Presto came and went so quickly too nobody had a chance to find it
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200 staff is a lot.
This is massive.
I’m not sure some regional operations will survive this round of cuts?
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Anxious employees say they have received little clarity from management on the scope or timeline, with one telling Mediaweek they feared it would be a “bloodbath” in the coming weeks.
According to another source familiar with the matter, the in-house AI tool generates web-ready copy and imagery from broadcast content in minutes. It is already being deployed across both broadcast and digital teams.
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SCM has released a statement to the ASX about the job cuts. It said between 250 and 300 full time staff would leave the company before June 30.
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Oh didn’t know Mohammed Skaf was involved with SA, hopefully he get’s let go!
(that’s a joke about ABC running unrelated supers over stories)
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Good call 8 days ago and looks like you were spot on and seems to refer to (e.g.) 4pm news, according to Knoxy at TVT.
2005 Heelers all over again. Only that time they were successful, no guarantee for NRL, yet.
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You heard it here at MS first 
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Absolutely gross to see the SCA/SWM execs on LinkedIn giving platitudes to outgoing staff and feigning sadness at how hard these cuts are. All while still making sure in the same post to pump up record revenue shares and growing audiences.
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Southern Cross Media boss defends 300 job cuts but warns of ‘no quick fix’
The boss of Southern Cross Media Group, Rohan Lund, has defended the decision to axe up to 300 staff, saying the dramatic “reset” is necessary to safeguard the company’s future but warning against any expectations of a quick fix.
Mr Lund said media reports stating that Channel 7’s TV broadcast division would be the hardest hit by the job cuts were incorrect.
“This was a comprehensive, group-wide initiative touching all functions and departments, with corporate and back-of-office roles being the most impacted,” he said.
TV sales veteran Peter Charles appointed SCA Melbourne MD
Southern Cross Austereo has appointed Seven TV sales veteran Peter Charles as managing director of the newly merged business in Melbourne.
Charles has been with Seven Network in Melbourne since 1999, joining the broadcaster as group sales manager, a role he held for the next decade.
Since 2008, he has held a succession of senior sales leadership roles across Victoria, adding the title of managing director in 2024.
Hamish and Andy talking about having dinner with the CEO of SCA on Monday Night
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How sad is it Hamish & Andy are soooo tied in with SCA, yet we can rarely hear their content on SCA’s Hit Network stations.
They should really at least do a weekly weekend Hamish & Andy show on Hit, or even better, have them on early drive 3-4pm.
Southern Cross Media Group Announces Chris Jones as Director of Sport - TV, Audio and Streaming
Southern Cross Media Group has announced the appointment of Chris Jones to the newly created role of Director of Sport - TV, Audio and Streaming. Effective immediately, this company-wide position will lead sports strategy across the group.
In this new position, Jones will oversee the strategic direction of Seven and SCA’s combined sport portfolios. He will be responsible for driving a unified sport strategy that scales and grows the group’s footprint across broadcast television, audio, digital, publishing and social platforms, establishing an unmatched competitive advantage in the Australian media landscape. In addition, Jones will lead sports rights negotiations on behalf of the entire group, creating cross-platform deals that maximise value across the entire network.
A highly accomplished sports media executive, Jones brings more than two decades of industry experience to the position. Most recently serving as Director of Network Sport at Seven since July 2024, Jones has spent more than 16 years with the network in senior leadership and production roles, including six years as Executive Producer of 7Cricket. Throughout his career, Jones has been instrumental in delivering ratings successes and managing broadcasts for major sporting events, including the AFL, the Australian Open, the US Masters, the Rio Olympic Games and the Spring Racing Carnival.
This role brings together the respected assets of 7Sport, Triple M and LiSTNR under a single aligned structure establishing a combined sports content powerhouse. The complementary audience reach of the business is already delivering massive results. Cross-promotion on Seven has unlocked historic scale for Triple M and LiSTNR, while Triple M’s unique audience has fuelled year-on-year streaming growth on 7plus across Cricket, the AFL, and Horse Racing.
Uniting these operations unlocks significant scale and resource efficiencies, driving more original programming and snackable content across all platforms to meet the needs of the modern sports consumer.
Chris Jones said: “It’s a privilege to lead this merged team of some of the country’s most talented on and off-air broadcasters. Working closely with Ewan Giles and the SCA sport team, we now have an incredible opportunity to capitalise on our strengths, allowing us to share talent, resources, and ideas seamlessly while protecting what makes each brand distinctive.
“Bringing our sports offering together marks a major evolution in content consumption. By elevating digital and social media alongside traditional TV and audio broadcasts, we will capture fans who engage with content far beyond our traditional assets. Every platform matters, every audience matters, and everyone on our team plays a role across all assets.”
“This team will heavily support, promote and launch our diverse scale of assets across the merged company - including our Western Australian products, 7NEWS, Sunrise and our entertainment slate across audio and TV, into every market around Australia.”
“Sport audiences want great coverage whenever and however they consume it. By bringing together 7SPORT, Triple M and LiSTNR sport, we are building Australia’s most complete sports media operation, delivering engaging content wherever you are, throughout the whole day."
