Streaming companies now legally forced to make Australian content. ALSO: Reviews are in for Kim Kardashian's drama show: It stinks. AND: CNN's weak-sauce marketing
This Thursday will see new laws enter the Australian parliament that requires streaming platforms to spend either 10 per cent of local expenditure, or 7.5 per cent of their Australian revenue, on locally made drama, documentary, arts, education, and children’s programs.
All eyes are on Netflix as the market leader locally, with the company expected to spend at least $97.5 million on Australian content under the new laws.
As a pure-play business, Netflix is likely to cop a greater bill than competitors. As noted by Ronald Mizen in the AFR:
How much other streaming giants will be forced to pay is not as clear-cut, as the rules will only apply to streaming revenue and expenses, and Disney and Amazon, for example, earn significant revenue from other sources. But the government’s view is all streamers, bar one, are already spending enough on Australian content to meet the new thresholds.
I’m actually not quite sure which streaming service the government doesn’t think is meeting the threshold… Paramount+? Disney+? BINGE? Apple TV?
I’ve talked about this in the newsletter a bunch, but I’m not a huge fan of imposing content quotas on services like this. My reason is two-fold:
My main concern is that I don’t like the idea of Australian culture having its culture shaped by international companies telling our stories for us… I’m especially uneasy about this in an era of Trump-led nationalism in the US. What happens if the US streamers find themselves in a position where all American companies are ordered/pressured/influenced into only telling stories that promote American political agendas? What if, for example, Netflix has an Aussie show about a wellness blogger that doesn’t align with MAHA policy? It all has the potential of getting muddy.
There’s a very good rationale for TV networks making Australian content as they are licensing broadcast spectrum. But, there’s no clear case for streaming services using local infrastructure for their delivery in the same way. (And no, the NBN isn’t a great argument here… we don’t ask international logistics companies to use Australian-made vans and trucks on our roads. Also, the NBN was largely paid for through tax and I am very open to the idea that international companies, streamers or otherwise, should be paying their fair share of tax).
Going forward, now that this policy is going to be put in place, the local industry needs to have a serious conversation about what protections we can put in place where the industry isn’t wholly reliant on overseas companies funding our content. Of course, that won’t happen…
It’s election night in America and CNN has shitty marketing
In the US today there are some important elections underway - a New York City mayoral race and governor races in Virginia and New Jersey. They’re seen as a bellwether for the 2026 midterms and are also the first major elections to be held with the current Trump administration in place.
Which is all to say that people are paying attention and that there will be significant media coverage, even if it isn’t an all-in election night coverage across every network.
Instead, it’s a matter of every smaller digital TV network, streaming outlets, YouTubers, Substackers, and podcasters going all-in on coverage.
I’ll probably pop my head in to livestreams being staged by NBC Now (it was NBC News that won custody of Steve Kornacki MSNBC divorce) and on The Bulwark’s YouTube channel.
But, I was particularly interested in seeing how CNN, which this past week launched its new subscription news service, is trying to onboard subscribers using its coverage today as a lure.
Here’s how it looked in my gmail Promotions-tab inbox:
Great - an email from ‘CNN Subscriptions’… I can’t wait to open that one.
Maybe the content of the email will be a little more enticing:
No mention of what their coverage will be or how it will look/feel different from the free coverage everywhere else?
The message from CNN here is: “We have election coverage. You know CNN, right? Give us money.”
They really need to try harder, but then, the same could be said for its entire streaming product launch in general.
MEANWHILE: MSNBC is spending $20 million to promote its rebranding to MS NOW. Read: NY Times
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50 years of on-screen representation
Last week was the anniversary of Discovery, a second season episode of 70s sitcom Barney Miller. The episode was notable for being one of the first depictions of an openly gay couple on US TV.
Erik Piepenburg writes for the New York Times, interviewing guest star Ray Stewart about his role:
Was the studio audience laughing at Marty and Darryl rather than with them? Sure: Gays lived in the shadows, sodomy laws were on the books, and these two particular queens were flamboyantly costumed in a baby blue leisure suit jacket (Marty) and a cranberry ombré cardigan (Darryl). According to Arnold, network executives also worried early on that the swishy Marty might offend gay viewers, Capsuto writes; many of those viewers were already miffed about other series that had treated homosexuality as a sickness, including the drama “Marcus Welby, M.D.”
But Arnold wasn’t one to back down from controversial topics (and the raucous applause received by the characters as they walked on set suggested that the studio audience, at least, was a relatively open-minded one). In Geoffrey Cowan’s 1980 book “See No Evil: The Backstage Battle Over Sex and Violence on Television,” Arnold is quoted as saying in a 1975 news conference that it would be “a tremendous disservice” to young people if “we keep telling them that life is ‘The Brady Bunch.’”
“It’s really our job to tell them that life has to do with issues, has to do with problems, has to do with sex, has to do with a lot of things that they’re going to come into contact with when they get out into the world,” he continued.
Nailing All’s Fair
Reviews have been scathing for All’s Fair, the new Hulu drama from Ryan Murphy which stunt-casted Kim Kardashian as it’s lead. I struggled to make it to the end of the first episode of the show.
This review from THR’s Angie Han actually sums up the show pretty well with this one paragraph:
But Kardashian’s performance, stiff and affectless without a single authentic note, is exactly what the writing, also stiff and affectless without a single authentic note, merits. Her very presence, which succeeds at generating buzz and not much else, feels fitting for a show that seems to want not to be watched so much as mined for viral bits and pieces.
News Desk
Nobody Wants This has been renewed for a third season by Netflix. Read: THR
Australia’s ABC is relaunching Race Around The World and have opened applications. Who wants to be the one to tell the ABC about all the travelogues on YouTube and TikTok? Read: iF
Reddit and video livestreaming service Kick have been added to the Australian Federal Government’s social media ban for users under the age of 16. Read: AFR
Fox has a remake of Bewitched in development. Read: Deadline
Eriq La Salle is the latest to exit the rejigged CBS drama CIA ahead of its debut. La Salle, best known for acting on ER and as a former Soul Glo spokesman, directed the first episode and was to continue on as an EP. Read: Deadline
OnlyFans has renewed its global partnership with DAZN to bring exclusive content to the sports streaming service. Because that’s why people visit OnlyFans. Read: C21
Apparently the character of Barney in How I Met Your Mother was originally written for a John Belushi-type. Read: TV Line
This week marks five years since the death of Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek. Read: TV Insider
Trailer Park
A Man on The Inside returns to Netflix for season 2 on Nov 20.
The Roses makes its debut on Hulu Nov 20.
The Death of Bunny Munro debuts on the UK’s Sky Nov 20.
A sex-addict traveling salesman uses his door-to-door beauty products to meet women.
Dehli Crime returns for season 3 on Netflix Nov 13.
Prep & Landing: The Snowball Protocol debuts on Disney+ Nov 20.
The Emmy-winning franchise returns after more than a decade, following Christmas elves Lanny and Wayne as their holiday mission unfolds with many merry mishaps.
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials debuts on Netflix Jan 15.
When a playful prank at a country manor leads to murder, an unlikely sleuth Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent must unravel a dangerous web of secrets in this captivating Agatha Christie adaptation.
That’s the newsletter for today.
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