December 30, 2025 • 7 mins
From the Murdoch empire to Hollywood’s upheaval, the global media landscape is shifting fast. Michael Thompson talks to Tim Burrowes from Mumbrella and Unmade about Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch’s consolidation of power, the streaming wars, Hollywood’s structural challenges, and why Netflix, Amazon and Apple are reshaping old business models - just as AI emerges as a new threat.
This is Fear & Greed's summer series - all-new short episodes every day, with regular news back from January 12.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Fear and Green Summer series. I'm Michael Thompson.
Today the global media is changing, So what is in
store in twenty twenty six? Tim Burrows is the founder
and publisher of media and marketing website Umbrella and the
newsletter Unmade. Tim. Welcome back to Fear and Greed.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Mickey T. I hope you're slapping on the sun block.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
As always I do that year round. Tim. Let's start
with the Murdoch Empire, shall we. Twenty twenty five you'd
have to say was a pivotal year for Rupert and
for Lachlan Murdoch in particular. Just give us a bit
of a snapshot of where that's at and how it
all played out.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
What A yeah, Yeah, it feels like this really was
the year it became official that Lachlan had ascended and
had locked it in. That there'd always been a sense
that he was gradually getting his hold on the empire
as clearly as father Rupert's choice. But there was just
this questioning what would happen with the family trust once,
(01:04):
you know, one day when he turns one hundred and forty,
when when we put Murdock passes away, what would what
would happen to the family trust then because the other siblings,
so Elizabeth Murdock, James Murdock and Prudence would effectively have
had votes that could have could have potentially outvoted Lockland.
(01:25):
So if they'd wanted to take the empire further towards
the middle rather than that sort of more kind of
right Woods direction that for instance, Fox News in the US,
which is part of the Fox Court half of the empire,
or you know, the publications out of the news Court
half of the empire, they could have taken a different direction.
(01:46):
But the deal was finally done by the family, so
effectively the other three siblings were brought out, Lachlan took
on more debt, and now he is very much the
future of the business.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
How important is that to shore that up? And I
suppose it's a bigger question about kind of this traditional
media mogul model. I suppose whether that is breaking down,
or whether it's important to have that size, that scale,
and that weight because everything else is dominated by big tech.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah. Look, I think the influence that News Corp and
in the US Fox Corps has is still huge, and
in part that's because politicians perceive them to be huge,
and that's always been one of the things about the media.
It's not just whether there's an audience there or not,
it's if the politicians take them seriously. So that's you know,
(02:39):
that's super important. You know, it still still has that
place and will do I think for the foreseeable future.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Let's talk about Hollywood, shall we, because it is an
absolute state of flux at the moment, in particular because
of the uncertain future of Warner Brothers. Hollywood's problems do
they feel kind of structural, structural I suppose, rather than cyclic,
or because it feels like this is not so much
(03:09):
just a bad period. It is the end of the
old business model of the big studios and the theatrical releases.
That it is all about the streamers and the growing
weight of Amazon, Apple and in particular Netflix.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, we have seen so much change, particularly over the
five years obviously with COVID that just broke so many
habits of going to the cinema, and even when it reopened,
it never came back in quite the same way. And
we have a number of players now who are just
not as excited about releasing things at the movies. You know,
(03:45):
I guess the one which will be most prominently there
would be Netflix, who, yes, they've changed their model a
few times. They started off actually, as most people would know,
I'm sure, as a kind of a male rental DVD service,
but then became that first kind of streaming service. So
(04:08):
thus far a lot less you know, a lot less
committed to theatrical releases, although you know sometimes their stuff
gets a very brief release. But we we we saw
Netflix emerging as a bidder for Warner Brothers Discovery, which
has got such kind of heritage, not just with the
(04:28):
Warner Studios TV side, you know, the people who bring
us you know, things like Friends or Big Bang Theory,
but also kind of that sort of high end television,
whether it's you know, things like The Sopranos or Game
of Thrones, things like that, and obviously a big film
division as well. So so that you know, we went
into the end of the year with that one, that
(04:49):
one in flux, with the Warner Brothers Discovery board choosing Netflix,
but Paramount choosing to not accept the rejection and carrying
on fighting for it. So you know, we we'll see
that reverberate way into twenty twenty six, and then creating
you know, another kind of giant kind of streaming center
(05:11):
will inevitably create more kind of of the kind of
medium sized companies to come together. In twenty twenty six,
I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yeah. And we did see bringing this Australia into the
global kind of picture here. We did see some steps
taken in twenty twenty five by the federal government to
really help Australian content and Australian creators by forcing the
big streamers like Netflix and others to pay or to
(05:40):
commit a significant sum to Australian content. That has to help, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Effectively it created a new streaming quota, so all of
the streaming players will have to spend a proportion of
their revenue on local content. So that will be good
for that production sector. For the traditional TV companies in Australia,
it may not be so good actually, because suddenly, when
(06:05):
they're competing for the services of all of those people
in that sector, they're now competing with the streaming players.
