David Gyngell has vowed to prove James Packer wrong.
The Nine Network boss believes there is still money to be made in free-to-air television, and has promised to tap his experience from another Packer, Kerry, to make his point.
The TV executive and close friend of James Packer told advertisers in Sydney yesterday that the billionaire's decision this week to cut his family's more than 50 years of ties to the network was not going to spell any change for Nine, which has started a comeback in TV ratings this year.
The tradition of the late Kerry Packer — who was so passionate about the network that he called producers personally to change what was on air — was set to continue under his tenure, he said.
"I loved Kerry Packer, what he did for me and how much I learned from him," Mr Gyngell said.
"He was truly extraordinary, so hopefully I picked up his attitude towards Channel Nine, and I do love Channel Nine and what we do with Channel Nine.
"While on my watch, we won't be cutting our costs to damage our content.
"If anyone understands the structure of the deal as it was originally done, the day that James and his family gave up control of Channel Nine was the day that he made a decision on his position on media.
"He's got his view, and I'm looking forward to proving him wrong."
(Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
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David Gyngell
James Packer
Network Nine Australia
Crown Casino
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Friday, October 31, 2008
Channelling Kerry: boss loves Nine, by Miriam Steffens - The Sydney Morning Herald - 31st October 2008
David Gyngell has vowed to prove James Packer wrong.
The Nine Network boss reckons there is still money to be made in free-to-air television, and has promised to tap his experience from another Packer, Kerry, to make his point.
The close friend of James Packer told advertisers in Sydney yesterday that the billionaire's decision this week to cut his family's ties to the network, which spanned more than 50 years, was not going to spell any change for Nine, now on a comeback in TV ratings this year.
The tradition of the late Kerry Packer - who was so passionate about the network that he called producers personally to change what was on air - was set to continue under his tenure, he said.
"I loved Kerry Packer, what he did for me and how much I learnt from him," Mr Gyngell said. "He was truly extraordinary, so hopefully I picked up his attitude towards Channel Nine, and I do love Channel Nine and what we do with Channel Nine.
"While on my watch, we won't be cutting our costs to damage our content."
The assurances came three days after James Packer cut his funding and severed links to his father's media empire by declaring that he and his top lieutenant, John Alexander, would step down from the board of PBL Media, the private equity company that runs Nine and ACP Magazines.
The business, which is creaking under a $4.2 billion debt, is now in the hands of the buy-out firm CVC Asia Pacific.
Mr Gyngell said Mr Packer had made up his mind about the network last year, when he reduced Consolidated Media Holdings' stake in PBL Media to 25 per cent, handing over economic control of Nine and ACP Magazines.
"The day that James and his family gave up control of Channel Nine was the day that he made a decision on his position on media.
"He's got his view, and I'm looking forward to proving him wrong."
(Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
David Gyngell
James Packer
Network Nine
Television
The Nine Network boss reckons there is still money to be made in free-to-air television, and has promised to tap his experience from another Packer, Kerry, to make his point.
The close friend of James Packer told advertisers in Sydney yesterday that the billionaire's decision this week to cut his family's ties to the network, which spanned more than 50 years, was not going to spell any change for Nine, now on a comeback in TV ratings this year.
The tradition of the late Kerry Packer - who was so passionate about the network that he called producers personally to change what was on air - was set to continue under his tenure, he said.
"I loved Kerry Packer, what he did for me and how much I learnt from him," Mr Gyngell said. "He was truly extraordinary, so hopefully I picked up his attitude towards Channel Nine, and I do love Channel Nine and what we do with Channel Nine.
"While on my watch, we won't be cutting our costs to damage our content."
The assurances came three days after James Packer cut his funding and severed links to his father's media empire by declaring that he and his top lieutenant, John Alexander, would step down from the board of PBL Media, the private equity company that runs Nine and ACP Magazines.
The business, which is creaking under a $4.2 billion debt, is now in the hands of the buy-out firm CVC Asia Pacific.
Mr Gyngell said Mr Packer had made up his mind about the network last year, when he reduced Consolidated Media Holdings' stake in PBL Media to 25 per cent, handing over economic control of Nine and ACP Magazines.
"The day that James and his family gave up control of Channel Nine was the day that he made a decision on his position on media.
"He's got his view, and I'm looking forward to proving him wrong."
(Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
David Gyngell
James Packer
Network Nine
Television
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Resignations clear the decks for move on PBL Media - 27th October 2008
CVC Asia Pacific is seeking an estimated $300 million to invest in PBL Media after James Packer's Consolidated Media Holdings refused to inject $75 million into the media company. Mr Packer and Consolidated Media chairman John Alexander have also resigned as directors of PBL, ending 50 years of Packer-family involvement with Consolidated Media-owned broadcaster Nine Network. The further injection of funds by CVC Asia Pacific will see Consolidated Media's stake in PBL fall to 10 percent or less.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Network Nine Australia
James Packer
Media Man Australia Profiles
Network Nine Australia
James Packer
Packer family's TV links with Nine almost severed, by Fleur Leyden - Herald Sun - 28th October 2008
James Packer has distanced himself from Channel Nine's owner, PBL Media, quitting its board and declaring his Consolidated Media Holdings won't pour more funding into the debt-laden company.
Mr Packer's resignation, and those of CMH chairman John Alexander and alternate CMH directors Chris Anderson and Martin Dalgleish, came as PBL Media moved to allay concerns about its ability to service its $4.2 billion of debt.
"The group has been in compliance with all of its financial covenant requirements to September," PBL Media said.
It revealed it was in talks with senior debt and mezzanine note lenders about a possible recapitalisation of the company.
However, refinancing of its $4.5 billion loan facility - drawn down to $4.2 billion - was not due until February 2013 and April 2014.
"Amortisation of the senior debt over the next 12 months requires a payment of approximately $22 million in December 2008 and approximately $22 million in June 2009."
PBL Media was formed in 2006 after Mr Packer's former media and gaming empire Publishing & Broadcasting sold its media assets for $4.5 billion into a joint venture with private equity firm CVC Asia Pacific.
The billionaire's exposure to the vehicle - which houses the Nine Network, ACP Magazines and some website holdings - then reduced to CMH's 25 per cent stake.
Mr Packer's resignation from the board sees him effectively relinquish all control of his late father's TV network and PBL Media's other assets.
Australia's leading media buyer Harold Mitchell said Mr Packer's move did not come as a surprise.
"James Packer is clearly making his business life in his own mould rather than that of his father," Mr Mitchell told BusinessDaily.
"The media properties - while still very good - are not as close to him as they were to Kerry."
CMH, which holds its annual meeting today, will stop equity accounting its 25 per cent PBL Media stake.
It said the holding could be diluted by extra capital contributions from major shareholder Red Earth Holdings, which is owned by funds advised by CVC.
BBY analyst Mark McDonnell said CMH's decision not to equity account its PBL stake suggested it could be diluted below 20 per cent.
"It's difficult to see this in any other light than a distancing of CMH directors at a time when there's a great deal of speculation that PBL Media's debt levels are unsustainable," Mr McDonnell said.
"By the end of the year there's a risk that CVC will have been in breach of its debt covenants."
CVC did not return calls yesterday.
Shaw Stockbroking analyst Greg Fraser said that if attention moved from CMH'S PBL Media stake to its other assets - such as stakes in Foxtel and jobs site Seek - investors would realise the stock was cheap.
CMH shares, down 50 per cent since the start of the year, closed 6c higher yesterday at $2.08.
(Credit: News.com.au)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Packer
Mr Packer's resignation, and those of CMH chairman John Alexander and alternate CMH directors Chris Anderson and Martin Dalgleish, came as PBL Media moved to allay concerns about its ability to service its $4.2 billion of debt.
"The group has been in compliance with all of its financial covenant requirements to September," PBL Media said.
It revealed it was in talks with senior debt and mezzanine note lenders about a possible recapitalisation of the company.
However, refinancing of its $4.5 billion loan facility - drawn down to $4.2 billion - was not due until February 2013 and April 2014.
"Amortisation of the senior debt over the next 12 months requires a payment of approximately $22 million in December 2008 and approximately $22 million in June 2009."
PBL Media was formed in 2006 after Mr Packer's former media and gaming empire Publishing & Broadcasting sold its media assets for $4.5 billion into a joint venture with private equity firm CVC Asia Pacific.
The billionaire's exposure to the vehicle - which houses the Nine Network, ACP Magazines and some website holdings - then reduced to CMH's 25 per cent stake.
Mr Packer's resignation from the board sees him effectively relinquish all control of his late father's TV network and PBL Media's other assets.
Australia's leading media buyer Harold Mitchell said Mr Packer's move did not come as a surprise.
"James Packer is clearly making his business life in his own mould rather than that of his father," Mr Mitchell told BusinessDaily.
"The media properties - while still very good - are not as close to him as they were to Kerry."
CMH, which holds its annual meeting today, will stop equity accounting its 25 per cent PBL Media stake.
It said the holding could be diluted by extra capital contributions from major shareholder Red Earth Holdings, which is owned by funds advised by CVC.
BBY analyst Mark McDonnell said CMH's decision not to equity account its PBL stake suggested it could be diluted below 20 per cent.
