House byline
Entertainment correspondent
Jess Moretti is a house byline for InfoHandle’s Entertainment desk.
Amazon MGM thriller Verity opened at number one with $3.54 million over the long weekend while Tom Cruise and Sophie Wilde’s Digger stalled in eighth place on $791,000, according to national exhibitor data.
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra will perform John Williams’ score live beneath a full screening of The Empire Strikes Back across five Concert Hall nights starting 21 October.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds will headline a revived concert at Hanging Rock in March 2027, with tickets capped to protect the heritage reserve.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds will headline a March 2027 concert at Hanging Rock, reviving the outdoor stage that hosted legendary sets before pandemic-era cancellations.
Frontier Touring added a second Brisbane night to Hans Zimmer Live – The Next Level after the 20 October show sold out, with the composer touring a 19-piece band through Australian arenas this month.
Paramount Australia extended its free-to-air and streaming deal for AFL Women's matches through 2028, keeping seven Network Ten games on broadcast each round.
Screen Australia committed development funding to three drama pilots slated for a simultaneous Stan and ABC iview window, testing co-production models for local streaming.
ABC locked free-to-air windows for Melbourne Cup week while streaming rivals cut annual plan prices ahead of the spring racing carnival broadcast push.
The NRL booked Baker Boy and The Kid LAROI for Sunday’s decider double-header at Accor Stadium, pairing Indigenous hip-hop with a South Sydney-raised global star before the men’s and women’s grand finals.
Nine ordered a footy-themed musical miniseries after its broadcast arm booked a dividend windfall from AFL finals coverage, targeting a mid-2027 streaming debut.
The NRL will spend grand-final week headliner money on grassroots clinics instead of a stadium act before Newcastle and Sydney meet at Accor Stadium on 4 October.
Kylie Minogue's 20-minute pre-game set put Loco-Motion in front of 100,023 people at the AFL grand final. Then Brisbane kicked four goals in the last four minutes to beat Fremantle by seven points.
Kylie Minogue will perform a roughly 20-minute pre-game show at about 1:30pm AEST before Fremantle and Brisbane meet at the MCG, with Seven and 7plus coverage from 2pm and the first bounce at 2:30pm.
Peter V’landys becomes rugby league’s first executive chairman on 24 September, combining ARL Commission chair and NRL chief executive duties after resigning from Racing NSW, with clubs unanimously backing a role that could pay about $3 million a year.
Seven West Media and Foxtel locked a one-night AFL grand final simulcast on Channel Seven and Kayo after preliminary final ratings hit multi-year highs, splitting ad inventory while keeping the match free-to-air nationally.
Hawthorn forward Mabior Chol is cleared to line up in round one after the AFL tribunal overturned a three-match rough-conduct ban, while league bosses widen a Brownlow voting review sparked by another controversial count.
Stan Sport is wiring multiview control rooms and fibre backhaul for September AFL finals shoulder programming, chasing sub-second sync on preview feeds even though live matches stay on rival rights holders.
Stan Sport engineers have fixed multiview camera positions and fibre handoff points at Nine’s Sydney broadcast hub ahead of Thursday night NRL simulcasts, targeting sub-second latency for subscribers who watch main and tactical angles on separate screens.
Foxtel extended Kayo's monthly price freeze through the NRL finals window while bundled travel-and-stream packages for interstate grand-final routes sold out within days.
Stan Sport is cutting two in-house Australian documentary commissions and shifting spend toward AFL finals packaging after Paramount+ folded live footy into a bundled tier, forcing Nine’s streamer to defend subscribers who now get games elsewhere.