ABC Radio Melbourne, “Mornings” program, 17 July 2017:
The federal communications department has refused to release details about $30 million in sports broadcasting funding given to Foxtel, because it says documents about the deal "do not exist".
Senior Producer for ABC Radio Melbourne Mornings, Dan Ziffer spoke to Jon Faine about the money, which was allocated to Foxtel in the 2016 federal budget to support "underrepresented sports."
"There appears to be no paper trail for the $30 million contract," Mr Ziffer said.
"Whatever was done about this deal, it certainly wasn't written down."
Director of the Australian Shareholders Association Stephen Mayne said he believed the government gave Foxtel the money to avoid making an enemy with the Murdoch media.
"Because the free to air networks were all getting a licence fee cut in the budget and the government wants to keep sweet with all of the media," he said.
"They didn't want to have an enemy in the Murdoch's so they just gave them $30 million and then had to come up with a reason."
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
19 July 2017:
Communications minister
Mitch Fifield has come under renewed pressure to explain why Foxtel – and not a
free-to-air network or public broadcaster – was given millions of dollars to
boost coverage of women's and niche sports.
The broadcaster was
assigned $30 million in taxpayer's money over four years in the 2017
federal budget in order to boost "under represented sports" on
subscription television….
Labor is opposed to the
Turnbull government's media reforms and the package has yet to pass the
Senate. Foxtel's funding was able to sail through the upper house because
it was bundled into the government's appropriation bills.
BACKGROUND
Financial
Review, 4
June 2017:
A
spate of recent deals show the influence broadcaster Fox Sports has on the
Australian sporting scene and how it may wield that power in the
future….
Government
subsidies to Fox increase
Fox
will also play a part in any FFA expansion plans for the A-League, with a small
kicker in the rights contract for additional matches as a result of more teams
at any stage of the six-year contract. It will have a say in where the new
teams come from.
Then
there is the budget 2017 deal with the federal government. The government will
provide subscription television worth $30 million over four years to
"maintain and increase coverage of women's sports, niche sports and
high-participation sports which have struggled to get air-time".
Yes,
that means Fox Sports – which already has an iron grip on sport with rights to
all NRL, AFL, Super Rugby and A-League matches and Supercars races – will
receive government funding to show even more sport.
While
the notion of giving money to ensure exposure for so-called lesser sports is a
positive one, it is going to a commercial organisation rather than a government
funded entity such as the ABC or SBS.
ABC
News, 28
December 2016:
Following
a day when there was more coverage of a stomach ache suffered by one male
commentator of one male sport than there was for the entire gamut of women's
sports being played at the moment, a very serious question remains unanswered.
Why,
on the eve of 2017, is the media still failing to report women's sport
adequately while Mark Nicholas' abdominal distress is national news?
Having
covered sport for more than 20 years with NewsCorp Julie Tullberg now teaches
digital journalism at Monash University.
"Yeah
it's pretty funny, I covered AFL many years ago for the Australian and I've
been unwell but when I left the coverage no-one could be bothered writing about
what I went through — if I was pregnant, or whatever — but with men, for someone
live on air for a big event like a Test match, that's newsworthy because they
have such a large audience," Tullberg told ABC NewsRadio.
Turn
on the radio, television, or go online during the 'summer of sport' and there
are updates galore on cricket, basketball and football (the round-ball
variety).
But
you would be excused for thinking only men play these games despite the fact
there are concurrent women's domestic competitions being played at the moment.
In
a country where there are four times as many journalists accredited to cover
the AFL than federal politics you would be right to suggest sport is a key
component of the national culture.
The
past 18 months or so in Australia have been record breaking for women's sport
... new competitions, new pay deals and a new level of respect from sports
bodies themselves.
Unfortunately,
though, that doesn't seem to extend to day-to-day mainstream media coverage.
The
Australian,
19 February 2016:
Subscription
television group Foxtel has reported a 5.5 per cent jump in first-half revenue
to $1.66 billion, driven by strong subscriber growth.
However,
higher programming costs saw earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and
amortisation slip by 7.7 per cent to $434 million.
Foxtel,
which is owned by Telstra and News Corp, the publisher of The Australian,
saw total subscriber growth of 8.1 per cent for the six months ended December
31 and broadcast subscriber growth of 7.4 per cent….
Fox
Sports Australia, which is carried by Foxtel and owned by News Corp,....
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