"It's difficult to see this in any other light than a distancing of CMH directors at a time when there's a great deal of speculation that PBL Media's debt levels are unsustainable," Mr McDonnell said.
"By the end of the year there's a risk that CVC will have been in breach of its debt covenants."
CVC did not return calls yesterday.
Shaw Stockbroking analyst Greg Fraser said that if attention moved from CMH'S PBL Media stake to its other assets - such as stakes in Foxtel and jobs site Seek - investors would realise the stock was cheap.
CMH shares, down 50 per cent since the start of the year, closed 6c higher yesterday at $2.08.
(Credit: News.com.au)
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James Packer
Channel 58 New Zealand TV Station And License For Sale
Channel 58 New Zealand TV Station And License For Sale
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Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Shooting starts for second Underbelly series - The Australian - 17th October 2008
A second series of the acclaimed Underbelly TV drama went into production today dogged by the question of whether it would it be as good as the original. Underbelly - A Tale of Two Cities will focus on the illegal drug trade in the 1970s, a long way from the more recent Melbourne drug wars portrayed in the hit series which aired on Nine this year. Instead of Carl and Roberta Williams the villains will be Aussie “Bob” Trimbole and Terry “Mr Asia” Clark.
Announcing the start of start of production in Sydney and Melbourne, the head of drama for the Nine Network Jo Horsburgh said “the series is proving to be as rich and exciting as the first series”. Nine is desperate to make Underbelly 2 the hit it was the first time around. Other Nine dramas this year, including Canal Road and The Strip have not fared so well. It wasn’t screened in Victoria until recently because it may have influenced the outcome of a trial.
Comparisons between Underbelly 1 and 2 are inevitable. Producers Screentime have been under pressure to come up with a prequel or a sequel ever since Nine attracted big audiences for Underbelly earlier this year. Should it be a prequel looking at the same Melbourne criminals when they were younger or a sequel now they’re all dead or in jail?
Eventually, producers decided to go right back to another rich period in Australia’s criminal history between 1976 and 1986 - but many younger viewers were not alive when anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay was a household name.
Screentime’s executive producer Des Monaghan emphasised the series would be an improvement and not a disappointment: “We are very excited about Underbelly - A Tale of Two Cities - which promises to be even bigger and better than the first series”.
Actors Roy Billing (Trimbole), Andrew McFarlane (anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay) Matthew Newton (Terry Clark) and Peter O’Brien (George Freeman) have already been cast.
Greg Tingle comment
I think the second series is likely to be as good, but not quite as popular as the original. There’s only even one first and the massive media and public buzz, fueled by then current criminal proceedings, backed up by frequent reference to Network Nine in the courts and the papers, all point to that equation. David Gyngell at the team at Nine have hit the jackpot with Underbelly, and let’s hope it doesn’t get prostituted to Crocodile Dundee III depths, where it makes money (again) at expense to its legacy and overall high production standards. Great to see Matthew Newton cast this time around (as everyone knows its going to be a winner, as opposed to an unknown quantity last time the cattle call was done), and it would be something to see Newton right there in the mix with Reb, Gyton Grantly (Carl), Westaway (Gatto) and the crew. I wonder if there’s going to do much with the storyline on my old mate Bert Wrout, who teases that he knows where a number of the bodies are buried! Sometimes the real news doesn’t make the news, as in some matters revolving around Wrout, however Australia eagerly awaits the next installments of prime time gangsters and mobsters Aussie style down under. Not sure what its going to do for Australia’s image on the tourism front, but that’s another story. I don’t foresee Baz getting dragged into advertising or PR scenarios for this portray of some of Australia’s society happenings. Maybe we can expect to see a dash of product placement re Packer’s Crown Casino, or maybe they don’t want to get quite that real to the true story of Melbourne’s underworld? If this show doesn’t fire up James’ passion for Australian television, nothing will. It’s all good fodder for the papers and should keep Nine out of the doldrums it was in a few years ago.
(Credit: The Australian)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Underbelly
Television
Announcing the start of start of production in Sydney and Melbourne, the head of drama for the Nine Network Jo Horsburgh said “the series is proving to be as rich and exciting as the first series”. Nine is desperate to make Underbelly 2 the hit it was the first time around. Other Nine dramas this year, including Canal Road and The Strip have not fared so well. It wasn’t screened in Victoria until recently because it may have influenced the outcome of a trial.
Comparisons between Underbelly 1 and 2 are inevitable. Producers Screentime have been under pressure to come up with a prequel or a sequel ever since Nine attracted big audiences for Underbelly earlier this year. Should it be a prequel looking at the same Melbourne criminals when they were younger or a sequel now they’re all dead or in jail?
Eventually, producers decided to go right back to another rich period in Australia’s criminal history between 1976 and 1986 - but many younger viewers were not alive when anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay was a household name.
Screentime’s executive producer Des Monaghan emphasised the series would be an improvement and not a disappointment: “We are very excited about Underbelly - A Tale of Two Cities - which promises to be even bigger and better than the first series”.
Actors Roy Billing (Trimbole), Andrew McFarlane (anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay) Matthew Newton (Terry Clark) and Peter O’Brien (George Freeman) have already been cast.
Greg Tingle comment
I think the second series is likely to be as good, but not quite as popular as the original. There’s only even one first and the massive media and public buzz, fueled by then current criminal proceedings, backed up by frequent reference to Network Nine in the courts and the papers, all point to that equation. David Gyngell at the team at Nine have hit the jackpot with Underbelly, and let’s hope it doesn’t get prostituted to Crocodile Dundee III depths, where it makes money (again) at expense to its legacy and overall high production standards. Great to see Matthew Newton cast this time around (as everyone knows its going to be a winner, as opposed to an unknown quantity last time the cattle call was done), and it would be something to see Newton right there in the mix with Reb, Gyton Grantly (Carl), Westaway (Gatto) and the crew. I wonder if there’s going to do much with the storyline on my old mate Bert Wrout, who teases that he knows where a number of the bodies are buried! Sometimes the real news doesn’t make the news, as in some matters revolving around Wrout, however Australia eagerly awaits the next installments of prime time gangsters and mobsters Aussie style down under. Not sure what its going to do for Australia’s image on the tourism front, but that’s another story. I don’t foresee Baz getting dragged into advertising or PR scenarios for this portray of some of Australia’s society happenings. Maybe we can expect to see a dash of product placement re Packer’s Crown Casino, or maybe they don’t want to get quite that real to the true story of Melbourne’s underworld? If this show doesn’t fire up James’ passion for Australian television, nothing will. It’s all good fodder for the papers and should keep Nine out of the doldrums it was in a few years ago.
(Credit: The Australian)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Underbelly
Television
Fox TV, Burnett spin casino game, By Michael Schneider - Variety - 14th October 2008
Mark Burnett and Fox Television Studios have teamed to launch a TV series based on an old casino game.
"Rouletter" takes a traditional Roulette wheel and replaces the numbers with letters. Contestants then place bets in order to form words, "Scrabble" style, within a specific time frame.
The initial pilot will be shot in South America, where Fox TV Studios is already producing several projects (including the Chris McQuarrie-produced "Persons Unknown" and the Annabella Sciorra starrer "Mental"), and then be sold to territories around the globe.
Producers in various territories will be able to ship in contestants to the South America shoot site in order to do their own pilots. Burnett, who owns a studio in Asia, plans to do the same thing on that continent as well.
"I like trying things that I think will translate globally," Burnett said. "It's a global village, and I've probably produced more foreign stuff than most other producers. I'm not intimidated by producers being in other countries. By producing ('Rouletter') in South America, it made sense to do this together with Fox TV Studios."
Fox TV Studios president Emiliano Calemzuk said he plans to first sell "Rouletter" to Latin American networks but has already received interest from channels all over the globe.
"I thought it was the perfect time to do this, a new take on successful shows like 'Wheel of Fortune,' " Calemzuk said. "And Mark thought it was a great idea to make a big pilot."
Burnett and David Russo are the show's creators and will exec produce; the Collective's Reza Izad and Al Hassas will also exec produce. In addition, FTVS and exec producer Matthew Gaven will produce the initial pilot episode.
Burnett said he sees a bigger business in "Rouletter" beyond just TV, including licensing the game to casinos. The show has applied for a patent on its unique letter-based Roulette wheel.
Beyond "Rouletter," Burnett's international expansion has included a new edition of "The Contender," now being shot in Singapore. Burnett's other upcoming skeins include CBS' "Jingles," MTV's "Star Maker" and TNT's "Wedding Day."
Fox TV Studios skeins include "Burn Notice" and "Saving Grace," as well as the alternative series "Talkshow With Spike Feresten" and "The Girls Next Door."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Mark Burnett
Casino News
"Rouletter" takes a traditional Roulette wheel and replaces the numbers with letters. Contestants then place bets in order to form words, "Scrabble" style, within a specific time frame.
The initial pilot will be shot in South America, where Fox TV Studios is already producing several projects (including the Chris McQuarrie-produced "Persons Unknown" and the Annabella Sciorra starrer "Mental"), and then be sold to territories around the globe.
Producers in various territories will be able to ship in contestants to the South America shoot site in order to do their own pilots. Burnett, who owns a studio in Asia, plans to do the same thing on that continent as well.
