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Biggest Media and Telco Stories - 2025 Recap · What the Flux

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is what the flux.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: I'm Brett and I'm justin as Friday, the twenty sixth
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: of December Fox Dam twenty twenty five was a tough
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: year for media and telco in Australia. Big name companies
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: were forced to merge, cut staff, as well as paying
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: some pretty hefty fines just to say competitive. At the
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: same time they're trying to keep up with global giants.
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  Speaker 2: So today we're recapping the big stories that defined a
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: pretty brutal year for the media and telco industries.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Three marvelous stories today, Juzzy boy, let's do it for
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  Speaker 1: our first. Seven West Media and Southern Cross Media have
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  Speaker 1: announced plans to merge into a four hundred and fifteen
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: million dollar content machine.
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  Speaker 2: These two companies only worth four hundred and fifteen mel together.
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  Speaker 2: How things have changed the media landscape? Yeah, we wore
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  Speaker 2: all right.
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  Speaker 1: So seven West Media is one of Australia's largest free
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  Speaker 1: to air TV and media companies.
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  Speaker 2: We're talking the owner of Channel seven, The West Australian,
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  Speaker 2: the Sunday Times.
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  Speaker 1: We're also talking the owner of the broadcast rights to
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  Speaker 1: the AFL and Cricket and of course Mike Rules in
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  Speaker 1: Homanway two yep, can't forget that it also has seven two,
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  Speaker 1: seven Mates, seven Bravo streaming platform, seven plus all in
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  Speaker 1: its stable and.
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  Speaker 2: Southern Cross well, they're the owners of hit network like
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  Speaker 2: FOXFM as well as Triple Apt now Daziboy.
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  Speaker 1: We know that Southern Cross Media has been keen to sell.
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  Speaker 2: They even had serious talks between Southern Cross and their
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  Speaker 2: arch rival Arn Media.
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  Speaker 1: But now seven West Media has swooped in announcing plans
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  Speaker 1: to merge with Southern Cross Media.
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  Speaker 2: Olf Stewart would be flame and impressed with this.
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  Speaker 1: As part of this deal, it would mean that seven
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  Speaker 1: shareholders own auty nine point nine percent of the combined company.
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  Speaker 2: Southern Cross share rows get fifty point one percent of
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  Speaker 2: the company, and Jaziboid.
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  Speaker 1: This seems to be a necessary step for both companies
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  Speaker 1: who are battle in the new media landscape.
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  Speaker 2: So true, So what is the key learning here?
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  Speaker 1: Media firms are being forced to consolidate to protect their
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  Speaker 1: margins and their relevance.
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  Speaker 2: You see, bee Man, the old advertising model is under siege.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Viewers have split across streaming platforms, social media, podcasts,
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  Speaker 1: and traditional TV and radio.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, the commercial broadcasters have seen ad spend lumber
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  Speaker 2: since the early two thousand.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, between the Channel seven nine and ten, they've seen
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  Speaker 1: their share of Australian ads span fall from forty three
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  Speaker 1: percent to seventeen percent. And that's between two thousand and
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  Speaker 1: six and twenty twenty two, and.
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  Speaker 2: It continues to decline more and more since then.
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  Speaker 1: That means AD dollars are spread thinner and harder to
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  Speaker 1: lock in.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So by merging seven West and Southern Cross can
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  Speaker 2: bundle their offerings together, and so it is one juicy
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  Speaker 2: advertising package to advertisers.
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  Speaker 1: You think ads across sports, on TV, talk radio shows,
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  Speaker 1: regional news, digital masked heads all together and this.
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  Speaker 2: Scale gives advertisers richer insights, who's watching, who's listening, who's
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  Speaker 2: clicking and juz boy.
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  Speaker 1: Clearly seven West has needed to act. Its profits are
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  Speaker 1: down approximately sixty two percent in twenty twenty five compared
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  Speaker 1: to the last year.
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  Speaker 2: So both companies will be hoping at shareholders also see
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  Speaker 2: the value in this deal, so they cannot only survive alone,
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  Speaker 2: but hopefully arrive together.
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  Speaker 1: For our second story, Optus has been slapped with a big,
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  Speaker 1: big fine for four years of unethical sales conduct.
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  Speaker 2: Another fine for optis be man tell me, what is
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  Speaker 2: going on down at Olan. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Optis was found a back in nineteen ninety two,
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  Speaker 1: is Australia's second live telco company and is becoming the
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: fine capital of Australia.
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  Speaker 2: We're talking more than ten million ossies who use Optis
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  Speaker 2: for phone and internet coverage and Jaziboy.
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  Speaker 1: Since twenty eleven, Optus has been owned by the Singaporean
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  Speaker 1: behemoth Sintel.
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  Speaker 2: But over the last couple of years, Optis has developed
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  Speaker 2: a bit of a reputation problem.
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  Speaker 1: First the Mega cyber attack that leaked almost ten million
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  Speaker 1: customer details.
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  Speaker 2: Then a nationwide outage left people unable to call Triple zero, and.
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  Speaker 1: Now the a Triple C has slapped opt Us with
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  Speaker 1: a one hundred million dollar fine for another issue.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Optus has admitted to inappropriate sales practices between twenty
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  Speaker 2: nineteen and twenty twenty three that affected hundreds of vulnerable customers.
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  Speaker 1: We're talking questionable debt collection practices.
