Apologies to US and other international ABW readers, but the first two stories today are heavily weighted towards the newsletter’s Australian readership. Please, just scroll on down…
SBS embraces radio and FAST
Yesterday Australia’s multicultural public broadcaster SBS held it’s Upfronts. There were two announcements that caught my interest:
The launch of new FAST channels
Two international news channels will be added to the channels available on SBS On Demand: Euronews and France24. No GB News, SBS? (Seriously, please don’t add GB News. Japan’s NHK World would be a good addition, though).
But the BIG announcement was the launch of FIFA+, which promises:
FIFA+ originals: Unique documentaries, interviews, and behind-the-scenes content that delve into the stories of the world’s greatest footballers, teams and moments.
FIFA archival match footage: Classic matches from past FIFA World Cups™, top women's matches and other significant tournaments, offering fans a journey through football history.
Live matches: Selected live coverage of FIFA events, giving viewers front-row access to international football action.
Additional content: Stay tuned for other FIFA programming, with fresh and exciting content coming to FIFA+ through 2025 and beyond.
As a non-sports guy, this isn’t for me. But I appreciate it is a big deal.
Merging radio services into the video app
Seven SBS radio channels will be integrated into the SBS On Demand video app. This is a smart move for a number of reasons, the obvious big ones being:
The need for multiple apps is just silly. Make it simple.
It increases the stature of SBS Radio’s services and better integrates them into the broader content experience of SBS. It always felt like there were two distinct audiences: SBS Radio audiences and SBS TV, with SBS TV for mainstream Australia and SBS Radio ghettoed only for listeners who speak a LOTE.
It opens the door to greater integration of video in with SBS Radio services.
Let’s explore that last idea for a moment. As we are seeing with podcasts, the current trend in media is to see video versions of the audio they are consuming. Why aren’t we seeing this with radio more? Radio stations were among the earliest to embrace in-studio webcams, but why did that experience never evolve beyond that.
Why can’t the radio stations also be FAST channels with in-studio cameras streaming live broadcasts?
This brings me to a thought I have expressed on more than one occasion in the newsletter, but it is crazy to me that commercial rival Channel Nine doesn’t have a 24/7 streaming news FAST channel which integrates its TV news services and live streaming of select broadcasters from the Nine Radio stations around the country.
It feels like SBS is on that pathway now.
The cuppa with Kim Williams
Yesterday Crikey published an interview/conversation between media reporter Daanyal Saeed and new-ish ABC chair Kim Williams.
The former CEO of Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited is back at the ABC (he had been a senior executive there in the 80s and 90s). In his time away from the ABC, he ran Fox Studios in Sydney, which then took him to leading Murdoch’s (then- 50% owned…) Australian pay TV service Foxtel for a decade, before taking on the CEO role. Considering the very public attacks that Murdoch’s The Australian newspaper and his other media assets have made against the ABC, with an intensity compounding year on year for the past decade or so, it positions him as an interesting figure to now be overseeing Aunty.
Under his guidance, it is expected that the ABC will go through significant reform and we’re on the cusp of seeing those changes being executed. So, it’s a very interesting time to be reading an interview like the one he offered Crikey.
The entire piece is worth a read, but there were three interesting comments made that I wanted to highlight.
Here’s what most people will focus on, which is Mr Williams commenting directly on the News Ltd-led attacks:
I think the amplification of News Corp’s intensity of interest in the ABC has dramatically increased. I mean, it now incorporates Sky News, which was not part of that landscape when I was at News Corp. It used to be pretty much confined to The Australian newspaper, whereas now it seems to be more of an enterprise-wide devotion. Am I spending a lot of time thinking about that or worrying about that? No. They do what they do.
The response to all of those sorties, if I can describe them that way, is to do better work. I think the response to most of the commentary of that kind is to do better work, to be resilient and produce great work. I think that’s always the best response.
I’d be guilty of understating my surprise if I didn’t offer the view that I find so much of what comes from News Corp so shrill and really quite extreme in tonality, and I don’t understand why the normal courtesies of conduct are suspended, or in fact completely disregarded, in the way that the commentary is offered. I find that very odd.
I don’t think that in reverse entitles us to respond in a similar way, I don’t think one should.
Rational and common sense. Tick.
