I believe 1 journalist from almost each regional newsroom has been laid off/relocated to metro permanently? I’ve noticed you only see reports from either 2 journos on Facebook.
Can anyone confirm this?
For example, FNQ only has Katarina Stefanovic and Maegan Gillespie?
The others were temporarily re-located
Now we know why the B&T article disappeared…
https://www.bandt.com.au/apology-to-southern-cross-austereo/
Wow, it’s 2020, do media still take down something just because it’s wrong? 
Yes, even more so now than before.
Too much fear of litigation.
An article in the SMH and Age discusses the problems with regional television, including the exorbitant affiliation fees, and a claim that SCA has not been generating enough revenue to pay Nine the full expected $100 million a year fee. The article includes this:
More:
These regional station groups never stop complaining
If the % affiliate deals are too high why do they sign them?
They sign because without the deals they have no programming and their business becomes worthless
So if that’s the cost of keeping your business IN business, the. That is what the affiliate deal is worth.
Streaming I get. 9Now, 7+ and 10Play are in direct competition with WIN, SCA and Prime7 And are at all time highs in terms of viewership and ad dollars
Perhaps the affiliates need negotiate a % of that revenue to be reverse paid to them? 30% of viewing would be coming from regional markets
Also affiliates should not pay programming fees in form of % ad revenue for local news.
They also sign them because they have no power.
Exactly, with a network affiliation - the regional station groups have no business
If you have no negotiating power in your business deals - there are some fundamental problems in your model
In the States, the affiliates have considerably more power as there are limits on reach, and there are more markets of significant size.
The only way the balance in Oz could be redressed is if all the regional broadcasters band together and either go on strike or simultaneously refuse to renegotiate their deals unless certain demands are met. But given how the agreements are expiring at different times, and how much they’re still trying to get a leg over each other, that seems unlikely.
Their businesses are basically worthless already (and have been for some time) - they trade on the back of another entity’s goodwill and have very few assets of any discernible value (especially now they’ve disposed of the majority of their studios), their transmission network (if they still own it) is a significant liability, yet necessary part of their operation.
Realistically there is only one buyer for each of these regional networks - their metro affiliate
Successive Governments have a lot to answer for here.
With the amount of local news broadcast rapidly reducing (and the additional ad revenue unlikely to significantly cover the cost of running a local news service), you’d have to question whether its worth fighting for.
The amount of content that the affiliates rely on being provided is also considerably less.
Hmmm…maybe if Nine were to return to WIN, and SCA goes with Ten, does that leave the door open for mergers or acquisitions (likely the latter?) if the rules were changed?
The article does state WIN did look at a merger with Nine, and I think SCA’s metro radio assets and TV stations could be a nice fit for Ten/ViacomCBS.
But yes, you lot are right, there are multiple reasons why regional TV, and indeed regional media in general, is in the shitter. The fact that 50% revenue deals and access to streaming services has hurt regional partners a lot, and in the case of the former, it didn’t raise alarm bells with any government.
Merging two poorly performing companies doesnt improve their performance
Just putting it out there.
SCA wants out of TV anyway. Shame there isn’t a buyer for their now-worthless licences.
Mediaspy fundraiser? I’ll chuck in a pineapple.
Something that came to me last night (and looking at the discussion that’s occurred here and in a few other threads it hasn’t been raised yet).
This is an article that ostensibly is about a Nine affiliation, in a Nine newspaper. I cant help but feel like this is an attempt by Nine to make the upcoming negotiations a bit tricky for SCA, to what end I dont know (they may want to buy the TV stations, they may want to have another go around with WIN, are they trying to get more money out of SCA?)
Yeah, I mentioned this another topic (I think the WIN News section).
It definitely feels like a bargaining tactic. I expect Nine would be reticent to go back to WIN.
But I thought those newspapers were Independent. Always. ?
And Fox News is “Fair and Balanced”