Court adjourns The Chaser’s APEC case
17Jan08

Source: AAP, The Australian

A
COURT has adjourned a case against members of ABC TV’s satirical team
The Chaser, accused of breaching security during last year’s APEC
summit, after new information came to light.

The
case was adjourned because the information would affect it, the hearing
at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court was told today.

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TEN and Foxtel to broadcast 2010 Commonwealth Games
16Jan08

TEN Network Press Release:

Network Ten and FOXTEL today announced they had
secured the exclusive Australian broadcast rights to the 2010 Commonwealth Games
in Delhi, India.

The agreement will see TEN and FOXTEL deliver Australian
viewers the most comprehensive coverage of this blue ribbon multi-sport event
ever seen on Australian free-to-air and subscription television.

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Google courting publishers
3Jan08

Source: James Ashton

AFTER colonising cyberspace, Google is going into the newspaper business.

The search engine giant is in talks with several newspaper publishers to sell space in their pages to its online clients.

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Nando’s ad draws most complaints
3Jan08

Source: The Australian

A
TV ad featuring a g-string clad pole dancer trying to cope with her
fast food cravings was the most complained about advertisement in 2007,
according to the Advertising Standards Bureau.

The
ad for Nando’s Restaurants attracted more than 300 complaints from the
public, largely because of the level of nudity of the pole-dancing
woman.

The ASB dismissed the complaints against the ad, after deciding it
did not contain sexual, nude or discriminating material that was
inappropriate during an M rated time zone.

Second on the list of most complained about ads was an advertisement
for Advanced Medical Institute which asked: "Want longer lasting sex?".

It received more than 140 complaints which were also dismissed.

Of the 10 ads which attracted the most criticism from the public,
the ASB only upheld complaints against three of them – two of which
were McDonald’s ads.

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One million Aussies embrace broadband
28Dec07

Source: The Australian

A MILLION Australians signed up to broadband internet in the past year, new statistics show.

New connections were up 50 per cent over the previous year, an Australian Bureau of Statistics survey found.

While
70 per cent of Australian households are connected to the internet only
3.5 million – 43 per cent of those – have access to broadband.

The
Australian Capital Territory has the highest proportion of broadband
connections (58 per cent of all households) while Tasmania (32 per
cent) and South Australia (33 per cent) have the lowest.
The
survey showed that about three-quarters of Australian households have
access to a computer and five million had internet access.

In less than 10 years that represents a five-fold increase in the number of household internet connections.

The
survey also found that half of all Australians over the age of 15 said
they used the internet daily and more than 90 per cent used it weekly.

People
with lower levels of education, older people, indigenous Australians
and the unemployed had considerably lower internet usage.

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Leckie’s 10-year plan for Seven
13Dec07

Jane Schulze, The Australian

SEVEN
Network chief executive David Leckie has been named The Australian’s
Media Person of the Year after leading the network to its first win in
the television ratings in a non-Olympics year since 1978.

Channel Seven boss David Leckie, who has been named The Australian’s Media Person of the Year. Picture: Lindsay Moller

Now
Mr Leckie, who joined Seven in 2003 after a long career at Nine, has
set his sights on Seven winning the ratings 10 years in a row.

Mr Leckie was named Media Person of the Year by Media’s panel of
judges after winning our award for the Radio and TV Person of the Year.

The accolade follows a stunning year for Seven, in which it won the
ratings with 37.5 per cent of the overall audience. It also won the
ratings in each capital city market and strengthened its lead in news
and current affairs.

Speaking to Media (The Australian) yesterday, Mr Leckie attributed Seven’s success to consistency.

"We decided our major demographic was 25-to-54s and four to five
years ago we started to charge towards that. It took a long time and it
took a lot of luck," he said. "And everyone knew momentum and
relentless pressure was the way to get there, and they have done it."

He also said his key lieutenants – programming chief Tim Worner,
news and current affairs chief Peter Meakin and sales chief James
Warburton – were critical to the success.

"They are better than the opposition by a mile," he said.

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Seven seals exclusive content deals
13Dec07

Source: Michael Bodey, The Australian

THE Seven Network has finished its winning year by inking two new international production contracts

A
licensing production deal with US studio and distribution group NBC
Universal will make its present and future television content,
including Heroes, 30 Rock, Las Vegas and Lipstick Jungle exclusive to
Seven.

Films including The Bourne Ultimatum and the upcoming American
Gangster, Mamma Mia! and Atonement will also go to Seven, as will news
programming, including Dateline and The Today Show.