I was interested in this section where he was answering a question about revamping ABC radio station Radio National, while offering a broader consideration of changes at the ABC:
As I said, we’re about to receive a substantial body of material that looks to a range of constructive options that are available for the revitalisation of that service, and I’m very eager to see it and to participate in that discussion. As with all ABC services, there’s room for improvement. And I think we all need to be very alert to the fact that, as custodians, we need to be very closely attuned to the necessity of consistent improvement in what we do and how we do it, and that we reexamine the way in which we deliver material, editorially and via technology, in order to maximise the benefit in the hands of the Australian people. I think it’s terribly important.
An idea that sits adjacent to this is not just how material is being delivered, but what sort of material that is. For example, I have spoken in the past about how I don’t believe media commentary show Media Watch is match-fit for the era we are living in. Each week it delivers a tattletale, finger-wagging, gotcha critique of media that fails to communicate how media consumption is governed now more by user interface and algorithm than it is by the practices of the Nine Entertainment sales team. Audiences are being done a disservice on a weekly basis there.
But it stretches beyond that. The content approach by the ABC fails to support the far more diverse, globalised Australia that exists in 2024. Take a walk from ABC’s HQ in Haymarket through Sydney to the other side where the Opera House lies at Circular Quay. Some of what you hear on the ABC is reflected, but you are going to walk past a whole lot of people with different interests that rarely get a look-in.
Jason Di Rosso might be great talking about foreign cinema, but how often is RN’s “Screen Show” talking about anime programming? Or video games? Or talking to local YouTube creators? It’s not that Di Rosso is doing a bad job at what he does (far from it, I think his show is pretty good), but when that seems to be the extent of screen culture analysis, that to me doesn’t speak of an experience that is reflective of mainstream Australia in 2024.
Arts culture generally, religion and spirituality, health and wellbeing, religion, sex and sexuality… they all get a look in, but through a very specific, limited worldview.
The third comment is important to think about as it really speaks to the biggest challenge the ABC faces: the digital divide.
It’s terribly important that the ABC always has regard to the rights of Australians to receive its services, and that means that you need to be aware of issues of economic disadvantage. Doesn’t mean that people are denied knowledge, doesn’t mean that they’re denied information, doesn’t mean that they should be denied analysis to participate in their society.
And in a similar way, there are those who, for a variety of reasons not exclusively relating to age, are not digitally sophisticated. And there are many reasons why people may not be digitally sophisticated. It’s not up to us to interrogate those reasons, other than where we need to educate people in how to access digital services. But if people don’t have those digital devices, if they don’t have that capacity to access our services in that way, they still have a right to receive.
There’s a conversation underway about when Australia will go cashless. Right now, it is estimated that around 4% (likely fewer) cash transactions in Australia are made with physical money. Most of Australia is going to do just fine once the cash registers are sent to the garbage dump. But, there will be a small number of people who can’t make that leap. How will we support them?
The same responsibility rests with the ABC over its media services. There will be a need to support everyone in accessing ABC services. But, at the same time, the rest of Australia shouldn’t be held back.
Also: Interesting to read Mark Di Stefano in AFR’s Rear Window column with a story about how Kim Williams isn’t a member of the Qantas lounge.
His presence is surprising merely because he’s precisely the type to be sitting snug with a macchiato and scone in the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge.
An active choice by Williams? The ABC Chairman probably should be travelling alongside everyday Australians if he is to be leading a public broadcaster. Regardless, I’m sure Mr Williams was very happy to see Mark Di Stefano highlighting his man-of-the-people air travel.
Prime Video’s election coverage sounds viable
What a difference a single interview can make. I was incredibly dismissive of Prime Video’s announced live election night special. My concern was that viewers watching are trading really well-resourced TV networks offering election night coverage for a vapour-powered live stream.
My enthusiasm was raised in what host Brian Williams is doing with this special after an interview on Dylan Byers’ brand-new news media podcast The Grill Room. Williams was interviewed alongside EP Jonathan Wald about their plans and it sounds like they are trying to bring a certain amount of innovation to the broadcast.
Throughout the interview, they talk about filming the show in The Volume (that’s the digital background screen technology employed by the Star Wars and Marvel shows, among others) in the same MGM studio that The Wizard of Oz was filmed in. Visually, the studio will embrace a lot of Americana, apparently. If there isn’t some sort of diner setting, I’ll be very surprised.
The proof will be on the night, but listening to the two discussing the spirit and intent of the planned streamed one-off (???) show, I was won over. I’ll definitely check it out. How long it keeps me watching will be the big question. I can give or take MSNBC, but that broadcast will at least have its big drawcard in the form of Steve Kornacki.
