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Speaker 1: You can listen to the Front on your smart speaker

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Speaker 1: every morning to hear the latest episode. Just say play

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Speaker 1: the news from the Australian. From the Australian, here's what's

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Speaker 1: on the Front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Thursday, August twenty nine.

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Speaker 1: Core inflation is stuck at three point eight percent, although

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Speaker 1: there's been a fall in the headline figure to three

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Speaker 1: point five percent, indicating we're stuck with high mortgage rates

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Speaker 1: for at least another six months. A University of Sydney

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Speaker 1: professor has been found to have breached the UNI's code

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Speaker 1: of conduct by telling first year students Hamas terrorists' use

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Speaker 1: of rape and sexual violence was fake news and a hoax.

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Speaker 1: The university says will be disciplinary action, but she won't

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Speaker 1: lose her job. You can read that story in detail

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Speaker 1: right now at The Australian dot com dot AU. A

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Speaker 1: year of disasters, from a pushy chairman to an Olympic

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Speaker 1: torch disaster culminate in a twenty two percent profit slump

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Speaker 1: at nine Entertainment. So can the CEO keep his job?

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Speaker 1: That's today's story. It's been quite the year at Channel nine.

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Speaker 2: This is a network that is in absolute crisis.

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Speaker 3: The phone has not stopped.

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Speaker 1: Ringing allegations of misbehavior when who's got blowing the cover off?

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Speaker 1: Multiple claims of sexual harassment and bullying the loss of

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Speaker 1: a chairman after Peter Costello pushed The Australian's reporter Lea

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Speaker 1: Mendez to the ground.

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Speaker 3: Great, thank you.

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Speaker 1: If you've just assaulted me, you've just pushed me. It's

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Speaker 1: all on camera, mister Castillo.

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Speaker 4: Mister Costello, did you assault a journalist at Cambra Airport.

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Speaker 5: There's already speculation that this could put your chairmanship at risk.

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Speaker 1: What is your responsor that rubbish? The journalist said you

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Speaker 1: assaulted me and you loved and walked away good evening.

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Speaker 3: Former Federal Treasurer Peter Costello has resigned as chair of

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Speaker 3: Nine Entertainment days after appearing to shove a journalists to

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Speaker 3: the ground at Canberra Airport.

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Speaker 1: An unfortunate incident with the Olympic torch and CEO Mike

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Speaker 1: Sneezeby's cringe worthy running with Channel seven's journal Ray Cooker.

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Speaker 5: Really, you're trying to have a chat pretty straightforward though.

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Speaker 5: Should you have carried the torch yesterday? Is it inappropriate

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Speaker 5: this day in a bout hotel when you've just sacked

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Speaker 5: staff some stage guys, what about today because your staff

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Speaker 5: are going on strike today, why don't you to stop

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Speaker 5: and have a chat to us now?

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Speaker 1: So I'm meeting my family and you're.

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Speaker 5: A BOSSI of a media business here for work or

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Speaker 5: are you here on a holiday with your family?

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Speaker 1: A strike that threatened to blow up coverage of the

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Speaker 1: Paris Games.

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Speaker 4: Nine newspaper journalists have walked off the job on the

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Speaker 4: eve of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, I mean ongoing

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Speaker 4: disputes over pay rises among them twenty reporters who have

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Speaker 4: been flowing to Paris to cover the Olympics.

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Speaker 1: And now a twenty two percent profit slump well as

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Speaker 1: a highlight.

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Speaker 6: It's been a very tough environment across media in the

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Speaker 6: advertising market. As a CEO and as a leadership team,

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Speaker 6: we take complete accountability for the outcomes of the business.

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Speaker 3: It's been a tumultuous year to say the least.

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Speaker 1: So Fillsworth is a media reporter at The Australian. She

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Speaker 1: spoke to CEO Mike Sneezebe after he released nine's annual results,

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Speaker 1: a twenty two percent fall in annual profit after tax

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Speaker 1: to two hundred and sixteen point four million dollars and

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Speaker 1: revenue down in the company, and he's broadcasting arm by

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Speaker 1: ten percent. The company's print division held up better, with

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Speaker 1: a revenue drop of three percent from mastheads including The

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Speaker 1: Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review.

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Speaker 1: Nine's share price is also down around a dollar thirty

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Speaker 1: five by the end of Wednesday, compared with three dollars

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Speaker 1: two years ago.