"I like trying things that I think will translate globally," Burnett said. "It's a global village, and I've probably produced more foreign stuff than most other producers. I'm not intimidated by producers being in other countries. By producing ('Rouletter') in South America, it made sense to do this together with Fox TV Studios."
Fox TV Studios president Emiliano Calemzuk said he plans to first sell "Rouletter" to Latin American networks but has already received interest from channels all over the globe.
"I thought it was the perfect time to do this, a new take on successful shows like 'Wheel of Fortune,' " Calemzuk said. "And Mark thought it was a great idea to make a big pilot."
Burnett and David Russo are the show's creators and will exec produce; the Collective's Reza Izad and Al Hassas will also exec produce. In addition, FTVS and exec producer Matthew Gaven will produce the initial pilot episode.
Burnett said he sees a bigger business in "Rouletter" beyond just TV, including licensing the game to casinos. The show has applied for a patent on its unique letter-based Roulette wheel.
Beyond "Rouletter," Burnett's international expansion has included a new edition of "The Contender," now being shot in Singapore. Burnett's other upcoming skeins include CBS' "Jingles," MTV's "Star Maker" and TNT's "Wedding Day."
Fox TV Studios skeins include "Burn Notice" and "Saving Grace," as well as the alternative series "Talkshow With Spike Feresten" and "The Girls Next Door."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Mark Burnett
Casino News
Monday, October 20, 2008
Ten a shaky third, by Debi Enker - Fairfax - 16th October 2008
Much of the attention through the "back end" of this ratings year has rightfully been on the ascendant Seven Network and the success of its new and continuing shows. The Tuesday night line-up of RSPCA Animal Rescue, Find My Family, Packed to the Rafters and All Saints has been a notable standout. While Make Me a Supermodel has stumbled and Dancing With the Stars has waned, other shows, such as City Homicide, The Force, Border Security and Better Homes and Gardens have continued to perform strongly.
Nine has battled on in second place, riding on the surprising popularity of Two and a Half Men and, last week, the Rugby League grand final. But struggling harder in third place, and even wobbling dangerously there, has been Ten.
The youth-oriented network has suffered a string of prime-time problems over the last weeks. Episodes of the Beverly Hills 90210 revival, fast-tracked from their US screenings, have appeared and abruptly disappeared due to viewer indifference. The success earlier in the year with Bondi Rescue was not repeated when the lifesavers took their patrols to Bali and Bondi Rescue: Bali was also axed. The misconceived dating game, Taken Out, intended to anchor the 7pm slot on weeknights, lasted only two weeks.
House, once a reliable Top10 program, has also experienced a slump. Last year, it could be counted on to draw more than 1.5 million viewers, but the new, fast-tracked episodes of the hospital drama have conspicuously failed to achieve those heights. Last week, it was No.69 nationally with only 858,000 viewers. In the same timeslot, the final episode of ABC1's The Hollowmen drew 900,000.
Another new show with high hopes stepped up to fill an unscheduled gap last week when Jamie's Ministry of Food premiered to a lukewarm reception. Attracting only 764,000 viewers, it was No.80 nationally. This suggests that the Naked Chef's heyday as a TV drawcard may be over. Perhaps we are now firmly in the Ramsay era, or maybe Jamie Oliver's healthy food warrior phase is less appealing to viewers than the cheeky lad bouncin' around a cheery flat, happily snipping his homegrown herbs into some brilliant new dish.
Amid this succession of failures, one of Ten's crucial "tentpoles", the Australian Idol franchise, has also been fading. With 1.21 million viewers last week (No.25 nationally), it's not in critical condition, but it's not attracting the crowds it once did.
Amid the upheavals, the American crime series NCIS has proved a hardy stayer (No. 20 last week with 1.3 million viewers). The new Australian police drama, Rush, has also been a bright spot, in terms of quality, if not numbers. Perhaps inhibited by its 9.30pm Tuesday timeslot, Rush was No. 70 last week with 838,000 viewers. One can only hope that Ten has some patience with this one, because it's worth it. Many local series that went on to have long and healthy lives didn't take off until their second seasons (Blue Heelers and Water Rats among them).
Even with its focus fixed firmly on the youth market niche rather than a more broad-based appeal, Ten isn't doing well. In a horror week earlier this month, it was beaten in the national ratings by ABC1, an exceedingly rare event. And as it surveys the prospects for 2009, what Ten might see is a big slab of the schedule, estimated at 120 hours, that will no longer be filled by Big Brother, which was axed in July after eight seasons.
Seven is powering through its post-Olympics run and easily won the week. In Melbourne, it recorded a victory with a substantial margin, scoring a 31% prime-time audience share ahead of Nine (25.1%), Ten (20.2% ), ABC1 (18.6%) and SBS (5.1%).
Media Man Australia Profiles
Television
Nine has battled on in second place, riding on the surprising popularity of Two and a Half Men and, last week, the Rugby League grand final. But struggling harder in third place, and even wobbling dangerously there, has been Ten.
The youth-oriented network has suffered a string of prime-time problems over the last weeks. Episodes of the Beverly Hills 90210 revival, fast-tracked from their US screenings, have appeared and abruptly disappeared due to viewer indifference. The success earlier in the year with Bondi Rescue was not repeated when the lifesavers took their patrols to Bali and Bondi Rescue: Bali was also axed. The misconceived dating game, Taken Out, intended to anchor the 7pm slot on weeknights, lasted only two weeks.
House, once a reliable Top10 program, has also experienced a slump. Last year, it could be counted on to draw more than 1.5 million viewers, but the new, fast-tracked episodes of the hospital drama have conspicuously failed to achieve those heights. Last week, it was No.69 nationally with only 858,000 viewers. In the same timeslot, the final episode of ABC1's The Hollowmen drew 900,000.
Another new show with high hopes stepped up to fill an unscheduled gap last week when Jamie's Ministry of Food premiered to a lukewarm reception. Attracting only 764,000 viewers, it was No.80 nationally. This suggests that the Naked Chef's heyday as a TV drawcard may be over. Perhaps we are now firmly in the Ramsay era, or maybe Jamie Oliver's healthy food warrior phase is less appealing to viewers than the cheeky lad bouncin' around a cheery flat, happily snipping his homegrown herbs into some brilliant new dish.
Amid this succession of failures, one of Ten's crucial "tentpoles", the Australian Idol franchise, has also been fading. With 1.21 million viewers last week (No.25 nationally), it's not in critical condition, but it's not attracting the crowds it once did.
Amid the upheavals, the American crime series NCIS has proved a hardy stayer (No. 20 last week with 1.3 million viewers). The new Australian police drama, Rush, has also been a bright spot, in terms of quality, if not numbers. Perhaps inhibited by its 9.30pm Tuesday timeslot, Rush was No. 70 last week with 838,000 viewers. One can only hope that Ten has some patience with this one, because it's worth it. Many local series that went on to have long and healthy lives didn't take off until their second seasons (Blue Heelers and Water Rats among them).
Even with its focus fixed firmly on the youth market niche rather than a more broad-based appeal, Ten isn't doing well. In a horror week earlier this month, it was beaten in the national ratings by ABC1, an exceedingly rare event. And as it surveys the prospects for 2009, what Ten might see is a big slab of the schedule, estimated at 120 hours, that will no longer be filled by Big Brother, which was axed in July after eight seasons.
Seven is powering through its post-Olympics run and easily won the week. In Melbourne, it recorded a victory with a substantial margin, scoring a 31% prime-time audience share ahead of Nine (25.1%), Ten (20.2% ), ABC1 (18.6%) and SBS (5.1%).
Media Man Australia Profiles
Television
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Virgin launches casino TV channel - 3rd July 2008
Virgin Media, the entertainment and communications arm of British business magnate Richard Branson's Virgin Group conglomerate, has rolled out a 24-hour interactive casino television channel.
Challenge Jackpot features on Virgin Media Television's leading entertainment channel, Challenge.
The channel features several new games and launched at the start of this month with flagship brand Roulette Nation.
Viewers can play along and bet on a range of automated fixed-odds games that include Get Set Roulette, Face Up Hold 'Em and Hot Shot Keno.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Media
Challenge Jackpot
Virgin Enterprises Limited
Challenge Jackpot features on Virgin Media Television's leading entertainment channel, Challenge.
The channel features several new games and launched at the start of this month with flagship brand Roulette Nation.
Viewers can play along and bet on a range of automated fixed-odds games that include Get Set Roulette, Face Up Hold 'Em and Hot Shot Keno.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Media
Challenge Jackpot
Virgin Enterprises Limited
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
60 Minutes story on AP and UB could air October 26
Poker News Daily is reporting that 60 Minutes may air a story about the cheating scandals that rocked AP and UB on Oct. 26, just over a week before the general election.
http://www.pokernewsdaily.com/60-min...ober-26th-442
Media Man Australia Profiles
60 Minutes
Poker and Casino News
Casino News Media
http://www.pokernewsdaily.com/60-min...ober-26th-442
Media Man Australia Profiles
60 Minutes
Poker and Casino News
Casino News Media
Saturday, October 11, 2008
RICHARD BRANSON - TONIGHT & TOMORROW ON BLOOMBERG TV
Tonight and tomorrow on the BLOOMBERG TELEVISION® program "Night Talk," anchor Mike Schneider talks to Billionaire Richard Branson.