News desk
The big news story of the day: Total YouTube revenue, including subscriptions, topped $50 billion over the past 12 months for the first time. Read: Variety
The Jack Ryan TV show at Prime Video is now set for the big screen with John Krasinski set to star. Read: Variety
Seinfeld is coming to Blu-ray in a 4K release for the first time. Read: Rolling Stone
Global deals are the future for large cultural events. Here’s news that Disney is now the global home for The Grammys in a new 10-year deal. Read: thefutoncritic
Disney+ is adding a top 10 list to the service in a bid to increase engagement. The quirk is that the list is dynamic depending on parental control settings and if (for US customers) they have Hulu. Read: THR
Kelly Macdonald is the latest name announced for new HBO Green Lantern drama Lanterns. Read: THR
Young Sheldon spin-off George & Mandy’s First Marriage has been given a full-season pick-up. Read: Variety
Polygon has a really interesting list of the best anime of the year so far. Going through the list, it is a great reminder at just how imaginative anime can be, never bound by genre trappings. Anime is a broad tent that is far greater than the robots and space battles many of us think of it as.
Apple TV+ isn’t out of the original films business - it has picked up a sequel to The Family Plan with Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Monaghan. Read: Variety
ITV Studios has taken a majority stake in Eagle Eye Drama (Professor T, Hotel Portofino). Read: C21
Deadpool & Wolverine debuts on Disney+ Nov 12. The promo:
The new Dick Wolf cop drama On Call is a half-hour show made for Prime Video. It will debut Jan 9. Interesting news today is that joining the cast is [Jailbird] Lori Loughlin and ER vet Eriq La Salle. La Salle has me excited - he was hugely undervalued post-ER and has gone on to a career as a pretty good TV director. But, it will be great to see him back on screen. Read: THR
The upcoming 9-1-1 spin-off is apparently considering Hawaii as a location. This is interesting only because Hawaii is an expensive shooting location and the recent 9-1-1: Lone Star show was cancelled because it was too expensive to make. Read: Deadline
Trailer park
I’m very keen on seeing new Keira Knightley Netflix thriller Black Doves.
Set against the backdrop of London at Christmas, BLACK DOVES is a sharp, action-filled, and heartfelt story of friendship and sacrifice. It follows Helen Webb (Keira Knightley), a quick-witted, down-to-earth, dedicated wife and mother - and professional spy. For 10 years, she's been passing on her politician husband's secrets to the shadowy organisation she works for: the Black Doves. When her secret lover Jason (Andrew Koji) is assassinated, her spymaster, the enigmatic Reed (Sarah Lancashire), calls in Helen's old friend Sam (Ben Whishaw) to keep her safe. Together, Helen and Sam set off on a mission to investigate who killed Jason and why, leading them to uncover a vast, interconnected conspiracy linking the murky London underworld to a looming geopolitical crisis.
Sex Lives of College Girls is back on Max for season 3 Nov 21.
Sweethearts is a movie debuting on Max Nov 28 starring Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka and Nico Hiraga.
Two college freshmen make a pact to break up with their high school sweethearts over Thanksgiving break, leading them on a chaotic night out in their hometown that puts their codependent friendship to the test.
Paris & Nicole: The Encore debuts on Peacock Dec 12.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light debuts on PBS March 23.
Jennifer Lopez stars in Prime Video film Unstoppable Jan 16.
Unstoppable is the inspiring true story of Anthony Robles (Jharrel Jerome) who was born with one leg but whose indomitable spirit and unbreakable resolve empowered him to defy the odds and pursue his dreams. With the unwavering love and support of his devoted mother Judy (Jennifer Lopez) and the encouragement of his coaches, Anthony fights through adversity to earn a spot on the Arizona State Wrestling team. But it will demand everything he has, physically and mentally, to achieve his ultimate quest to become an NCAA Champion.
Here’s a Marvel sizzle reel for it’s 2025 slate.
Marvel reveals premiere dates for "What If... ?" Season 3 (December 22), "Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" (January 29), "Ironheart" (June 24), "Eyes of Wakanda" (August 6), and more!
The Trunk debuts on Netflix Nov 29.
A secret marriage service is uncovered when a trunk washes up on the shore, revealing the strange marriage between a couple in the thick of it all.
That’s the newsletter for today.
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What’s next?
Relevant article #34:
Radio Stations Should Embrace TV. By yours truly:
https://antertainment.substack.com/p/radio-stations-should-embrace-tv