News

Mumbrella live blog: Thursday, May 8

Welcome to Mumbrella’s live blog, all you need to keep up to date in the latest happenings in media and marketing. Refresh the page for latest updates.

Top stories:

6.14pm – Reports in The West Australian and now Fairfax Media reporting that Federal Cabinet has approved the axing of the Australia Network. 

4:42pm – Following the strike at Fairfax Media, some of the production crew on Network Ten’s soap Neighbours have voted to take protected industrial action. The FremantleMedia Australia employees and members of industry union the MEAA are not currently on strike but “now have the potential to disrupt the production of Neighours”, a Fremantle spokesman said.

The statement:

FremantleMedia Australia (FMA) is disappointed that MEAA members within the Neighbours crew have voted for the right to take Protected Industrial Action.

A small group of people now have the potential to disrupt the production of Neighbours.

FMA is committed to a fair and reasonable Enterprise Agreement that provides pay and conditions that are significantly better than the Award and provides for the sustainable future of Neighbours.

FMA will not agree to the further pay and conditions demanded by the MEAA that would be an unprecedented departure from industry convention and practice.

4:21pm – Don’t forget to check out today’s FYI section, one of our beefiest yet. Leo Burnett Sydney has picked up the Unibet account, marketing agency AffiliateTraction has launched in Australia, and Ten has announced the full cast of its new drama Party Tricks.

3.03pm – We’re hearing The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald have voted to go back in and end the walkout of Fairfax. They will seek to meet with management to look for alternative cost savings tomorrow. Story here.

Screen Shot 2014-05-08 at 3.03.09 PM

Screen Shot 2014-05-08 at 3.00.11 PM2.43pm – Fairfax staff are now back in the newsrooms, having gone in early to avoid disciplinary action from management, with reporters tweeting there is strong support for a proposal to stay out coming from the SMH.

Mumbrella’s Nic Christensen has written an opinion piece on some of structural factors at play here and whether the publisher can make cuts and remain credible. Read the opinion piece here.

Screen Shot 2014-05-08 at 2.43.27 PM

Screen Shot 2014-05-08 at 2.01.17 PM

2.01pm – Fairfax staff are gathering at the moment outside the offices of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald ahead of the 3pm stop work meeting. They will then meet to discuss ending the strike and returning to work. Read about the strike and what might happen here. 

1.45pm – Music streaming audience measurement ‘by end of year’ as iHeart Radio releases first local data. Full story here. 

1.16pm – World Movies has been forced to cancel its sold out Secret Cinema event, leaving hundreds of ticket holders frustrated at a lack of communication. Read about it here.

12.45pm – News on the Mumbrella360 front 14 bosses from Australia’s biggest media companies have today been confirmed for the program of next month’s conference. Check out the details here.

12:09pm – Some breaking pitch news, with the Meat and Livestock Australia choosing to retain BMF adding The Monkeys to its roster t the expense of Host. More here.

11:54am – There was an interesting panel session in Sydney last night on building bridges between startups and brands which included Mondelez’s international media boss Bonin Bough. Among the key messages were keep hustling, and learn to hack your own business to survive. See more here.

11:08am – Dr Mumbo has some words of advice for Studio 10’s Sarah Harris. Point the gun at the guest, always at the guest. What happened? Find out here.

Sarah Harris tn nail gun

10:12am – And moving to the other rugby code, State of Origin is fast approaching, and Victoria Bitter has come up with a clever way to get fans buying more product. See the campaign details here.

9:56am – As rugby union fights to keep its place as a top code in Australia the Australian RFU has released the Ode to the Wallabies, a rousing film aimed at drumming up support ahead of the test series with France this winter.

9:28am – TV ratings are in and Puberty Blues finished with it strongest audience of the season as 540,000 tuned in to see its season two finale. Business as usual in the reality franchises with The Voice beating House Rules and Masterchef.

8:47am – The Australian has a story today on the death of former Rupert Murdoch adviser Ernest Viles. He was a key executive for Murdoch during the 70s and 80s spearheading a number of publishing ventures in the US, before retiring in the mid-80s. More here (behind a paywall).

8:19am – We’re now 17 hours into a strike by Fairfax employees after yesterday’s announcement of 80 job cuts which will decimate the photography department of The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. Today’s editions will mostly have been filled when staff walked out at 3pm yesterday, but are still a little light on. However, the real test comes when, and if, staff return to work this afternoon.

Screen Shot 2014-05-08 at 8.23.53 am

8:08am – Welcome along. It’s the story that keep on giving for the media, the billionaire fight club saga between James Packer and David Gyngell is rumbling on in the major dailies, with both the Australian Financial Review and The Australian covering the update from police yesterday they have invited both men to give them information. There’ll be more to play out in the coming weeks, no doubt.

ADVERTISEMENT

Get the latest media and marketing industry news (and views) direct to your inbox.

Sign up to the free Mumbrella newsletter now.

 

SUBSCRIBE

Sign up to our free daily update to get the latest in media and marketing.