Branson talks about how the world is going to get out of the global economic crisis. "It's going to be up to entrepreneurs everywhere; especially those who've got a bit of money to try to you know help dig us out of this by cautious investments here and cautious investments there. And, perhaps even opportunities that come from a crash like this."
"I think it’s important that businesses that have got some cash don't just leave it in the bank and sit on it, for the sake of everybody in order to avoid a massive unemployment problem. We've still got to look for investments that make sense and push forward."
"This is a climate where entrepreneurs are born. Now, trying to find the cash is tough."
"Virgin America will actually benefit bizarrely from this crisis, Virgin Atlantic has benefited from this crisis because a lot of airline we were competing with - all the business class jets Eos and Maxi-Jet have all gone bust, the biggest holiday companies out of the UK have gone bust, and so because we have deep pockets and because we have a well respected airline a lot of that business is coming our way."
He talks about rival British Airways proposed merger with American Airlines. "I would be flabbergasted if the competition authorities allowed BA and American, the 2 biggest carriers in the world to be allowed to effectively merge."
He also talks about hedging fuel prices. "More by fluke than anything else Virgin America hadn't hedged because it was a new carrier, we will almost definitely start hedging quite soon and then we'll actually have the lowest cost base of any airline........another $20 fall would be nice and most likely we'll get in and hedge"
He talks about getting back into the mortgage business, "It won't be a massive footprint. If we'd succeeded in buying Northern Rock, which we came very close to doing, then you would have seen a light of high street Virgin Bank stores. But as it is, we didn't succeed in doing that. So it will be a more modest mortgage company and not having high street stores will most likely mean that we can be more competitive anyway."
He talks about how the Lehman collapse altered Virgin’s strategy. "We were about to launch City Hotels and our partner of 25% share holder was going to Lehman Brothers and I was meant to be on a plane to fly to sign and announce the deal on the day that Lehman’s went bust, that's been delayed by a month or two and I suspect we'll end up funding that ourselves."
"Virgin Atlantic saw this coming years ago and just decided to conserve cash and they've been very conservative over the last couple of years and they now have 2-3 billion dollars of cash so that if a lot of people stop flying they can ride it out - we learnt a lot from 9/11."
"People should remember this is not 9/11, this is just money."
"Night Talk" airs in the U.S., Europe and Asia on Bloomberg TV at 10PM on weeknights and is simulcast on Bloomberg Radio at 10PM. Bloomberg Radio is broadcast on 1130AM in the New York Metropolitan area and is available on XM and Sirius. The Friday night Show re-airs over the weekend Sat at 8:00-9:00pm, 10:00-11:00pm and Mon 12:00am - 1:00am.
"Night Talk" can also be seen on Bloomberg.com (http://www.bloomberg.com/tvradio/shows.html), is podcast at (http://www.bloomberg.com/tvradio/podcast/night_talk.html) and also on iTunes under Business News.
For information, tapes and transcripts please contact Heidi Tan (htan14@bloomberg.net). For guest suggestions, please contact Robin Wood (rwood12@bloomberg.net)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Richard Branson
Virgin Group of Companies
Financial News
Branson talks about how the world is going to get out of the global economic crisis. "It's going to be up to entrepreneurs everywhere; especially those who've got a bit of money to try to you know help dig us out of this by cautious investments here and cautious investments there. And, perhaps even opportunities that come from a crash like this."
"I think it’s important that businesses that have got some cash don't just leave it in the bank and sit on it, for the sake of everybody in order to avoid a massive unemployment problem. We've still got to look for investments that make sense and push forward."
"This is a climate where entrepreneurs are born. Now, trying to find the cash is tough."
"Virgin America will actually benefit bizarrely from this crisis, Virgin Atlantic has benefited from this crisis because a lot of airline we were competing with - all the business class jets Eos and Maxi-Jet have all gone bust, the biggest holiday companies out of the UK have gone bust, and so because we have deep pockets and because we have a well respected airline a lot of that business is coming our way."
He talks about rival British Airways proposed merger with American Airlines. "I would be flabbergasted if the competition authorities allowed BA and American, the 2 biggest carriers in the world to be allowed to effectively merge."
He also talks about hedging fuel prices. "More by fluke than anything else Virgin America hadn't hedged because it was a new carrier, we will almost definitely start hedging quite soon and then we'll actually have the lowest cost base of any airline........another $20 fall would be nice and most likely we'll get in and hedge"
He talks about getting back into the mortgage business, "It won't be a massive footprint. If we'd succeeded in buying Northern Rock, which we came very close to doing, then you would have seen a light of high street Virgin Bank stores. But as it is, we didn't succeed in doing that. So it will be a more modest mortgage company and not having high street stores will most likely mean that we can be more competitive anyway."
He talks about how the Lehman collapse altered Virgin’s strategy. "We were about to launch City Hotels and our partner of 25% share holder was going to Lehman Brothers and I was meant to be on a plane to fly to sign and announce the deal on the day that Lehman’s went bust, that's been delayed by a month or two and I suspect we'll end up funding that ourselves."
"Virgin Atlantic saw this coming years ago and just decided to conserve cash and they've been very conservative over the last couple of years and they now have 2-3 billion dollars of cash so that if a lot of people stop flying they can ride it out - we learnt a lot from 9/11."
"People should remember this is not 9/11, this is just money."
"Night Talk" airs in the U.S., Europe and Asia on Bloomberg TV at 10PM on weeknights and is simulcast on Bloomberg Radio at 10PM. Bloomberg Radio is broadcast on 1130AM in the New York Metropolitan area and is available on XM and Sirius. The Friday night Show re-airs over the weekend Sat at 8:00-9:00pm, 10:00-11:00pm and Mon 12:00am - 1:00am.
"Night Talk" can also be seen on Bloomberg.com (http://www.bloomberg.com/tvradio/shows.html), is podcast at (http://www.bloomberg.com/tvradio/podcast/night_talk.html) and also on iTunes under Business News.
For information, tapes and transcripts please contact Heidi Tan (htan14@bloomberg.net). For guest suggestions, please contact Robin Wood (rwood12@bloomberg.net)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Richard Branson
Virgin Group of Companies
Financial News
Sunday Night in the news for Seven, by Matthew Ricketson - The Age - 10th October 2008
Just months after the demise of Channel Nine's long-running Sunday program, the Seven Network has announced a new one-hour current affairs program beginning next year — Sunday Night.
Seven's decision to invest in a one-hour, long-form program comes after years of decline in current affairs programming on commercial television and as it seeks to underscore its status as the top-ranking free-to-air network.
Peter Meakin, Seven's head of news and current affairs, would not say whether the program would compete against Nine's long-running current affairs program, 60 Minutes.
"I guess the title is a bit of a giveaway as to when the program will air, but it won't necessarily go head to head with 60 Minutes," he said.
It is possible Sunday Night will air after the 6pm news, before 60 Minutes at 7.30pm. With strong stories, it could steal Nine's program's thunder and hook in viewers.
Sunday night is one of the three most important timeslots for commercial networks — along with Monday and Tuesday nights.
Meakin would not specify the program's budget nor any candidates for presenter. He ruled out departing Today Tonight host Anna Coren, who is leaving Seven to work for CNN overseas.
Seven's last major foray into long-form current affairs was in the late 1990s with Witness. It ended sourly, with patchy ratings and acrimony between executive producer Peter Manning and presenter Jana Wendt.
Industry analyst Steve Allen of Fusion Strategy said the announcement signified "Seven's growing confidence that they have the material and the ability to make this work".
(Credit: The Age)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Channel Seven
Seven's decision to invest in a one-hour, long-form program comes after years of decline in current affairs programming on commercial television and as it seeks to underscore its status as the top-ranking free-to-air network.
Peter Meakin, Seven's head of news and current affairs, would not say whether the program would compete against Nine's long-running current affairs program, 60 Minutes.
"I guess the title is a bit of a giveaway as to when the program will air, but it won't necessarily go head to head with 60 Minutes," he said.
It is possible Sunday Night will air after the 6pm news, before 60 Minutes at 7.30pm. With strong stories, it could steal Nine's program's thunder and hook in viewers.
Sunday night is one of the three most important timeslots for commercial networks — along with Monday and Tuesday nights.
Meakin would not specify the program's budget nor any candidates for presenter. He ruled out departing Today Tonight host Anna Coren, who is leaving Seven to work for CNN overseas.
Seven's last major foray into long-form current affairs was in the late 1990s with Witness. It ended sourly, with patchy ratings and acrimony between executive producer Peter Manning and presenter Jana Wendt.
Industry analyst Steve Allen of Fusion Strategy said the announcement signified "Seven's growing confidence that they have the material and the ability to make this work".
(Credit: The Age)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Channel Seven
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Branson documentary to air on Virgin 1, by Alex Fletcher - Digital Spy - 8th October 2008
A documentary featuring Richard Branson and his children sailing across the Atlantic will air this Autumn on Virgin 1.