NBC Universal previously split the Australian rights with Ten, which
did well out of the agreement with House and the Law & Order
franchise becoming two of the network’s mainstays.

Seven has also signed a long-term exclusive deal with British production and distribution company Granada-ITV.

Granada produces Prime Suspect and A Touch of Frost and will deliver
a new series of the drama starring Caroline Quentin, Life Begins,
William and Mary and the new Inspector Morse spin-off, Lewis, among
others.

The deal will be particularly galling for Nine executive director
David Gyngell, who moved back to Australia after a stint heading
Granada USA. It gives Seven exclusive access to a major US network and
the UK’s leading commercial network.

Seven chief David Leckie said in a statement: "Our agreements with
The Walt Disney Company, NBC Universal and now Granada are important:
all three production companies are part of broader media businesses
which include ownership of television networks."

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Ten prepares for Hollywood emergency
13Dec07

Source: Miriam Steffens, Sydney Morning Herald

                        

TV
VIEWERS may be in for even more reality shows and local programs next
year as the local networks prepare to fill holes caused by the
screenplay writers’ strike in Hollywood which is crippling production
of US blockbusters like House and Desperate Housewives.

"It’s a cloud on the horizon," Ten Network’s executive chairman,
Nick Falloon, told shareholders at the broadcaster’s annual meeting
yesterday.

If the strike keeps going, "it has the potential to limit – not only
for us, but for all networks – the supply of new US product into the
new year."

Ten got a full briefing on the situation from its US studio
partners, 20th Century Fox and CBS Paramount, last week, TV boss Grant
Blackley said after the meeting.

"They’re looking at a speedy resolution but unfortunately we can’t see that at this point," he said.

            
       

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Sport the bright spot in a second-rate summer
6Dec07

Source: Amanda Meade, The Australian

WITH many regular television programs signing off last month, viewers are already being served up second-rate fare.

But
come January, things will only get worse. The reason the networks
abandon viewers for two months over Christmas is because their revenue
drops.

Advertising agencies pay about half the rates they pay for spots
during the 40-week ratings season, which ended last Saturday, so the
networks alter their schedules accordingly.

Conversely, sponsorship of sporting events is big business and some
networks have used the summer season to promote their schedule for the
new year.

Seven, of course, did this to great effect when launching Lost and
Desperate Housewives during the Australian Open in January 2005.

Seven’s best offering this summer is the Emmy award-winning comedy
series 30 Rock, which stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin, who won a Golden
Globe for his role as a brash network TV executive.

The title 30 Rock comes from a nickname for 30 Rockefeller Plaza,
also known as the GE Building, home of NBC’s New York City studios.

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NBN takes Newcastle crown but Prime grows
5Dec07

Source: Newcastle Herald

Prime Television has had its best year in its 15-year history in Newcastle, closing the gap on NBN.

Prime benefited from the success of Kath & Kim, City Homicide and Dancing With the Stars.

Its news performed well, as did current affairs show Today Tonight.

Ratings figures show Prime increased its audience share for
prime-time viewing from 6pm to midnight by 3.07 percentage points this
year.

The ratings season began in February and ended last Saturday.

The figures, which were released yesterday, showed Prime had 25.36
per cent of Newcastle’s audience, compared with 22.29 per cent last
year.

A Prime spokeswoman said the increase “definitely came at the expense of NBN”.

“It’s been the best year in our history,” she said.

NBN has fallen from 36.95 per cent of the audience last year to 33.75 per cent.
Network Ten went from 19.09 per cent last year to 18.6 per cent.

Prime made gains in the Newcastle news hour, which runs from 6pm weekdays.

Prime gained 6.24 percentage points to secure 28.89 per cent of the average audience share.

NBN lost 6.7 points, dropping to 45.54 per cent of audience share.

Newcastle’s top show of the year was the NBN news Newcastle flood
special, attracting 192,330 viewers, followed by the second State of
Origin rugby league match with an audience of 182,254.

Rugby league programs secured 16 of the top 20 programs.
The spring specials of Burke’s Backyard, the finales of The Biggest Loser, Big Brother and Dancing With the Stars and Kath & Kim and Sea Patrol polled strongly.

Other programs to do well included Summer Heights High, The Chaser’s War on Everything, Thank God You’re Here, Australian Idol’s first semi-final and Backyard Blitz.

On the national scene, Seven defeated Nine in all major timeslots.

In September, The Chaser’s War On Everything APEC motorcade stunt drew 2.24 million viewers, one of the best results for an ABC show.

SBS retained its audience share of 5.5 per cent, on the back of repeat successes such as Top Gear and Inspector Rex.

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