Inside Media: Stan considers ad-tier like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus to streaming service

Welcome to INSIDE MEDIA, the column with plenty of opinions and insights.

In this edition: Does the Canberra press gallery understand the real issues affecting Australians – or do they just love a media beat-up? | Another streaming service set to make you pay – to watch ads! | Why do TV news reporters love a pun?

MEDIA BEAT-UP?

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I often wonder if the public care about some controversies as much as the Canberra press pack. Take the headlines surrounding Anthony Albanese’s comments in parliament this week for using Tourette’s syndrome as an insult against Peter Dutton and Angus Taylor.

After being interrupted several times by the Opposition Leader and Shadow Treasurer, the PM snapped: “Have you got Tourette’s or something?”.

There was laughter in the house and some shocked looks from the Labor faces sitting directly behind the PM, before he went on to say: “You know, you just sit there, babble, babble, babble.”

Almost immediate the headlines went into overdrive:

The Australian: Anthony Albanese accused of ‘mocking’ people with disabilities after Tourette gaffe

The Daily Mail: Anthony Albanese makes shocking six-word Tourette’s comment on the floor of Parliament: Aussie mum says ‘he should be ashamed of himself’

3AW: ‘Low blow’: Anthony Albanese taken to task over ‘incredibly offensive’ Tourette’s comment

It certainly wasn’t his finest moment, especially for a leader who wears a woke badge with pride. But was it as big a deal as it was made out to be? The PM’s spin team obviously thought so, sending Albo back to the floor to make a mea culpa, saying: “Today, in question time, I made comments that were unkind and hurtful. I knew it was wrong as soon as I made the comment. I apologised and I withdrew as soon as I said it.

“But it shouldn’t have happened. And I also want to apologise to all Australians who suffer from this disability. I regret saying it. It was wrong. It was insensitive. And I apologise.”

While I’m sure it’s easy to find people that were offended – and it was a stupid thing to say – I really don’t think the general electorate is going to care that much.

There are plenty of things to like – or dislike – about Albo, depending on your politics, but at the end of the day we all say stupid things we regret.

This is one I just can’t get too worked up about.

STREAMING ADS

Remember a time when you’d sign up to a streaming service and you’d be able to watch your favourite content – ad free?

Well, those days are well-and-truly over with the AFR reporting Stan is considering a plan to join Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video in adding an ad tier. It’s another kick in the teeth for consumers who don’t understand why they’re being served up ads – and still having to pay. Of course, you can always pay a higher premium and subscribe to the ad-free option, but that’s not the point.

Adding commercials to something you’re already paying for seems like double-dipping to me. Amazon is currently facing a lawsuit accusing it of misleading Prime subscribers by charging them an additional fee to stream movies and TV shows without ads. Last year Amazon added an ad-tier, but unlike other streamers, it made the ad tier the default for its 100-million subscribers, automatically making it the largest ad-supported subscription streamer.

Slowly but surely the streaming services have been adopting the Free To Air model. Most services have stopped putting all episodes of a show up at once and now favour a weekly drop, live spot has become a big selling factor and now they see there’s money to be made from advertising.

Mark my words, it starts with one ad here, another one there, but soon we’ll have the same amount of ad breaks as commercial TV. But here’s the difference – we don’t have to pay a subscription service to watch Australian television.

It won’t be long before the public start cottoning on to the fact these streamers are taking us for a ride.

FAKE EXCLUSIVES

One thing that does get me worked up is a news outlet claiming to have an exclusive when the same story has already been broken.

TV Blackbox – a website I co-own – broke the story about Channel 10 sacking Sydney sports presenter (and former Wallabies) player Matt Burke.

That story was published at 12:50pm on Monday and was labelled as an “exclusive”.

Imagine our surprise when the same story by Phil Rothfield was published at 3.38pm on The Daily Telegraph website with an exclusive label.

That kind of attitude is why consumers are losing faith in the mainstream media. If The Daily Tele has to make a false claim on a small story like this, what else are they lying about?

The sooner the media stops playing these stupid games, the sooner they might regain trust with the public.

NOT PUNNY

I hate puns at the best of times, let alone in the evening news (and yes, I hate myself for coming up with that headline). We know newspaper editors love a pun, but so do TV reporters.

It’s been something bugging me for a long time so I went searching for some examples for this column and I couldn’t believe how quickly I came across bad puns across all the commercial TV networks.

9NEWS thought it would be funny to include this line at the top of a story about the Queensland state election, which started with vision of the Premier passing a footy ball:

“Election campaigns often throw up unusual situations”.

If that one isn’t obvious enough for you, how about this one where Opposition Leader David Crisafulli is standing up in front of a group of voters:

“Standing with Queenslander’s outraged…”

7NEWS didn’t miss their opportunity either, when they had vision of Crisafulli on a boat:

“Steering the LNP ship…”.

He wasn’t even steering and, to make matters worse, the Qld LNP leader was later shown on the bridge refusing to drive the boat!e

Puns aren’t just saved for political stories, though. You just know the team at 10 News First couldn’t believe their luck when they had vision of a bear making an unexpected house visit:

“A Californian couple has had a beary big surprise…”.

Oh Dear.

Now that I’ve said it, keep an eye out because there’s plenty of examples.

Maybe they give you a laugh?

They just make me cringe.

Rob McKnight is the co-owner of TV Blackbox.

INSIDE MEDIA is published every Monday & Thursday at 5pm