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Speaker 2: It's very clear Mike Sneezebee is not going anywhere now

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Speaker 2: if that decision is up to him, he's staying put.

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Speaker 2: And yes he's got a lot of work to do.

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Speaker 2: They still don't have the results from the external review

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Speaker 2: into allegations of misconduct they've just made recently two hundred

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Speaker 2: people redundant across the business. The whole way people consume

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Speaker 2: TV has been totally flipped on its head. Appointment viewing TV,

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Speaker 2: where you sit down at seven point thirty on a

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Speaker 2: Tuesday evening to watch your particular show is long gone.

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Speaker 2: People are streaming content, they're watching it when it suits them,

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Speaker 2: They're doing catch up television. So this has really presented

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Speaker 2: many challenges for freeedoware networks who rely on that advertising dollar.

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Speaker 2: They have had to branch out and try and make

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Speaker 2: this work in the streaming world because there's so many

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Speaker 2: competitors out there, choice out there, big streamers, global streamers

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Speaker 2: such as Netflix, who are stealing the eyeballs away from

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Speaker 2: freeedoware TV.

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Speaker 1: Mike's needs be told Sophie he was feeling optimistic.

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Speaker 6: If I summarize the result today, obviously the market, the

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Speaker 6: advertising market in particular pre toware market has been tough

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Speaker 6: in AFI twenty four.

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Speaker 7: Over the long term, we think.

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Speaker 6: Our publishing business, with the strength of selves growth that

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Speaker 6: we've had in our frood growth across that base, we'd

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Speaker 6: expect to see the opportunity for publishing to be a

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Speaker 6: positive earnings growth business. I feel very strongly that this business,

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Speaker 6: the leadership team and everywhere across nine is performing exceptionally well,

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Speaker 6: and of course I take accountability for the entire performance

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Speaker 6: of this company.

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Speaker 1: Bart He's had to take a cut to his bonus

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Speaker 1: and will only take home a total package of two

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Speaker 1: point one million dollars, down from nearly two point seven

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Speaker 1: million the previous year.

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Speaker 2: Well, obviously the executives has not reached the targets that

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Speaker 2: they needed to reach.

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Speaker 3: To get their full bonuses.

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Speaker 2: It would have been a bad look if they did

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Speaker 2: get their full bonuses. But I think Mike Sneezbey has

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Speaker 2: made a few decisions that has left many people within

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Speaker 2: nine very annoyed. When he made hundreds of staff redundant.

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Speaker 2: He announced this short time after that he was on

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Speaker 2: a plane to Greece for a family wedding that did

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Speaker 2: not go down well. It then emerged that he was

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Speaker 2: running with the Olympic torch in the run up to

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Speaker 2: the Paris Olympics, where nine had the broadcasting rights.

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Speaker 3: People were saying within.

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Speaker 2: Nine and definitely out of nine, this is.

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Speaker 3: A bad look.

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Speaker 2: This is a man who is running a media company

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Speaker 2: with a long list of problems and he's not reading

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Speaker 2: the room. It was a tone deaf decision for him

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Speaker 2: to continue running with that torch where he was basking

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Speaker 2: in glory. Meanwhile back home, hundreds of staff are being

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Speaker 2: made redundant.

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Speaker 1: Here's a little of Sophie's interview.

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Speaker 3: Going back to the Olympics.

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Speaker 2: Do you regret running with the Olympic torch given all

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Speaker 2: the concerns that were raised, particularly when the staff walkouts occurred,

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Speaker 2: about you taking part in the torch relay.

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Speaker 6: As I'm sure you'll understand.

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Speaker 8: Our engagements with the IOIC began some two and a

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Speaker 8: half years before doing the Games opened in Paris, a

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Speaker 8: long road of engaging with the IOIC, in negotiating to

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Speaker 8: commercial outcomes, a year and a half of thousands of

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Speaker 8: scarf across nine working to get ready for the Olympic Games,

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Speaker 8: and my commitment to run with the torch at the

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Speaker 8: invitation of the IOC was made.

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Speaker 7: A long long time before the torch relay occurred. It's

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Speaker 7: absolutely appropriate for the CEO of a major broadcast partner

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Speaker 7: who's embarking on a ten year journey with a partner

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Speaker 7: like the IOC to participate in a way that I participated.

