Interesting allegation from Stephen Mayne. Kerry Stokes has strongly supported Ben Roberts-Smith, the general manager of Seven’s Queensland operations, including funding his court costs against Nine-Fairfax.
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Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes wants to help members of the Special Air Service Regiment accused of war crimes, their families, and other members of the elite military unit through a special fund he helped establish, according to his spokesman.
Mr Stokes also plans to donate the Victoria Cross and other medals awarded to former SAS corporal Ben Roberts-Smith to the Australian War Memorial if Mr Roberts-Smith is unable to repay a loan to the media billionaire.
If Roberts-Smith is found guilty of any war crimes those medals would presumably be withdrawn and they would have to returned to the government / Governor-General. They wouldn’t be placed in the Australian War Memorial.
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James Warburton has this week been gifted 11,250,000 shares in SWM as his performance rights bonus, which are currently worth $2,868,750.
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Smart of him to make that deal
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Today’s SMH article about the stalled sale of TX Australia (of which Seven has a half share) also mentions talks between SWM and Banijay (which owns Screentime and Endemol Shine) on the sale of Seven Studios have slowed, partly because SWM wants to keep the intellectual property of programs such as Home and Away and My Kitchen Rules.
I forecast this when it was first reported that SWM was putting up its studio production business up for sale.
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Seven West Media is a hotspot in Sydney’s Northern Beaches cluster. What will happen now? Would all staff need to be tested?
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I have noticed in recent weeks that SWM’s share price has improved from where it was six months ago.
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Clare Gill joins Seven West Media
Seven West Media (ASX: SWM) today announced the appointment of Clare Gill as Head of Regulatory and Government Affairs, effective 1 February.
Ms Gill will be responsible for Government and regulatory affairs, corporate affairs, industry group representation, external stakeholder management and strategic input to business strategy.
Ms Gill’s appointment follows the departure of Justine McCarthy, who is moving to a new role as Senior Adviser to the Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP.
Justine McCarthy has been a highly valued member of the Seven West Media team since 2012 and has made an important contribution across many parts of our business. We are sad to lose her, and she leaves with our thanks and very best wishes for the future.
The fact that she has been selected for the new role with our Minister is a tribute to her abilities, experience and profile and we look forward to continuing our association with her on industry matters at a Government level.
We are delighted to welcome Clare Gill to Seven West Media. Clare has a long and impressive track record in government, regulatory and corporate affairs, as well as policy development, industry relations and business strategy.
She is a strong addition to our executive team and joins at a critical time for Seven West Media and the media industry in general.
James Warburton , Seven West Media Managing Director and Chief
Ms Gill’s career includes four years as Group Director, Regulatory Affairs and Spectrum Strategy, at Nine and five years as Head of Government and Corporate Affairs at SingTel Optus.
I am thrilled to be joining Seven West Media at such an exciting time for the business and the industry. I am looking forward to working with the team as they continue to innovate and reshape the future of media.
Clare Gill
It has been a great privilege to lead the Regulatory and Government Affairs team at Seven West Media and drive the achievement of a range of significant policy reforms for the media sector over the past eight years.
At a time when this sector faces significant challenges and opportunities, I look forward to working with the Minister and contributing towards the ongoing evolution of regulatory policy from a broader perspective.
Justine McCarthy
Seven West Media implement Magnite’s new ad solution for CTV
7plus are driving further innovation in the BVOD market with bold new moves – including testing underway of Magnite’s (a leading Programmatic technology) Universal Decisioning tool which will allow all advertisers (Programmatic & Direct) improved access to all our growing addressable audience. In addition to this, new rules on placements will ensure advertisers receive the most impactful spread of their impressions across the stream regardless of how they buy.
Magnite has been a long-trusted partner and has a history of delivering innovative solutions to support our continued growth.
We look forward to continuing that partnership with the use of the Unified Decisioning across our BVOD business.
Luke Smith, Head of Programmatic Sales at Seven West Media
Initial results are encouraging and we’re looking forward to bringing more improvements to advertisers so they can connect to our audience more effectively and with greater impact.
Free to air was in decline before COVID. There is also a generational change in viewing preferences and platforms which will likely cause an eventual death spiral for some players.
If advertising revenue collapses, Seven needs to get a subscription streaming component to work in the long term.
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Never say never.
Well then tell us who they are then.
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Great to see Seven West Media’s share price now sitting at 0.50 AUD.
6 months ago it was only at 0.12 AUD.
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Some positive signs from Seven reporting.
Net debt reduced 42 per cent to $329 million, a decrease of $241 million vs 1H20;$150 million of debt retired post half year end.
Operating expenses declined 81% to $480 million.
Underlying net profit after tax (excluding significant items) was $86.6 million, an increase of 26.5 per cent on the previous year.
Secured #1 position in broadcast and BVOD audience share. Digital revenue up 73%.
Source: Seven West Media Unveils $116M Profit In Half Years Amid "Positive Signs Of Recovery" - B&T
Seven brought in $49,272,000 in affiliate fees from Prime, SCA and WIN for the six months to December 2020, which was down from $52,911,000 for the six months to December 2019.
Two interesting things stuck out for me in the comments Warburton made in the press release about SWM’s 1st half results:
“FY21 will see an incremental $30 million cash saving, further lowering our cash expenses
and increasing leverage to the market recovery. We will continue to maintain a sharp focus
on operating costs, including onerous sports contracts.
The only property/contract which comes to mind that would fit the category would be cricket. While we don’t know how the arbitration process with CA, think it’s becoming clear (subject to circumstances/the situation changing) that Seven probably won’t be renewing that deal when it ends.
“We have addressed our content strategy and cost base to provide a path to debt reduction.
While this continues, we believe that media consolidation and a focus on building a bigger
and better business is still our major priority
If consolidation is their major priority, wonder which companies Seven could buy out/merge with?