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  Speaker 2: We're talking misleading and deceptive conduct.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, we're talking failing to explain the terms and conditions
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  Speaker 1: of contracts.
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  Speaker 2: And failing to conduct coverage checks.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Jazzi boy. In some cases, people were even sold
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  Speaker 1: plans when they lived in areas where Optus reception was
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  Speaker 1: not available.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, so it's no wonder the a Triple C slapped
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  Speaker 2: opter Us with a big fine and he's now questioning
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  Speaker 2: whether Optis deserves its golden ticket. It's carrier license. Oh
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  Speaker 2: you went there, jazzy boy. So what is the key
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  Speaker 2: learning here? A telco carrier license is a legal permit
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  Speaker 2: that allows companies like OPTAs to build and operate telco
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  Speaker 2: networks across Australia.
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  Speaker 1: Currently, less than ten percent of Australian telcos have this license, which.
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  Speaker 2: Gives opter some serious market power.
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  Speaker 1: But having this license comes with responsibilities like.
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  Speaker 2: Providing safe and reliable services, protecting customer data, supporting emergency calls,
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  Speaker 2: and of course treating consumers fairly as well.
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  Speaker 1: And it's pretty clear to see that Optus has been
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  Speaker 1: falling short of these responsibilities recently.
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  Speaker 2: And be Man, in the past we've seen companies lose
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  Speaker 2: their licenses, like when The Star had its casino license
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  Speaker 2: suspended by the new South Wales Independent Casino Commission and
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  Speaker 2: this was.
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  Speaker 1: A very heavy blow to their operations, their reputation, investor confidence.
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  Speaker 2: So b Man Optus having their carrier license put to
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  Speaker 2: question is pretty serious. Business, and you can bet your
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  Speaker 2: bottom dollar they won't be taking this license for granted
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  Speaker 2: for much longer. For our third and final story, Telstra
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  Speaker 2: is planning another mass job cut of over five hundred
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  Speaker 2: jobs as it pushes to hit its new twenty thirty
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  Speaker 2: stratu with AI. We knew it was coming, b Man,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: AI replacing human jobs, so tell me more.
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  Speaker 1: Well. Telstra was founded in nineteen oh one, a little
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  Speaker 1: earlier than AI was invented, and Telster remains Australia's largest
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  Speaker 1: telco provider.
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  Speaker 2: Get this, be Man. Telster provides more than twenty four
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  Speaker 2: million retail services across Australia.
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  Speaker 1: That'd be Ozzie's using Telstra to text to call doom
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  Speaker 1: scroll on the Internet.
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  Speaker 2: That is a pretty big responsibility, particularly the doom scrolling.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's why they employ about thirty one thousand full
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  Speaker 1: time workers around the world.
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  Speaker 2: So recently, b Man, Ulstra has been swinging the old
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: corporate Act. Well.
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  Speaker 1: Last year, Telstra cut twenty eight hundred jobs to save
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  Speaker 1: the company about three hundred and fifty million bucks.
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  Speaker 2: It was all part of their T twenty five strategy
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  Speaker 2: that was set years ago. But now be Man Telster
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  Speaker 2: CEO has announced a new strategy called Connected Future thirty.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: You have to have a buzzy name like that, you
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  Speaker 2: can't not exactly and be Man. This new strategy aims
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  Speaker 2: to raise Telster's and your returns from eight percent to
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  Speaker 2: ten percent by twenty thirty.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Step one, they're going to cut another five hundred.
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  Speaker 2: Jobs without supposedly dropping connectivity or customer service standards. How
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: do they plan to do this well, obviously by implementing
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  Speaker 2: more AI in the business.
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  Speaker 1: Interesting, So what is the key learning here?
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  Speaker 2: The theory that AI would one day replace human workers
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  Speaker 2: has been floating around for decades, but now we're starting
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  Speaker 2: to see some real tangible examples.
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  Speaker 1: Jasi Boyd this is one of the first examples of
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  Speaker 1: a large Australian company to openly adopt AI as a
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  Speaker 1: replacement for jobs.
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  Speaker 2: And be Man This could just be the beginning.
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  Speaker 1: According to a report from the Social Policy Group, up
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  Speaker 1: to one in three Australian workers could be at risk
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  Speaker 1: of job loss due to AI by twenty thirty.
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  Speaker 2: And be man or companies tend to tiptoe around the
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  Speaker 2: topic of AI to avoid public backlash. Shareholders seem to
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  Speaker 2: have a very different outlook on the AI adoption.
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  Speaker 1: As of this week. Telstra shares have jumped over twenty
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  Speaker 1: one percent since the start of the year wow.
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  Speaker 2: And over thirty percent over the past twelve.
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  Speaker 1: Months, making it the tenth best performing company on the
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  Speaker 1: ASEX and the best in the telco sector.
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  Speaker 2: So be man. We're now entering the era where AI
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  Speaker 2: isn't just theory, it's becoming a core part of some
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  Speaker 2: major company strategies and FOXAM. That is a wrap on
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  Speaker 2: the biggest media and tellco stories in Australia for twenty
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  Speaker 2: twenty five, and this is our final pod of the year,
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  Speaker 2: So a big thank you for being with us throughout
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  Speaker 2: the year, listening to all the bigger stories, tuning into
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  Speaker 2: the highs and the lows of twenty twenty five. We're
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  Speaker 2: going to be taking a break until the nineteenth of January,
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  Speaker 2: but we can't wait for a bigger and better twenty
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: twenty six.