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Speaker 7: I certainly wasn't going to at short notice cancel my

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Speaker 7: commitment with the IOC. Again, my being at the Olympic

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Speaker 7: Games was a short trip, postly carrying of the torch

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Speaker 7: and the opening ceremony. I stayed a couple of days

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Speaker 7: additionally and returned back to Australia and sure that I

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Speaker 7: was focused on running the business and working with the

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Speaker 7: team who.

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Speaker 8: Are based back here.

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Speaker 1: He was pretty defiant. He kind of indicated that the

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Speaker 1: IOC would have been very disappointed. If he'd not run

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Speaker 1: with the torch. But doesn't really hold water, does it.

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Speaker 3: You know?

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Speaker 2: Following this weeks later, there was staff who had t

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Speaker 2: shirts printed with him running with the torch, mocking him

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Speaker 2: as a result of him making that decision when they're

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Speaker 2: fighting for pay rises. He's on multimillion dollar contract and

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Speaker 2: he's decided to run with the torch over in Paris.

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Speaker 2: It seemed to many that he was completely out of

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Speaker 2: touch with reality back.

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Speaker 1: Home, coming up, why some of nine's biggest stars have

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Speaker 1: been bumped from the pointy end of the plane. Don't forget.

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Speaker 1: Subscribers to The Australian get access to expert analysis around

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Speaker 1: the clock. Join us at the Australian dot com dot au.

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Speaker 1: It's a lot cheaper than a business class flight. We'll

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Speaker 1: be back after this break. Around the world, commercial TV

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Speaker 1: networks are struggling big time. Here's our media editor James

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Speaker 1: Madden talking about seven West Media's results released earlier this month.

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Speaker 9: Net profit before taxes is down sixty nine percent. Group

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Speaker 9: revenue overall has slipped five percent. There's not much silver

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Speaker 9: in any of the linings at seven New CEO Jeff Howard,

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Speaker 9: who's been in the job since April, so just over

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Speaker 9: four months. Was definitely sought to put a positive spin

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Speaker 9: on these numbers, which by any measure are shocking.

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Speaker 1: In New Zealand, the only commercial TV news provider, TV three,

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Speaker 1: shot its suite of news and current affairs shows earlier

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Speaker 1: this year and replaced them with a six pm news

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Speaker 1: bulletin outsourced to a different newsroom.

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Speaker 3: It's a sad day for democracy and journalism in New Zealand.

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Speaker 5: That's just some of the reaction to today's announcement that

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Speaker 5: news Hub, one of the biggest newsrooms in the country,

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Speaker 5: is set to shut down.

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Speaker 1: It's prompting questions that would have been unthinkable a decade ago,

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Speaker 1: like can commercial TV news survive. One of the other

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Speaker 1: big changes that's being made at Channel seven now is

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Speaker 1: a dramatic reduction in wages through the redundancies being given

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Speaker 1: to senior and long serving staff. I've noticed in your

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Speaker 1: media diary that you write with James Madden in The

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Speaker 1: Australian Sophie that there are obvious signs that nine superstars

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Speaker 1: are having their belts tightened. You know, not so many

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Speaker 1: first class flights anymore. Do you think we're going to

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Speaker 1: see a clean out of their highest earning talent.

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Speaker 3: Well, both networks.

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Speaker 2: There seems to be some talent there that is still

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Speaker 2: on very high incomes. Those days of these stars receiving

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Speaker 2: big salaries each year are coming to an end. The

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Speaker 2: TV stations can simply not justify it and are looking

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Speaker 2: at ways to cut costs everywhere they can. They still

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Speaker 2: have some big names on their books contracts still to.

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Speaker 3: Be seen out.

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Speaker 2: So what seene to be happening is when a lot

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Speaker 2: of these contracts with big stars, including newsreaders, are coming

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Speaker 2: to an end, they simply chop up the contract, offer

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Speaker 2: them something far less, or send them on their way

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Speaker 2: and get someone younger and cheaper. And this is a

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Speaker 2: trend that's happening across commercial freeedom are TV because there's

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Speaker 2: few jobs, a lot of people who want those jobs,

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Speaker 2: and they can offer less now than those decades ago

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Speaker 2: when the big stars were getting eyewatering salaries.

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Speaker 1: Sophie Elsworth is a media writer with The Australian. The

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Speaker 1: newly minted Northern Territory government is facing its first big challenge.

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Speaker 1: It's been revealed police were too late to save a

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Speaker 1: woman allegedly killed in a domestic violence incident. You can

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Speaker 1: read that exclusive story, as well as all our journalism

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Speaker 1: right now at the Australian dot com dot au