AFL and NRL ads to rise 30%
Off the back of record-breaking sports rights deals over the past month, The Australian is reporting that ads for both football codes are set to rise by a third. According to the Oz, TV executives at Seven and Nine kicked off internal discussions last week about introducing new commercial models to pay for the recently signed National Rugby League (NRL) and Australian Football League (AFL) deals in a bid to monetise the expensive contracts.
Foxtel needs NRL to keep top ratings
Foxtel would lose more than a third of its current top-rating shows if it does not acquire the future pay television rights to show NRL games, The Australian Financial Review (AFR) is reporting. The NRL is currently having conversations about its pay television rights after handing its free-to-air rights to Nine earlier in the month, and according to the AFR, Fox Sports had been keen to show all eight weekly NRL matches live, but may baulk at paying the NRL a large increase after Nine cut into its live rights with its Saturday match.
Out-going Corbett calls for reform
Retiring Fairfax Media chairman Roger Corbett has told the AFR that the nation's political environment has created a "reform holiday" which has left media ownership rules in the Dark Ages and threatens to undermine Australians' standard of living. Corbett is set to leave Fairfax's board after 12 years, and in an out-going interview he told the paper: “We've got a reform holiday in this country, and we've got a reform holiday because we have got a government that while it's got a mandate in the House of Representatives, the electorate has not given it a mandate in the Senate."
O'Connor's Smooth talk
The Australian sat down with Nova Entertainment CEO, Cathy O'Connor, to talk about SmoothFM's rise to the top in the latest radio ratings. About the growth, she told the Oz: “We’ve just built something a bit different and I think that was the principle upon which Nova was launched. Without the high risk that comes with marketing talent, we’ve been able to build SmoothFM slowly, steadily and convincingly. We’re very proud of it.”
Go gets bigger remit
General manager of Hearst-Bauer Media, Marina Go, has been handed more titles to oversee, according to The Australian's media diary. Go will now oversee the digital assets of young women’s titles Cleo, Dolly and Shop. The Australian is speculating that chief executive of Bauer, David Goodchild, is considering handing full control of the titles to Go.
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