Seven recruits Ten’s BBL boss. Seven has made its first big move after taking the rights to the cricket from Nine and Ten, by poaching the latter’s head of sport. Dave Barham was the executive in charge of Ten’s successful coverage of the Big Bash League, which, as head of cricket, he will lead at Seven along with home international tests, Women’s BBL and international matches and awards.
Seven won the rights from 2018 for six years, ending Nine’s 40-year run of broadcasting cricket in Australia.
Studio 10 replacements. Entertainment reporter Angela Bishop and comedian and actor Denise Scott will join Studio 10’s co-host line-up, replacing the recently departed Jessica Rowe and Ita Buttrose. The departures have followed rumours of off-camera discontent, including an incident where Denise Drysdale, a continuing co-host, threw a brussels sprout at Buttrose.
Charlie Rose’s comeback. Disgraced US network CBS anchor Charlie Rose is reportedly planning to make a comeback in which he interviews other high-profile men who’ve been brought down by the #MeToo movement. Page Six reported that editor and writer Tina Brown had been approached to produce the “atonement” series, where Rose would interview other sexual harassers such as Louis CK and Matt Lauer.
Front page of the day. The New York Daily News has covered the Bill Cosby verdict overnight with an echo of its December 31, 2015 cover, marking when Cosby was first charged with aggravated indecent assault.
Twenty ways BuzzFeed is taking over. BuzzFeed and Netflix have announced a new 20-part weekly show called Follow This about the website, going behind the scenes with its journalists as they work on their stories. The 15-minute episodes will launch on July 9.
Vanity Fair introduces paywall. Vanity Fair is the latest publication to take its work behind a paywall. In a letter to readers from new editor Radhika Jones, the magazine announced the metered paywall this week that after four free articles a month, before users will be asked to subscribe. Subscriptions and paywalls have paid off for some of the major global news outlets in recent years — The New York Times has had a surge in digital subscriptions, as has The Washington Post and Financial Times.
Hedge fund takes Fox stake. TCI, one of the world’s most activist hedge funds, has emerged with a 4% stake in 21st Century Fox and seems to be a supporter of Comcast’s US$31 billion bid for Sky Plc (which could blow up the agreed U$66 billion partial break up of Fox with Disney).
The Financial Times revealed TCI’s stake was at a cost of $3 billion, “giving the activist hedge fund crucial leverage to influence the future of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire at a time when it is involved in a series of complex takeover battles.” The stake doesn’t have to be disclosed until the 5% level is reached under US law. It would be the second hedge fund investor in Fox — ValueAct, based in San Francisco has a voting stake of more than 5%, and a seat on the board via a standstill agreement with the Murdochs who own a 39% stake in the company via the Murdoch Family Trust and the holdings of Rupert, James and Lachlan Murdoch. — Glenn Dyer
Glenn Dyer’s TV Ratings. Seven won because it ran My Kitchen Rules for an extra night — 1.07 million in the metros.
In the battle between the AFL football shows, Melbourne is the biggest market and Eddie McGuire’s was watched by 152,000 people. But Seven’s more modest version, The Front Bar, was watched by 170,000 — Seven wins.
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