This Month
ASX rebounds; News Corp sells Foxtel; Packer’s $400m Toorak project
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
News Corp sells Foxtel to British sports streaming giant in $3.4b deal
The multibillion-dollar deal will dramatically alter the local media landscape and create a rich competitor for sports broadcast deals.
- Zoe Samios
DAZN chief executive lands in Sydney as Foxtel buyout talks progress
Shay Segev’s visit comes at the same time as Rupert Murdoch has returned to the country for the first time in six years and as News Corp assesses bids for Foxtel.
- Sam Buckingham-Jones
Bledisloe win every two years: Waugh’s lofty plan for Rugby Australia
The governing body wants to win the British and Irish Lions tour, Olympic medals and the Bledisloe Cup every two years under an ambitious new four-year strategy.
- Zoe Samios
Foxtel’s UK suitor calls in Bank of America for advice
The group, backed by billionaire Len Blavatnik, is understood to be working with BofA’s telecommunications and media team.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
November
- Exclusive
- Media & marketing
Billionaire-backed British sports streamer turns Foxtel suitor
DAZN has been trying to build a global platform, aggressively expanding including in Australia. News Corp’s cable TV business could be its next target.
- Sam Buckingham-Jones
- Updated
- Activist shareholders
Most non-Murdoch News Corp investors backed failed share collapse
A bid to end the family’s ‘outsized influence’ on the company has been “convincingly” defeated, News Corp says. Most other shareholders backed it, early results suggest.
- Updated
- Sam Buckingham-Jones
V8 Supercars taps advisers for $200m-plus TV deal
Sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations said the motor racing organisation has already met with Nine and incumbents Seven and Foxtel about a new deal.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
October
Financial manoeuvring shows Foxtel machinations as News considers sale
The Murdoch family-controlled media empire put its cable and streaming business in Australia on the auction block after receiving “third-party interest”.
- Sam Buckingham-Jones
Ex-Foxtel exec Amanda Laing’s lavish all-female farewell
The well-connected media executive was celebrated at a woman-only event at Ivy Penthouse last week.
- Mark Di Stefano
The media storm behind the NRL’s next billion-dollar play
Peter V’landys and his chief executive Andrew Abdo want a mammoth broadcast deal to shore up the code’s future. Will they bring an NFL-style model to Australia?
- Zoe Samios and Sam Buckingham-Jones
September
Streaming powerhouse to launch in Australia next year
A new streaming player will deal a blow to Foxtel, which stands to lose HBO shows like “Succession”, “True Detective” and “Game of Thrones”.
- Sam Buckingham-Jones
The three headaches of Rupert Murdoch in his battle for control
A bombshell lawsuit between Rupert, Lachlan and his other children begins in Reno, Nevada, next week. Meanwhile, shareholders want change and Foxtel’s for sale.
- Sam Buckingham-Jones
A $1.2b refi at Foxtel may supersede News Corp’s sale attempts
Goldman Sachs is mailing out non-disclosure agreements to suitors, including a faction of opportunistic investors that aren’t afraid to tackle basket cases.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
August
Why Australian companies need to worry about a 36-year-old US law
Australian companies which have video available in the United States could be unknowingly exposed to privacy laws passed following a scandal about the publishing of a Supreme Court nominee’s mundane video store rental history.
- Max Mason
Perpetual’s new CEO; Domino’s boss scrambles; Coffee boosts Breville
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
Video of Foxtel boss Patrick Delany’s Nazi salute emerges
The footage shows the chief executive imitating a pose infamously struck by former soccer goalkeeper Mark Bosnich in 1996.
- Sam Buckingham-Jones
- Exclusive
- Streaming
Fox Sports, AFL, NRL sued in US over alleged misuse of Meta tracking
The legal actions centre around the use of a monitoring tool on subscription services to watch the football codes outside Australia.
- Updated
- Max Mason
- Opinion
- Telecommunications
Why Telstra’s latest strategy shift might pay off
Why Vicki Brady wants to keep Telstra’s infrastructure assets close and growing even if mobiles remain today’s success story.
- Updated
- Jennifer Hewett
- Updated
- Earnings season
Foxtel on the block as News Corp confronts reality
The publishing and broadcasting multinational says there is acquisition interest in its pay television arm after a year-long study of its assets.
- Updated
- Sam Buckingham-Jones