One-off show The Bransons: Come Hell Or High Water will follow Richard, daughter Holly and son Sam as they attempt to break the record for crossing the ocean in a mono-hull sailing boat.
Speaking about the hour-long programme, Branson said: "It's so difficult to explain what you experience during a record-breaking attempt whether it is at sea or in the air, so it's great to have documentary film maker onboard to share the highs and lows.
"Strange thing for a father to wish for his kids to experience - but at least we'll be in it together!"
The Bransons is the highlight of Virgin 1's Autumn/Winter schedule, which also sees returns for American series Chuck, The Riches and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Other programmes on the schedule include popular HBO animated comedy The Life And Times Of Tim and a fly-on-the-wall series based in Mallorca called Sun, Sea and A&E.
The lineup also features My Holiday Hostage Hell, which tells real life horror stories about British holidaymakers, reality series Britain's Worst Learners and Gethin Jones' Danger Hunters, factual entertainment show Prisoner X and fishing documentary The North Sea, which is produced by the makers of the award-winning Deadliest Catch.
(Credit: Digital Spy)
Profiles
Richard Branson
Virgin Media
One-off show The Bransons: Come Hell Or High Water will follow Richard, daughter Holly and son Sam as they attempt to break the record for crossing the ocean in a mono-hull sailing boat.
Speaking about the hour-long programme, Branson said: "It's so difficult to explain what you experience during a record-breaking attempt whether it is at sea or in the air, so it's great to have documentary film maker onboard to share the highs and lows.
"Strange thing for a father to wish for his kids to experience - but at least we'll be in it together!"
The Bransons is the highlight of Virgin 1's Autumn/Winter schedule, which also sees returns for American series Chuck, The Riches and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Other programmes on the schedule include popular HBO animated comedy The Life And Times Of Tim and a fly-on-the-wall series based in Mallorca called Sun, Sea and A&E.
The lineup also features My Holiday Hostage Hell, which tells real life horror stories about British holidaymakers, reality series Britain's Worst Learners and Gethin Jones' Danger Hunters, factual entertainment show Prisoner X and fishing documentary The North Sea, which is produced by the makers of the award-winning Deadliest Catch.
(Credit: Digital Spy)
Profiles
Richard Branson
Virgin Media
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
NRL ready to spark rights bidding war, by Jacquelin Magnay - Fairfax - 8th October 2008
Channel Nine's stranglehold on broadcasting rugby league matches free to air is threatened by an NRL push to have its matches broadcast on several television networks and internet platforms by 2013.
Rugby league officials are even considering breaking up the rights to the NRL grand final and the top-rating State of Origin series when negotiating the next round of multimillion-dollar broadcast deals.
An NRL sub-committee has been looking at whether it is more financially attractive to split the rights, or to follow the trend of recent negotiations and stick to the one free-to-air network for an entire rugby league package.
The league rights, currently with Channel Nine and the pay-TV operator Fox Sports, are due to expire at the end of the 2012 season. Some media buyers and an external consultancy company are understood to have advised the NRL that a separate offering of the Origin series would generate a fierce bidding war and boost the NRL coffers. The Origin series is one of the most watched sporting events year after year, with this year's deciding game drawing a five city audience of 2.145 million people.
NRL chief executive David Gallop told the Herald that splitting the rights was "certainly an option, as is selling individual nights as distinct packages, a whole of these options are open to us". He said one idea was to sell the Friday night football to one broadcaster, the Saturday night to another and the Monday night to a third.
"The money is a big factor, it is the factor," Gallop said. "But we also want to see our game reach as many people as possible and be well presented."
The NRL has its free-to-air, pay-TV and broadband internet rights all expiring at the one time. While the sub-committee is investigating different opportunities, the negotiations with TV networks and internet providers won't commence for at least 18 months.
This comes as the ratings for the NRL grand final clawed back the high-flying AFL ratings when the regional figures were released yesterday.
Overall the AFL rated 3.247 million to the NRL's 3.070 million from the five capital cities and regional networks. The NRL grand final rated extremely high in the bush - one of its traditional supporter bases - with a regional audience of 996,000. The AFL's regional figures were 756,000. Of no surprise was the fact the NRL rated higher in Sydney than Melbourne and the reverse was true for the AFL.
The only disappointing aspect to the twilight grand final kick-off - seemingly well received in Sydney - was the reduced audience in Melbourne, compared to last year's grand final, which also featured the Storm.
This year the AFL grand final between Geelong and Hawthorn was the second-highest rating event, behind the Olympic Games opening ceremony, both televised on Channel Seven.
But rugby league's Origin III came in at eight, behind some Beijing Olympic Games prime-time events, the men's Australian tennis open final and the AFL grand final presentation. The NRL grand final, at No.15, rated behind all three Origin matches.
Media Man Australia Profiles
NRL
Network Nine Australia
Fox Sports
Rugby league officials are even considering breaking up the rights to the NRL grand final and the top-rating State of Origin series when negotiating the next round of multimillion-dollar broadcast deals.
An NRL sub-committee has been looking at whether it is more financially attractive to split the rights, or to follow the trend of recent negotiations and stick to the one free-to-air network for an entire rugby league package.
The league rights, currently with Channel Nine and the pay-TV operator Fox Sports, are due to expire at the end of the 2012 season. Some media buyers and an external consultancy company are understood to have advised the NRL that a separate offering of the Origin series would generate a fierce bidding war and boost the NRL coffers. The Origin series is one of the most watched sporting events year after year, with this year's deciding game drawing a five city audience of 2.145 million people.
NRL chief executive David Gallop told the Herald that splitting the rights was "certainly an option, as is selling individual nights as distinct packages, a whole of these options are open to us". He said one idea was to sell the Friday night football to one broadcaster, the Saturday night to another and the Monday night to a third.
"The money is a big factor, it is the factor," Gallop said. "But we also want to see our game reach as many people as possible and be well presented."
The NRL has its free-to-air, pay-TV and broadband internet rights all expiring at the one time. While the sub-committee is investigating different opportunities, the negotiations with TV networks and internet providers won't commence for at least 18 months.
This comes as the ratings for the NRL grand final clawed back the high-flying AFL ratings when the regional figures were released yesterday.
Overall the AFL rated 3.247 million to the NRL's 3.070 million from the five capital cities and regional networks. The NRL grand final rated extremely high in the bush - one of its traditional supporter bases - with a regional audience of 996,000. The AFL's regional figures were 756,000. Of no surprise was the fact the NRL rated higher in Sydney than Melbourne and the reverse was true for the AFL.
The only disappointing aspect to the twilight grand final kick-off - seemingly well received in Sydney - was the reduced audience in Melbourne, compared to last year's grand final, which also featured the Storm.
This year the AFL grand final between Geelong and Hawthorn was the second-highest rating event, behind the Olympic Games opening ceremony, both televised on Channel Seven.
But rugby league's Origin III came in at eight, behind some Beijing Olympic Games prime-time events, the men's Australian tennis open final and the AFL grand final presentation. The NRL grand final, at No.15, rated behind all three Origin matches.
Media Man Australia Profiles
NRL
Network Nine Australia
Fox Sports
Monday, October 06, 2008
Smart Live takes affiliates to a new level
New affiliate program aimed at capitalizing on "impressive growth"
September 18, 2008 -- As part of its latest marketing drive, leading online and live TV casino Smart Live Casino has launched a new affiliate scheme to encourage more traffic to its website and TV channels.
Smart Live, which has been operating since May 2007, operates two roulette channels on the Sky Satellite network and Freeview digital terrestrial television.
The most popular broadcast is the presenter-led show, freely available on Sky Channel 869 from 5pm to 5am, every night of the year. The show features popular names from satellite and cable television, including Naomi Millbank-Smith and Jem Patel, as well as qualified croupiers from some of the finest land-based casinos in the world.
Smart Live's new affiliate program is aimed at capitalizing on an impressive 500% growth since January 2008, and offers partners either a generous 60% commission share or CPA of £150.
The launch is backed up by a confident schedule of new and exciting features in coming months, including …
• An Online Poker room coming soon with the Ongame network
• An Online Bingo room coming soon using Parlay Software
• An enticing range of player promotions and VIP schemes
• A new state-of-the-art website and internet community
Affiliate Manager at Smart Live, Jason Prasad, said the new deal for partners was a demonstration of the casino's continuing commitment to best value and innovation.
"Smart Live is fully licensed, operated and regulated in the United Kingdom to the highest standards, as approved by the UK Gambling Commission," he said. "Now we want to make sure that our new affiliate marketing scheme is set up and run to the same high standards."
"We've already made great strides in a competitive business and the astounding growth we've achieved this year shows that our products are appreciated and trusted by ordinary punters too."
About Smart Live Casino
Smart Live Casino is owned by Smart TV Broadcasting, a registered company in England and Wales founded in May 2007 with offices at 130 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 5EU. The Casino is licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission (licence number 000-002715-R-103240-001).
The company employs more than 50 staff members at operating centers in central London, Teddington, Middx, Kent, and Manchester. The company uses gaming software by major providers including Ongame, Parlay and NetEnt, and has contracts with financial service providers including MoneyBookers.
