Cricket rights clouded as Nine, Ten bid gets swift dismissal

CA’s terse rejection of a Nine-Ten bid has negotiations in limbo; plus, who will replace Antony Catalano at Domain?

Johannes Leak’s view.

What is the definition of happiness? SBS newsreader Anton Enus supplies the answer: “Scan showing there’s no discernible cancer left in my body. It’s been a long 16 months of radiation, chemo and surgery, but all concerned have emerged smiling.” SBS did not replace Enus after he was diagnosed with bowel cancer in December 2016, with single newsreaders reading the SBS World News at 6.30pm while he was on sick leave. Last year Enus, who has annual bowel cancer screenings after turning 50 just like you are meant to, wrote movingly for SBS about his emotions when diagnosed. “My partner, Roger, and I had just been to see the consultant surgeon at Prince of Wales hospital and he’d sketched for us what we could hope for from the surgery. I had sat there blank-faced but inwardly agonising, because what he said was horrifying to me. Let’s just say it involved significant sacrifices to my quality of life. As we left the consulting room and walked back towards the hospital reception I broke down, engulfed in a spasm of loud sobbing. It had all become too much. Out of control. Unpredictable. Scary. I wanted my health back. I stood there with my head on Roger’s shoulder in a state of the purest despair.” Enus is a Bowel Cancer Australia ambassador and says about two out of three eligible people don’t have the screening test. “Two out of three! It’s hard to believe people could be so cavalier about something so fundamental. Just do it. It could save your life. I reckon it saved mine.”

Non-compliant cricket

Cricket Australia’s rejection of a consortium bid by Nine and Ten was so blunt it has left both networks unsure how to proceed. The governing body sent a brief terse email that said the joint bid was “non-compliant”. And that was pretty much that. No explanation and no indication about how the networks could advance negotiations. Since then the world has turned on its ear with Nine’s very expensive acquisition of the tennis from Seven and the cheating scandal pushing the sport into crisis. While Cricket Australia rejected the consortium, discussions are ongoing with other parties. But remember the anti-siphoning rules are key and govern the sale of the international Test matches involving Australia played in Australia, and any Ashes series. The domestic Big Bash League, which CBS-owned Ten wants, as does Fox Sports, is not on the list. The Department of Communications says: “Regardless of what bids have been made, rights would not be available to be purchased by a subscription broadcaster until a free-to-air broadcaster had secured a right, or the 26-week automatic delisting period is reached.” And that only occurs 26 weeks before an event starts. One media observer of the rights negotiations was much more colourful. “They can be quite weird. People can go off in their corners and sulk.”

At the barrier

Wise heads were keen to avoid a Melbourne Cup field in the ballot to replace Matt Peacock as staff- elected ABC board director. Brigid Glanville and Stephen Long are out of the running after NSW news reporter Philippa McDonald got the NSW MEAA nod. The random draw is completed and joining her on the ballot are: Melbourne journo Karen Percy, digital specialist Nicholas Gledhill, (he played the kid in Careful He Might Hear You), sound recordist Anthony Hill, Landline executive producer Ben Hawke, news presenter Jason Om, sport and news presenter Tracey Holmes, head of TV operations Manda Hatter, strategy executive Jane Connors and Brisbane news presenter Matt Wordsworth. Connors is in with a chance, with backing from the Community and Public Sector Union and former staff-elected director Quentin Dempster. The ballot, supervised by the Electoral Commission, closes at 10am on April 20. Sportsbet odds were unavailable at time of publication.

Domain’s empty chair

Who is going to replace Antony Catalano, who shocked markets on January 22 when he abruptly left as boss of Fairfax’s listed Domain real estate classified group. Chairman Nick Falloon stepped up as executive chairman and Fairfax’s own publications ran headlines such as “The fall of a party boy”. Falloon later confirmed Catalano had resigned after being called in over a human resources complaint about the company’s culture. The former chief executive had cited conflicting family reasons for leaving. Domain then reported a $2.4 million loss weighed down by separation costs. A replacement for Catalano doesn’t appear to be in the immediate offing. One school of thought is Falloon stays in the job while issues surrounding the departure are sorted, leaving his successor a clean slate. Or it could just be that, despite an international search, they ain’t got no one yet.

Guthrie on the grill

Coming soon — “The Senate versus the ABC Part II: The Wrath of Khan”. April 11 at 9am is the scheduled date and time for the special spillover session so senators can ask managing director Michelle Guthrie and editorial policy boss Alan Sunderland, who kind of seems to be the de facto editor in chief, all the questions they didn’t get to last time because senator Kristina Keneally had them on the ropes over Emma Alberici. Hot rumour is that ABC news director Gaven Morris, whom ALP senators requested appear, won’t attend. Diary was wrong last week when we said Alberici had spruiked some jewellery on Instagram during the Logies. We were wrong. Sorry. It was in fact Twitter. Alberici posted our column up with a comment “#factsmatter”. They do indeed, they do indeed.

Faine’s major fail

The clock is surely ticking on ABC Radio Melbourne mornings announcer Jon Faine after his car crash interview of the week, probably the month and maybe even the year. Faine is 61. Carly Findlay, a writer and the inclusion co-ordinator of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, appeared on his program last week to discuss “microaggressions” in society that affect disabled people. But Findlay, who suffers from an extremely rare, painful, non-contagious condition ichthyosis which causes her skin to dry and turn red, immediately encountered more than a few macroaggressions from Faine, who told her she looked like “a burns victim almost, and your whole face is covered with this red flush”. At one point Faine interrupted “it can’t be good on Halloween?” which left Findlay lost for words. Faine then asked what was the worst question Findlay had to answer, which turned out to be “can you have sex?” So then he asked for the answer. Findlay wrote on her blog the title of the show should have changed from “talking microaggressions with Jon Faine” to “the time he suggested my face would be good at Halloween and other interrogations”. “I was genuinely nervous about the interview this morning, mostly about the power imbalance when discussing the subject matter. Today was really hard, and I expected to be treated better.” The segment co-host Sally Warharft, who invited Findlay on, was said to be furious. Faine apologised on air and the ABC went into damage control. “Jon spoke to Carly about how people with disabilities regularly deal with micro-aggressions from others. Jon intended no offence to Carly, but accepts a number of his comments were insensitive and sincerely apologises for any distress that she has felt as a result of the interview.” After 22 years in the morning slot, it is time for a transition. Faine is so powerful at the ABC, he is practically alone in having resisted the push to combine breakfast and morning slots that occurred everywhere else. But watch out. Former ABC Radio Melbourne breakfast presenter Red Symons asked journalist Beverley Wang “what’s the deal with Asians?” during a combative interview last June. He he was gone by the end of the year.

Turning on his own

Cheapskate of the week is Tony Jones, the Melbourne Nine News reporter and sometime 3AW host. Jones urged his Twitter audience to read an excellent column (one of many) by this paper’s Peter Lalor on the cricket crisis. But then he advised readers to try to get around the paywall. The blowback managed to unite reporters from The Oz, The Guardian, and Herald Sun, among others, that took Jones to task for trying to do journos out of their income. Jones issued a shameful and rather lame retraction.