days at the Ten Network, the two having collaborated then in launching Neighbours. “At our Cannes meeting, sitting at the Fremantle marquee on the Croisette, we chewed the fat about the history of Australian television and what shows had resonated with audiences,” Walsh says. “Obviously, because of our collective Ten history, we exercised a long and animated conversation about Prisoner.”
They came up with the idea of reviving Prisoner, “but it almost felt sacrilege to even contemplate, let alone attempt the idea”.
Some weeks later, they met at Foxtel with their respective heads of drama – Hogg with Jo Porter and Walsh with Penny Win – and after the creatives embraced the notion, Wentworth was on its way. “Hands were shaken across the table with a pretty resounding ‘Let’s do this’; it was that quick,” recalls Win, who would shepherd the show through its 100 episodes as executive producer.
Amazon’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is leaving New Zealand for the U.K. for Season 2
Amazon Studios is packing up The Lord of the Rings and moving its production of the mega-budget fantasy series from New Zealand to the United Kingdom for season two, reports the Hollywood Reporter‘s James Hibberd.
The decision represents a dramatic location swap that takes the event series out of the country that was famously used for Peter Jackson’s LOTR and The Hobbit trilogies and into the land that originally inspired saga author J.R.R. Tolkien. It’s also a major shift given that Amazon has invested heavily in sets and facilities in New Zealand to help pull off the show’s debut season, which recently wrapped filming at an estimated price of $465 million.
Tammin Sursok’s new role in The Good Hustle: ‘It is hard for women to do it all’
Former Pretty Little Liars star Tammin Sursok will lead a new TV drama to be shot in Sydney based on five female publicists, reports News Corp’s Jonathon Moran.
Sursok, who has two children, will be joined on screen by E! Australia host Francesca Hung, who will make her acting debut, as well as Lisa Flanagan, Gemma Forsyth, Brooke Lee and Sophie Bloom.
The 10-part series is being produced by Joel Kishinevsky and Elle Croxford for production company, Little Giant.
Former landlords suing Jock Zonfrillo
A legal dispute between MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo and Adelaide-based landlords Rundle East Company had a directions hearing in court this week, reports TV Tonight.
Zonfrillo is being sued for $224,000 in property charges by landlords Theo and Steve Maras of Rundle East Company Pty Ltd.
Rundle East Company is seeking damages in the Adelaide District Court for unpaid rent and other costs for a wine bar, Mallozzi, operated by Zonfrillo and former business partner, Shaun Lau.
Mallozzi went into liquidation in August, 2019, while Zonfrillo was renting another building to operate Bistro Blackwood and Orana, which have both closed.
Luke and Josh Packham say The Block producers fabricated drunk storyline
The Block stars Luke and Josh Packham say parts of Sunday night’s episode in which they disappeared off site for a night of drinking were “totally inaccurate”, reports News Corp’s Bella Fowler.
Hitting back at the bold claim, executive producer and co-creator of The Block Julian Cress told news.com.au: “For a start, we never fake anything on The Block. We don’t need to when we’ve got contestants like Josh and Luke wandering around.”
He continued: “Crazy stuff just seems to happen with those two. But for clarity, we’re TV producers, not mechanical engineers, so faking a breathalyser is way beyond our skillset. But if someone can show us how …”
MAFS star’s fury: ‘It ruined my radio career’
Controversial Married At First Sight groom Bryce Ruthven has welcomed the Australian media watchdog’s investigation into the hit relationships show, reports News Corp’s Fiona Byrne.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority confirmed it was acting on complaints from viewers about the 2021 season of MAFS to see if the show and Channel 9 had breached the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice.
Ruthven, who is expecting twins with his TV bride Melissa Rawson, said he was pleased the ACMA was officially looking into the program after he and Rawson were left furious at how their relationship was portrayed to viewers.
“What came out on screen was not how our relationship played out at all, so to us they have deliberately gone out of their way to manufacture a relationship that reflected domestic violence – which it never did,” he said.
Publishing
UK magazine giant Future adds to portfolio with new $500m deal for Dennis flagship
Future, one of the London stock market’s biggest media groups, is preparing to swoop on the publisher of the current affairs magazine The Week in a £300m deal, reported UK’s Sky News on the weekend.