Further Information
For further information on partnering with Smart Live Casino please contact Affiliate Manager Jason Prasad (jason@smartlivecasino.com, tel: 020 7149 3776). For general enquiries, please contact Magda Biernat (magda@smartlivecasino.com, tel: 020 7149 3786).
Media Man Australia Profiles
Smart Live Casino
Sky TV
Sky Digital
Interactive TV
Casino
Television
September 18, 2008 -- As part of its latest marketing drive, leading online and live TV casino Smart Live Casino has launched a new affiliate scheme to encourage more traffic to its website and TV channels.
Smart Live, which has been operating since May 2007, operates two roulette channels on the Sky Satellite network and Freeview digital terrestrial television.
The most popular broadcast is the presenter-led show, freely available on Sky Channel 869 from 5pm to 5am, every night of the year. The show features popular names from satellite and cable television, including Naomi Millbank-Smith and Jem Patel, as well as qualified croupiers from some of the finest land-based casinos in the world.
Smart Live's new affiliate program is aimed at capitalizing on an impressive 500% growth since January 2008, and offers partners either a generous 60% commission share or CPA of £150.
The launch is backed up by a confident schedule of new and exciting features in coming months, including …
• An Online Poker room coming soon with the Ongame network
• An Online Bingo room coming soon using Parlay Software
• An enticing range of player promotions and VIP schemes
• A new state-of-the-art website and internet community
Affiliate Manager at Smart Live, Jason Prasad, said the new deal for partners was a demonstration of the casino's continuing commitment to best value and innovation.
"Smart Live is fully licensed, operated and regulated in the United Kingdom to the highest standards, as approved by the UK Gambling Commission," he said. "Now we want to make sure that our new affiliate marketing scheme is set up and run to the same high standards."
"We've already made great strides in a competitive business and the astounding growth we've achieved this year shows that our products are appreciated and trusted by ordinary punters too."
About Smart Live Casino
Smart Live Casino is owned by Smart TV Broadcasting, a registered company in England and Wales founded in May 2007 with offices at 130 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 5EU. The Casino is licensed and regulated by the UK Gambling Commission (licence number 000-002715-R-103240-001).
The company employs more than 50 staff members at operating centers in central London, Teddington, Middx, Kent, and Manchester. The company uses gaming software by major providers including Ongame, Parlay and NetEnt, and has contracts with financial service providers including MoneyBookers.
Further Information
For further information on partnering with Smart Live Casino please contact Affiliate Manager Jason Prasad (jason@smartlivecasino.com, tel: 020 7149 3776). For general enquiries, please contact Magda Biernat (magda@smartlivecasino.com, tel: 020 7149 3786).
Media Man Australia Profiles
Smart Live Casino
Sky TV
Sky Digital
Interactive TV
Casino
Television
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Strong local content, by John Elder and Tom Reilly - The Age - 5th October 2008
Cheap and nasty — and even worse, boring — is what Australian-made free-to-air television was looking like for a few years. Big Brother with its turkey-slapping pants down was probably the lowest point … along with that great trite hope of locally made drama, The Alice, a pretty-looking stinker with its travelogue photography and toothless characters born from a drongo dreaming.
"It was looking pretty ordinary for a while," says commentator Greg "Media Man" Tingle. "But what a difference a year makes. We now have what's almost an epidemic of Australian-made shows. Just look at Underbelly on Nine, Rush on Ten, and Packed to the Rafters on Seven. They're mixing it with the best foreign imports and coming out on top.
"There are so many quality shows being produced, it's hard to keep up with them."
Tingle says the unsettled mood of the free-to-air networks during the late '90s and early 2000s — unnerved by the threat of cable TV and the internet revolution — has been turned around such that "there's a feeling we're entering a golden age of Australian television".
Seven's homey sitcom Packed to the Rafters has been watched by an average of 2 million viewers since it debuted Tuesdays at 8.30pm just after the Olympics. Many of those viewers stay tuned for the enduring hospital soap All Saints. Seven is also quite gleeful about the 1.6 million who regularly watch Monday's gritty City Homicide.
At Nine, where the ratings are sustained right now by endless repeats of Two and a Half Men, the good ship Sea Patrol held its own in the first half of the year with more than 1 million viewers. And we learned that almost 600,000 Victorians had not yet downloaded Underbelly illegally when they tuned in to the first pixellated episode last month; add them to the million interstate viewers who watched in April, and it may have earned back its legal fees.
While the two newest cop dramas, Nine's The Strip and Ten's Rush, are struggling, the numbers show that Australians have rediscovered the habit of watching dramas with a local accent.
The turning point came a year ago, Tingle says, with the return of David Gyngell to the helm of Channel Nine. "What the Australian networks desperately needed was a creative boost to competition," he says. "Without a strong Nine asserting itself, the industry doesn't flourish. The other thing that's happened is the networks have stopped just looking at numbers and started focusing on quality. That's what healthier competition has achieved."
Dr Vincent O'Donnell, an honorary fellow at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology's School of Applied Communication, agrees Australian TV has had a resurgence in the past year as a result of increasing competition between broadcasters.
"Historically, Channel Nine was always regarded as the home of well-written drama shows that were well-received by audiences, while Seven liked to consider itself as the broadcaster which excelled at sports," he says. "But a few years ago those perceptions started to change as Nine faltered. I believe when they commissioned Underbelly, it was probably as a result of that shift. It was an attempt to reassert themselves in this area of fast-moving, well-written drama."
O'Donnell says commissioning a big-budget program such as Underbelly "is a gamble for networks but one which hopefully they'll continue to make.
"A big-budget drama like that would cost … $300,000 to $400,000 for an hour of television. If a network bought a drama in from America, they'd probably get something for little more than a tenth of that. But it's important to remember that Australian audiences have always tuned in to these well-written locally produced shows, so hopefully networks will have to keep investing in them, even if they do cost a lot."
According to Geoff Brown, executive director of the Screen Producers Association of Australia, the Underbelly strategy was the result of a change in attitude to project financing by the major industry players. "A few years back, the Film Finance Corporation made a decision it would invest in 13-part Australian mini-series, along with the network licensees. What it did was ramp up budgets and led to shows like Underbelly, with substantially better production values and better writing.
"In film production, the critical relationship is between producer and director; in television, it's between producer and writer. We have very good writing teams in television, and certainly the investment in writing is one of the main reasons why the current crop of Australian productions are doing so well. A good idea doesn't work without good writing."
Brown points to programs such as The Circuit, Rush, Sea Patrol and East West 101 as examples of good writing translating to success with viewers and critics. "We make the best drama for the cheapest dollar anywhere in the world. We have to compete with the CSI franchise, which costs … $5 million to $6 million an hour to make. For the high-end of Australian drama, you're looking at $600,000 an hour … so our stories have to be more narrative-driven."
Brown says Australia has a history of producing good television "but the networks lost their way in the '90s and early part of this millennium. They backed away from Australian drama in particular and put their focus on infotainment and reality programming. They kept serving up more Big Brothers and in the end this didn't work for the networks. The audience has shown itself to be more sophisticated … and now Seven and Nine are re-establishing their brands on the back of good old Australian drama."
Some analysts point to a lack of quality programs from the US — a result of the writers' strike that crippled Hollywood — as a key reason behind the resurgence of Australian-made drama.
"This makes our local offerings even more appealing," says one industry insider. "There was also a hiatus where few local programs were being made, so again, when new ones came around, there was even more interest in them.
"The shows are actually good. The networks have invested heavily in them: probably figuring that they have to meet their local content quotas, they might as well invest and do it properly. The scripts and the acting have reflected this willingness to take it seriously and make hits."
And that added slice of healthy self-image — attributed to the efforts of former prime minister John Howard — is another reason audiences are keen to watch shows for Australians, by Australians, about Australians.
"We're not selling shrimps on the barbie any more," says Greg Tingle. "We're a more sophisticated society and our television programs demonstrate that.
"Our locally made shows are hot exports in their own right, and they help sell the country. Our entertainment is part of the tourism spiel … the rest of the world sees us moving ahead with quality. The confidence for that was certainly bolstered under the previous government."
Jonathan Nolan, chief executive of Pisces All Media, which runs the Hottest on TV website, agrees. "No matter what else you might say about him, John Howard made Australians feel great about themselves. It really started with the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but Howard actually presided over a cultural shift that saw the death of the cringe factor — the adolescent craving for approval from America and Britain," he says.
"Even the dumbest talking-heads on TV have the confidence not to cringe and fawn all over celebrities visiting from overseas. Compare that to the old days, with Molly Meldrum constantly saying how wonderful it was that such-and-such a pop star was in the country."
Nolan says evidence for this new-found confidence can be seen in private investment in television production. "We had a sheltered workshop here, where everything was driven by government grants. All that did was compomise quality. That's no longer the case. People invest in these shows because they believe in them, not just because they're getting a tax break …
"The pay-off is that we now perform extremely well on the overseas market. You get a show selling well overseas — like Stingers or Police Rescue — (and) you have an earner for life. At the Roma Fiction Fest (a television awards and buying festival) in July, there were buyers from all over Europe looking at the Australian shows with the greatest interest.
"The Italian shows looked like something from the '70s … they were desperately clinging to their own culture, while the Australian shows were more sophisticated and well-placed for the international market."
