MEDIA RELEASE
19th March 2010
For further information:
Niki White
The Lantern Group
niki@lanterngroup.com.au
02 9383 4038 / 0403 176988
ASTRA 2010 CONFERENCE DRAWS A CROWD AND DELIVERS
STATEMENTS FROM EXPERTS AROUND THE WORLD
Mike Fries from Liberty Global, told us why people are falling back in love with the television; executive
producer Mark Burnett said, "Anybody can make crappy TV," and FOXTEL chief Kim Williams said Freeview
gave viewers a taste of what pay-TV could provide. “It whets the appetite for something better.”
At the 2010 ASTRA Conference in Sydney yesterday, an audience of nearly 600 heard from an array of
leaders of industry globally. With the theme The Future is Now, the Conference drew together Australia's
subscription television industry for a timely look at the media landscape and what lies ahead.
The day commenced with the Women in Television Breakfast, playing host to over 500 guests, the most ever
for this event. Three inspiring women including Sandra Levy, CEO, AFTRS, Deirdre Brennan, Director of
Programming, Nickelodeon and Joe Pollard, CEO, NineMSN, discussed the direction the industry is moving,
as well as their career paths and journeys to becoming influential women in television.
The breakfast included the inaugural ASTRA Pioneer Award presented to one of Australia’s most highly
regarded Executive Producers, Kim Vecera, acknowledging and celebrating her contribution to the television
industry. ‘I’m very flattered and very grateful for all the people that I have worked with, who helped me find
the projects that continue to make us get noticed in the television field. May there be many more coming
down the line. Thank you.’ Said Kim Vecera.
The Women in Television Breakfast supported the 1 Million Women Campaign, which aims to empower a
million Australian women to take practical action on climate change by collectively cutting 1 million tonnes of
CO2 pollution in their daily lives, thus driving long-term behaviour change.
Chairman of ASTRA The Honourable Steven Bracks summed it up in his opening address. ‘‘What a year it’s
been since the last time we came together as an industry. Whilst the rest of the world is still bearing the
brunt of the global crisis, Australia remarkably, seems to have come through the worst of the crisis relatively
intact, with the economy growing by nearly 1% in the December quarter. The continued subscriber and
revenue growth of the subscription television industry over this tenuous period is testament to the strength of
our product’
Petra Buchanan Chief Executive Officer ASTRA confirmed the strength of the industry, announcing a nine
percent growth in ad revenue for 1 July 2009-31 December 2009. Referencing a recent independent report
from Ernst & Young, Ms Buchanan said “We are pleased to report total ad revenue for 2009 was $333
million, an increase of five percent from 2008 ($317 million). Terrestrial networks in contrast saw revenue
decrease by four percent in the second half of 2009, and lost eight percent for the calendar year,”
“A third of Australian homes have subscription TV, which regularly accounts for 60 percent of the viewing
share in these homes. This diverse audience represents 7.2 million people, watching over 200 channels of
quality programming, so it is not surprising that advertisers are seeing the opportunity,” said Ms. Buchanan.
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Visiting Liberty Global President & CEO, Mike Fries, the Conference keynote speaker, reflected on the
multitude of change and industry development occurring around the world and the opportunities in Australia.
‘This is an unbelievable and fantastic industry, but it’s going through a lot of change, rapid change. A
tremendous amount has changed in our business, we’re buying bigger screens, we’re watching the Olympics
in HD, we’re time-shifting more and more of our content with DVR’s.’ said Mike Fries.
The conference also featured a live via satellite interview by Bridie Barry of Sky News Business Channel with
Mark Burnett. Mark Burnett is one of television’s power-house executive producers. He has revolutionised
television programming around the world with programs such as Survivor, The Contender, The Apprentice
and Are You Smarter Than a 5th
Grader. He shared his experiences in the television production and
development business, gave a perspective on future program directions and announced the next series of
(non) Celebrity Apprentice in the US which will focus on the economic downturn. ‘We have millions of people
in America – Australia too – who are about to graduate college and are nervous about what their job
prospects may or may not be. We have people in jobs they don’t want to be in but are frightened to change,
and others have lost their jobs, and there are those trying to achieve their dreams. One will win, others will
be marketed and show how great they are to prospective employers to get or change jobs.’ Said Mark
Burnett.
FOXTEL Chief Executive, Kim Williams and AUSTAR Chief Executive, John Porter discussed the current
regulatory environment, issues and challenges for STV in Australia.
International leaders across the key content genres of news, sport, lifestyle, general entertainment and kids
programming included Eric Schrier, Executive Vice President, FX Productions (based in Los Angeles), Phil
O’Sullivan, Executive Producer, CNN Asia Pacific (based in Hong Kong), Paul Robinson, Managing Director,
KidsCo (based in the London), Michael Morrison, General Manager, ESPN Asia Pacific (based in Hong
Kong) and Bruce Mann, CEO, XYZnetworks talked about the current state of play and their predictions on
content challenges for the future.
Christian Brent, Vice President, Strategies & Audiences, BBC Worldwide Channels reflected on international
trends in audience measurement and the insights revealed. Ross Crowley, Director of Programming,
FOXTEL, Ian Garland, Managing Director, Multiview Analytics, and Rob Leach, Head of MCN Connect
discussed what and when people are watching and key learnings for channels and programmers now that
time shifting technology is available.
Discussing the impact of branding and the importance of reaching a target audience by cutting through the
competitive media landscape was Social Commentator David Chalke, Partner at Naked Communications
Adam Ferrier, President and Managing Partner at Asia Pacific Tribal DDB Worldwide Amanda King and
Partner/Owner of The Works Douglas Nicol. They covered topics such as the psychology of consumer
loyalty, what marks the measure of success, how to cut through and remain relevant, what drives consumers
and adapting strategies to reach target audiences in the fragmented, competitive media environment.
Evan Hansen, Editor in Chief, Wired.com (based in San Francisco), Kym Niblock, GM, Foxtel Broadband,
Online and Mobile and Ian McDonald, CEO, Amnesia shared their insights on new media, including
digitization, multi-channelling, fixed and wireless broadband and the implications of such changes for
business, consumers and government.
The conference ended with the Industry Excellence Awards recognising excellence in the promotion of
subscription television. The awards were presented to television channels, operators, production houses,
media, advertising and creative agencies that contributed to Australian subscription television. ASTRA
would like to congratulate all the nominees and winners.
END
For further information, including conference transcripts and images please contact
Niki White
The Lantern Group
niki@lanterngroup.com.au
0403 176988
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