Managing Director - TV and Streaming, Angus Ross said: “Seven and SCA’s dominance in sport is unmatched, and bringing both businesses together has provided a massive opportunity to maximise our footprint across broadcast and audio. Chris has an incredible track record with Seven and the broader sporting industry. Having worked closely with Triple M over the years, it makes perfect sense to extend his expertise across audio to lead negotiations across all pillars. Chris has live sport in his DNA and has spent over 20 years delivering every major sporting code across the country. He has the deep respect of the sporting codes and a proven history of delivering great outcomes for the game, and bringing all these assets together under one sports strategy is a massive win for our audiences and advertisers.”
Managing Director - Audio, John Kelly said: “Sport holds an unrivalled power to connect Australians, and this unified strategy delivers a massive competitive advantage. The SCA sports team already drives strong engagement through Triple M and LiSTNR, built on a legacy of passion, expert insight, and unmatched talent. By working closer with Seven under Chris’ leadership we are unlocking a powerful cross-medium ecosystem. For our audiences, it means the country’s most comprehensive sports coverage, and for our clients and partners, it provides an unprecedented scale to reach highly engaged fans at every hour of the day.”
Beyond dedicated sports programs, the unified sports division will play an active role in supporting, promoting, and launching entertainment and news assets across the entire company including 7NEWS, Sunrise, The Morning Show, Seven’s Western Australian assets, and the broader audio and TV platforms. For advertisers, the combined entity provides substantial scale and cross-platform synergy, offering the unique ability to reach diverse, highly engaged audiences at every hour of the day.
In his new role, Chris Jones will report to Seven’s Managing Director, TV and Streaming, Angus Ross, while working closely with Managing Director and CEO, Rohan Lund and the business’ core strategic pillars including Managing Director - Audio, John Kelly and SWM WA CEO, Maryna Fewster to drive the joint strategy. Head of Sport Content - Audio, Ewan Giles will report directly to Jones, driving seamless operational synergy across the unified SCA and Seven sports teams.
Seven, Circana and Experian connect the dots
New collaboration brings together purchase data, consumer profiling, audience activation
The Seven Network today announced a new collaboration between its REDiQ data platform, consumer behaviour company Circana, and data and identity firm Experian that will give brands and agencies a richer, more actionable view of Australian shoppers.
Launching on 17 August, the three-way arrangement combines Circana’s verified purchase data with Experian’s consumer profiling and REDiQ’s base of 15.5 million verified 7plus users. Brands will be able to plan, target and measure campaigns against audiences built on a combination of real-world purchase behaviour, demographic and household attributes, and lifestyle signals.
Seven’s Director of Data and Growth, Andrew Brain, said the collaboration addressed a longstanding gap in how purchase data is used in media campaigns.
“Circana provides verified purchase intelligence, Experian helps us understand who they are inside REDiQ, and together that enables us to visualise insights and activate at scale,” he said. “The result is precision targeting, smarter media investment and measurable commercial outcomes.”
Mr Brain said each of the three components contributes a distinct layer to the combined capability. Circana ProScores bring verified purchase behaviour, category spend, brand loyalty and switching signals. Experian adds demographics, household composition, affluence, life stage and lifestyle segmentation. REDiQ provides authenticated reach and deterministic targeting across all digital channels at scale, including 7plus, digital audio platform LiSTNR and digital publishing.
“The end result enables brands to reach high-value shopper segments with greater precision than existing retail media approaches, and to connect media investment directly to sales outcomes,” he said.
“This is about building the most complete and actionable view of the Australian shopper. We can now identify audiences based on what they buy, who they are and how they live – and then reach those people with advertising across digital platforms using verified customer data.”
The collaboration covers the full campaign cycle. In the planning phase, brands can build audience segments based on verified purchase history, household characteristics and category demand signals. During a campaign, creative and messaging can be aligned to specific household profiles and purchase behaviours. After a campaign, media exposure can be attributed to real-world purchase outcomes and incremental sales lift measured.
A key benefit of the arrangement is the ability for brands to extend data-driven insights and campaigns into retail media ecosystems, giving brands access to incremental insights through REDiQ.
Jarna McLean, Director of Strategic Growth at Circana, said: “Combining purchase intelligence with Experian’s consumer enrichment and REDiQ’s activation capabilities enables brands to move from insight to action faster, delivering measurable improvements in targeting precision and return on investment.
“Built on REDiQ’s privacy-first, authenticated data framework, the solution ensures compliant, secure and responsible data use while delivering scalable, actionable audience intelligence across Australia.”
In 2024, Seven launched REDiQ4U, giving agencies and marketers direct access to the platform’s consumer insights. 7plus insights will soon be accompanied by digital audio insights with LiSTNR to be added later this year, allowing REDiQ4U to draw on more than 3,000 real-world and digital data points. REDiQ4U includes partnerships with Westpac DataX, CarExpert, Raiz, Equifax, LandmarksID, Weatherzone and Circana.
SCA appoints Sylvia Wiggins as a director
Southern Cross Media Group has appointed Sylvia Wiggins to its board as an independent non-executive director.
Wiggins comes to SCA with close to three decades experience as a non-executive director, and currently serves on the boards of Vocus, Lochard Energy, Ausgrid, and Epic Energy.
She will also join SCA’s Audit and Risk Committee, and will succeed Teresa Dyson as the ARC chair.
That’s rather apt for someone involved with data.
Also, does he have a friend called Pinky? 
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