Dr Sue Turnbull, co-ordinator of the Media Studies Program at La Trobe University, says the Australian push into the global market was pioneered in the '80s by Neighbours, Home and Away and older programs such as The Sullivans and Prisoner. One British critic whinged at the time that UK television was overrun by Australian content. "There were 11 different Australian soap operas being shown on British TV in a week," says Turnbull.
In the '90s, the Australian invasion died down such that only Neighbours and Home and Away held a significant audience. We were making some good shows, but the Brits weren't interested. "There was the great failure of Sea Change to find a market in the UK. It never got a release."
Now, Aussie producers are deliberately targeting the global market ahead of local viewers. A second series of Sea Patrol was planned ahead of the first series release, with a view to an international release — which it gained through Hallmark.
Turnbull says that the later episodes of Kath & Kim were blatantly written for the UK, featuring appearances by Kylie Minogue "and the fellows from Little Britain".
While Australian-made "usually goes well at home — from the days of Graham Kennedy on IMT to Packed to the Rafters — audiences won't watch bad Australian TV. Like The Alice."
With MICHELLE GRIFFIN
(Credit: The Age)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Television
"It was looking pretty ordinary for a while," says commentator Greg "Media Man" Tingle. "But what a difference a year makes. We now have what's almost an epidemic of Australian-made shows. Just look at Underbelly on Nine, Rush on Ten, and Packed to the Rafters on Seven. They're mixing it with the best foreign imports and coming out on top.
"There are so many quality shows being produced, it's hard to keep up with them."
Tingle says the unsettled mood of the free-to-air networks during the late '90s and early 2000s — unnerved by the threat of cable TV and the internet revolution — has been turned around such that "there's a feeling we're entering a golden age of Australian television".
Seven's homey sitcom Packed to the Rafters has been watched by an average of 2 million viewers since it debuted Tuesdays at 8.30pm just after the Olympics. Many of those viewers stay tuned for the enduring hospital soap All Saints. Seven is also quite gleeful about the 1.6 million who regularly watch Monday's gritty City Homicide.
At Nine, where the ratings are sustained right now by endless repeats of Two and a Half Men, the good ship Sea Patrol held its own in the first half of the year with more than 1 million viewers. And we learned that almost 600,000 Victorians had not yet downloaded Underbelly illegally when they tuned in to the first pixellated episode last month; add them to the million interstate viewers who watched in April, and it may have earned back its legal fees.
While the two newest cop dramas, Nine's The Strip and Ten's Rush, are struggling, the numbers show that Australians have rediscovered the habit of watching dramas with a local accent.
The turning point came a year ago, Tingle says, with the return of David Gyngell to the helm of Channel Nine. "What the Australian networks desperately needed was a creative boost to competition," he says. "Without a strong Nine asserting itself, the industry doesn't flourish. The other thing that's happened is the networks have stopped just looking at numbers and started focusing on quality. That's what healthier competition has achieved."
Dr Vincent O'Donnell, an honorary fellow at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology's School of Applied Communication, agrees Australian TV has had a resurgence in the past year as a result of increasing competition between broadcasters.
"Historically, Channel Nine was always regarded as the home of well-written drama shows that were well-received by audiences, while Seven liked to consider itself as the broadcaster which excelled at sports," he says. "But a few years ago those perceptions started to change as Nine faltered. I believe when they commissioned Underbelly, it was probably as a result of that shift. It was an attempt to reassert themselves in this area of fast-moving, well-written drama."
O'Donnell says commissioning a big-budget program such as Underbelly "is a gamble for networks but one which hopefully they'll continue to make.
"A big-budget drama like that would cost … $300,000 to $400,000 for an hour of television. If a network bought a drama in from America, they'd probably get something for little more than a tenth of that. But it's important to remember that Australian audiences have always tuned in to these well-written locally produced shows, so hopefully networks will have to keep investing in them, even if they do cost a lot."
According to Geoff Brown, executive director of the Screen Producers Association of Australia, the Underbelly strategy was the result of a change in attitude to project financing by the major industry players. "A few years back, the Film Finance Corporation made a decision it would invest in 13-part Australian mini-series, along with the network licensees. What it did was ramp up budgets and led to shows like Underbelly, with substantially better production values and better writing.
"In film production, the critical relationship is between producer and director; in television, it's between producer and writer. We have very good writing teams in television, and certainly the investment in writing is one of the main reasons why the current crop of Australian productions are doing so well. A good idea doesn't work without good writing."
Brown points to programs such as The Circuit, Rush, Sea Patrol and East West 101 as examples of good writing translating to success with viewers and critics. "We make the best drama for the cheapest dollar anywhere in the world. We have to compete with the CSI franchise, which costs … $5 million to $6 million an hour to make. For the high-end of Australian drama, you're looking at $600,000 an hour … so our stories have to be more narrative-driven."
Brown says Australia has a history of producing good television "but the networks lost their way in the '90s and early part of this millennium. They backed away from Australian drama in particular and put their focus on infotainment and reality programming. They kept serving up more Big Brothers and in the end this didn't work for the networks. The audience has shown itself to be more sophisticated … and now Seven and Nine are re-establishing their brands on the back of good old Australian drama."
Some analysts point to a lack of quality programs from the US — a result of the writers' strike that crippled Hollywood — as a key reason behind the resurgence of Australian-made drama.
"This makes our local offerings even more appealing," says one industry insider. "There was also a hiatus where few local programs were being made, so again, when new ones came around, there was even more interest in them.
"The shows are actually good. The networks have invested heavily in them: probably figuring that they have to meet their local content quotas, they might as well invest and do it properly. The scripts and the acting have reflected this willingness to take it seriously and make hits."
And that added slice of healthy self-image — attributed to the efforts of former prime minister John Howard — is another reason audiences are keen to watch shows for Australians, by Australians, about Australians.
"We're not selling shrimps on the barbie any more," says Greg Tingle. "We're a more sophisticated society and our television programs demonstrate that.
"Our locally made shows are hot exports in their own right, and they help sell the country. Our entertainment is part of the tourism spiel … the rest of the world sees us moving ahead with quality. The confidence for that was certainly bolstered under the previous government."
Jonathan Nolan, chief executive of Pisces All Media, which runs the Hottest on TV website, agrees. "No matter what else you might say about him, John Howard made Australians feel great about themselves. It really started with the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but Howard actually presided over a cultural shift that saw the death of the cringe factor — the adolescent craving for approval from America and Britain," he says.
"Even the dumbest talking-heads on TV have the confidence not to cringe and fawn all over celebrities visiting from overseas. Compare that to the old days, with Molly Meldrum constantly saying how wonderful it was that such-and-such a pop star was in the country."
Nolan says evidence for this new-found confidence can be seen in private investment in television production. "We had a sheltered workshop here, where everything was driven by government grants. All that did was compomise quality. That's no longer the case. People invest in these shows because they believe in them, not just because they're getting a tax break …
"The pay-off is that we now perform extremely well on the overseas market. You get a show selling well overseas — like Stingers or Police Rescue — (and) you have an earner for life. At the Roma Fiction Fest (a television awards and buying festival) in July, there were buyers from all over Europe looking at the Australian shows with the greatest interest.
"The Italian shows looked like something from the '70s … they were desperately clinging to their own culture, while the Australian shows were more sophisticated and well-placed for the international market."
Dr Sue Turnbull, co-ordinator of the Media Studies Program at La Trobe University, says the Australian push into the global market was pioneered in the '80s by Neighbours, Home and Away and older programs such as The Sullivans and Prisoner. One British critic whinged at the time that UK television was overrun by Australian content. "There were 11 different Australian soap operas being shown on British TV in a week," says Turnbull.
In the '90s, the Australian invasion died down such that only Neighbours and Home and Away held a significant audience. We were making some good shows, but the Brits weren't interested. "There was the great failure of Sea Change to find a market in the UK. It never got a release."
Now, Aussie producers are deliberately targeting the global market ahead of local viewers. A second series of Sea Patrol was planned ahead of the first series release, with a view to an international release — which it gained through Hallmark.
Turnbull says that the later episodes of Kath & Kim were blatantly written for the UK, featuring appearances by Kylie Minogue "and the fellows from Little Britain".
While Australian-made "usually goes well at home — from the days of Graham Kennedy on IMT to Packed to the Rafters — audiences won't watch bad Australian TV. Like The Alice."
With MICHELLE GRIFFIN
(Credit: The Age)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Television
Friday, October 03, 2008
TheFightChannel.com is seeking capital to launch our live streaming high definition web TV network
TheFightChannel.com is a planned streaming high definition web TV network airing live PPV and library fighting events, 24/7 FightNews coverage, Deportes TFC's all Spanish language network, producing original programming, social networking and virtual gaming plus much, much, more.
For investor information please write info@thefightchannel.com or antinneil@att.net for more information.
Website
TheFightChannel.com
Media Man Australia Profiles
MMA
Television
Media Companies
For investor information please write info@thefightchannel.com or antinneil@att.net for more information.