Future, which owns Country Life and the football magazine FourFourTwo among a portfolio of 160 brands, is in advanced talks with the owners of Dennis Publishing about the acquisition of a substantial number of its remaining most prominent titles.
It is expected to see Future acquiring The Week, its sister title aimed at younger readers and a US edition that will form part of the company’s broader efforts to build sales on the other side of the Atlantic.
Future is also expected to pounce on Dennis-owned magazines such as MoneyWeek and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, which will be added to the London-listed group’s recently formed finance division.
The deal will include a number of technology-related titles, although Future will not acquire Viz, the satirical magazine, as part of it, according to insiders.
The Dennis automotive portfolio, which includes AutoExpress and Octane, has already been spun off into a separate company called Autovia, which is chaired by the former Moneysupermarket chief Peter Plumb.
Sports Media
Seven keen for Paris/LA/Brisbane Olympics package after Tokyo broadcast
Seven West Media is expected to bid for the next batch of Olympic broadcast rights in a deal that could attract a record $200 million price tag if Brisbane 2032 is included, reports News Corp’s Jessica Halloran and John Stensholt.
The Seven Network is looking to continue their Olympic partnership. The Summer and Winter Olympics, including Paris 2024, Milan 2026 and Los Angeles 2028 as well as Brisbane 2032 remain up for grabs.
Long-term deals are not unheard of with the broadcast rights for 2032 were sold to the US market in 2014 to NBC Universal and a year later to Grupo Globo in Brazil.
In May 2020 there were strong rumours that Seven was considering selling its rights to the postponed Tokyo Olympics. Back then the Covid crisis, coupled with Seven’s crashing share price, forced them to consider dumping the rights in an unprecedented fire sale.
Seven is said to have paid $160 million for a three-Games rights package back in 2014, starting with Rio de Janeiro in 2016, the Pyeongchang Winter Games in 2018 and Tokyo.
Can state governments wreck summer? Broadcasters nervous about Ashes Tour
The fate of this summer’s Ashes series lies in the hands of Australian governments — a prospect sure to fill fans’ hearts with anxiety, reports News Corp’s Peter Lalor.
England players are exhausted by endless touring and quarantine in the past 18 months and are demanding they bring their families on the tour to Australia.
There is also a strong push from England not to endure more brutal quarantines during one of cricket’s more difficult series for visiting teams.
Cancelling an Ashes series would be a disaster for Cricket Australia, which already took a $50m hit last year from the pandemic and is facing enormous costs this summer, with the prospect all domestic and the six visiting teams will need additional biosecurity arrangements.
Profits from an Ashes tour sustain Australian cricket through the lean years of less popular series over a four-year cycle.
England, which has flogged its players and called in favours — including from Australia which flew in to play a hastily organised ODI series during the height of that country’s pandemic in 2020 — to avoid a financial crisis.
Nine’s Peter Sterling: ‘I haven’t been gagged, I’m retiring’
When I approached Channel Nine last week to do a story with Peter Sterling about his retirement from TV commentary, the view was he wanted a quiet departure with little or no fanfare, reports Sun-Herald columnist Danny Weidler.
But the story leaked and Sterlo has been forced to deal with false claims about him being silenced, moved on and even linked with a coaching job at the Eels. He wants to set the record straight.
“I certainly haven’t been gagged,” he said. “I see my retirement as old news because it’s something that I spoke to [Channel Nine] management about a couple of months ago. When you see headlines with quotation marks [saying] I’ve been gagged – now that didn’t come from me and hasn’t come from management. I haven’t spoken to anyone about doing any coaching at the Eels, which somebody reported. My relationship with Parramatta is very special to me.
“I’m retiring. I’m not looking for more work. That conjecture disappointed me. I have another year on my contract at Nine and they asked would I reconsider.”
Buzz: Karl Stefanovic steps in to save Nine Network’s NRL TV deal
TV host Karl Stefanovic wants to step in to help his bosses at the Nine Network retain the NRL television rights, reports News Corp’s Phil Rothfield.
The Today show presenter has offered to use his close friendship with independent commission chairman Peter V’landys to assist chief executive Mike Sneesby to get a $750 million deal over the line.
Nine is facing stiff opposition from rival networks Channel 7 and 10 to retain the rights.
The Today show star might fancy himself in this type of commercial role but he obviously has no idea what V’landys is like at the negotiating table in a heavyweight business meeting.