Website
TheFightChannel.com
Media Man Australia Profiles
MMA
Television
Media Companies
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Proof of mixed martial arts' rapid growth lies within the tube, by Josh Gross - INSIDE MMA - 1st October 2008
Want proof mixed martial arts is a brute of an emerging sport? Flip on the TV.
When casino magnate brothers Lorenzo Fertitta and Frank Fertitta III joined Dana White in pooling together $2 million dollars to purchase the UFC in 2001, MMA -- dubbed "No Holds Barred" then -- couldn't so much as get a bite from the pay-per-view industry.
Two weeks after 9-11 when, in MMA's Nevada debut, the UFC reappeared on PPV. Dotted with decisions, UFC 33 was regarded a near disaster for going off the air prior to the conclusion of the main event. The night, however, marked an important moment in the revitalization of MMA. At a minimum, it gave rise to a stronger gust the following summer when Fox Sports Net and the UFC partnered for the first fight aired on U.S. cable television. NHB was now MMA, and executives of all kind were paying attention.
Fast forward seven years and CBS, in a feat still unbelievable to many, is set to air a live fight card on prime time Saturday. It will be the network's third MMA showing in less than six months.
Asked what was needed to remove the "underground" label so closely associated with MMA, most observers offered a not-so-simple suggestion: Get MMA on TV and people will watch.
Executives at Spike TV took the first gamble, agreeing to air a reality show featuring mixed martial artists competing for a UFC contract -- but not before the fight company footed the $10 million price tag. Soon, the sport's core audience was discovered to be a marketer's dream, and the UFC wasn't about to pay anyone to broadcast its product again.
For the benefit of advertisers and TV execs, who was watching became almost more important than how many. Although a 1.9 rating for The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 finale was nice nonetheless. Faith in MMA fans -- more than half of whom are males 18 to 49 -- came early in 2005 for Spike executives like Brian Diamond, the network's current senior vice president of sports and specials.
"I'm not surprised everybody is trying to get into the mix [today]," Diamond said of the bevy of networks vying for the coveted audience. "It speaks to the power, strength and fan base of MMA. It was a sport looked upon disgracefully when it came in 15 years ago because of the way it was positioned. And now it's the hottest growing sport worldwide."
Attempting to find the magic shared by UFC and Spike has proved fruitless for most. While competing promoters and networks disappeared, consolidated or downsized, the deal between Spike and UFC, recently extended through 2011, ensured continued growth in each group's brand equity. So intertwined are Spike and its flagship sports property, some have labeled the network the rather uninspired "UFC Channel." Diamond doesn't agree, saying that while the "network was the home of the UFC," it also carries other important properties.
Mark Cuban's HDNet would love to be known as the home of MMA. But HDNet's efforts have taken a different direction than Spike, Showtime or CBS in trying to make itself unique.
"We're interested in bringing the best fights for fight fans, regardless of where it's being held and who the promoter is," said HDNet Fights CEO Andrew Simon. "That's the piece that makes us a little bit different."
Offering up to 30 live MMA events this year, HDNet ventured across and outside the U.S. to find broadcast-worthy fights in 2008. With homes increasingly adopting hi-def and additional cable carriers offering HDNet, Cuban expressed pleasure in "the way things are going," even though his goal of surpassing Showtime's subscriber base, which stands at 16 million, seems unlikely this year.
From the promoter's point of view, as Strikeforce Vice President Mike Afromowitz attests, exposure and cost-cutting are two major benefits of having a broadcast partner. The California-based fight company currently has three television deals to fit its needs -- The Score in Canada, HDNet and NBC, which averages 700,000 viewers for its repurposed fights several hours after Saturday Night Live.
"Getting a deal is by no means easy," Afromowitz added. "There's a lot of competition out there on the networks, and the product has to be superior in order to get a TV deal."
Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio, who also signed a deal with HDNet, acknowledged that even in a climate when most networks are sincere in their interests as the sport approaches mainstream acceptance among advertisers and a widening fan base, "it's still difficult" to nail down a quality TV deal..
As a group, however, TV executives in the MMA business appear to be a happy bunch. Returning to prime time from the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla., the Oct. 4 EliteXC-CBS card, said Senior Executive Vice President of CBS Prime Time, Kelly Kahl, should deliver similar numbers to the 6.5 million viewers who tuned in last May to watch MMA's debut on CBS.
"I think we gave it some mainstream legitimacy," Kahl said of the first CBS card when Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson, who headlines Saturday against Ken Shamrock, won in controversial fashion. "I certainly like to think we helped bring a lot of new fans on board. For CBS, this isn't a one-shot deal. This is more of a journey. We need to continue to develop fighters and develop the sport. That's the longer term plan for us."
Short term, Kahl will do what most in his position do after an event: check ratings.
(Credit: Sports Illustrated)
Media Man Australia Profiles
UFC
MMA
When casino magnate brothers Lorenzo Fertitta and Frank Fertitta III joined Dana White in pooling together $2 million dollars to purchase the UFC in 2001, MMA -- dubbed "No Holds Barred" then -- couldn't so much as get a bite from the pay-per-view industry.
Two weeks after 9-11 when, in MMA's Nevada debut, the UFC reappeared on PPV. Dotted with decisions, UFC 33 was regarded a near disaster for going off the air prior to the conclusion of the main event. The night, however, marked an important moment in the revitalization of MMA. At a minimum, it gave rise to a stronger gust the following summer when Fox Sports Net and the UFC partnered for the first fight aired on U.S. cable television. NHB was now MMA, and executives of all kind were paying attention.
Fast forward seven years and CBS, in a feat still unbelievable to many, is set to air a live fight card on prime time Saturday. It will be the network's third MMA showing in less than six months.
Asked what was needed to remove the "underground" label so closely associated with MMA, most observers offered a not-so-simple suggestion: Get MMA on TV and people will watch.
Executives at Spike TV took the first gamble, agreeing to air a reality show featuring mixed martial artists competing for a UFC contract -- but not before the fight company footed the $10 million price tag. Soon, the sport's core audience was discovered to be a marketer's dream, and the UFC wasn't about to pay anyone to broadcast its product again.
For the benefit of advertisers and TV execs, who was watching became almost more important than how many. Although a 1.9 rating for The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 finale was nice nonetheless. Faith in MMA fans -- more than half of whom are males 18 to 49 -- came early in 2005 for Spike executives like Brian Diamond, the network's current senior vice president of sports and specials.
"I'm not surprised everybody is trying to get into the mix [today]," Diamond said of the bevy of networks vying for the coveted audience. "It speaks to the power, strength and fan base of MMA. It was a sport looked upon disgracefully when it came in 15 years ago because of the way it was positioned. And now it's the hottest growing sport worldwide."
Attempting to find the magic shared by UFC and Spike has proved fruitless for most. While competing promoters and networks disappeared, consolidated or downsized, the deal between Spike and UFC, recently extended through 2011, ensured continued growth in each group's brand equity. So intertwined are Spike and its flagship sports property, some have labeled the network the rather uninspired "UFC Channel." Diamond doesn't agree, saying that while the "network was the home of the UFC," it also carries other important properties.
Mark Cuban's HDNet would love to be known as the home of MMA. But HDNet's efforts have taken a different direction than Spike, Showtime or CBS in trying to make itself unique.
"We're interested in bringing the best fights for fight fans, regardless of where it's being held and who the promoter is," said HDNet Fights CEO Andrew Simon. "That's the piece that makes us a little bit different."
Offering up to 30 live MMA events this year, HDNet ventured across and outside the U.S. to find broadcast-worthy fights in 2008. With homes increasingly adopting hi-def and additional cable carriers offering HDNet, Cuban expressed pleasure in "the way things are going," even though his goal of surpassing Showtime's subscriber base, which stands at 16 million, seems unlikely this year.
From the promoter's point of view, as Strikeforce Vice President Mike Afromowitz attests, exposure and cost-cutting are two major benefits of having a broadcast partner. The California-based fight company currently has three television deals to fit its needs -- The Score in Canada, HDNet and NBC, which averages 700,000 viewers for its repurposed fights several hours after Saturday Night Live.
"Getting a deal is by no means easy," Afromowitz added. "There's a lot of competition out there on the networks, and the product has to be superior in order to get a TV deal."
Affliction Vice President Tom Atencio, who also signed a deal with HDNet, acknowledged that even in a climate when most networks are sincere in their interests as the sport approaches mainstream acceptance among advertisers and a widening fan base, "it's still difficult" to nail down a quality TV deal..
As a group, however, TV executives in the MMA business appear to be a happy bunch. Returning to prime time from the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla., the Oct. 4 EliteXC-CBS card, said Senior Executive Vice President of CBS Prime Time, Kelly Kahl, should deliver similar numbers to the 6.5 million viewers who tuned in last May to watch MMA's debut on CBS.
"I think we gave it some mainstream legitimacy," Kahl said of the first CBS card when Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson, who headlines Saturday against Ken Shamrock, won in controversial fashion. "I certainly like to think we helped bring a lot of new fans on board. For CBS, this isn't a one-shot deal. This is more of a journey. We need to continue to develop fighters and develop the sport. That's the longer term plan for us."
Short term, Kahl will do what most in his position do after an event: check ratings.
(Credit: Sports Illustrated)
Media Man Australia Profiles
UFC
MMA
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