So it wasn't actually a policy that our existing players
particularly wanted, certainly not as it was enacted.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
No, okay, thirty seconds left. What's the story to watch
in twenty twenty six? Is it? About consolidation. Is it
just about the constant state of change that we're living
in now?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Do you know what? I think? It's this race towards
everything old being new again, which is a form of consolidation. So,
you know, we're seeing those people who felt like the
new players, like Netflix being the most of example, getting
closer and close to that old models, you know, launching
advertising tiers where they didn't have advertising before, buying up
(06:55):
old media assets, all of those things. So I think
probably the next theme will be the people that we
thought of as new media becoming old media and then
having to fight AI for attention instead.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
All right, Tim, thank you for talking to Fear and
Great summer series.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Always a pleasure and never mature.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
That was Tim Burrows, founder and publisher of Umbrella and
the News that Are Unmade. Don't forget it. Follow on
the podcast, new episodes every day during our summer series.
Regular shows back from January twelve. I'm Michael Thompson and
this is Fear and Great
Welcome to the Fear and Green Summer series. I'm Michael Thompson.
Today the global media is changing, So what is in
store in twenty twenty six? Tim Burrows is the founder
and publisher of media and marketing website Umbrella and the
newsletter Unmade. Tim. Welcome back to Fear and Greed.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Mickey T. I hope you're slapping on the sun block.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
As always I do that year round. Tim. Let's start
with the Murdoch Empire, shall we. Twenty twenty five you'd
have to say was a pivotal year for Rupert and
for Lachlan Murdoch in particular. Just give us a bit
of a snapshot of where that's at and how it
all played out.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
What A yeah, Yeah, it feels like this really was
the year it became official that Lachlan had ascended and
had locked it in. That there'd always been a sense
that he was gradually getting his hold on the empire
as clearly as father Rupert's choice. But there was just
this questioning what would happen with the family trust once,
(01:04):
you know, one day when he turns one hundred and forty,
when when we put Murdock passes away, what would what
would happen to the family trust then because the other siblings,
so Elizabeth Murdock, James Murdock and Prudence would effectively have
had votes that could have could have potentially outvoted Lockland.
(01:25):
So if they'd wanted to take the empire further towards
the middle rather than that sort of more kind of
right Woods direction that for instance, Fox News in the US,
which is part of the Fox Court half of the empire,
or you know, the publications out of the news Court
half of the empire, they could have taken a different direction.
(01:46):
But the deal was finally done by the family, so
effectively the other three siblings were brought out, Lachlan took
on more debt, and now he is very much the
future of the business.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
How important is that to shore that up? And I
suppose it's a bigger question about kind of this traditional
media mogul model. I suppose whether that is breaking down,
or whether it's important to have that size, that scale,
and that weight because everything else is dominated by big tech.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah. Look, I think the influence that News Corp and
in the US Fox Corps has is still huge, and
in part that's because politicians perceive them to be huge,
and that's always been one of the things about the media.
It's not just whether there's an audience there or not,
it's if the politicians take them seriously. So that's you know,
(02:39):
that's super important. You know, it still still has that
place and will do I think for the foreseeable future.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Let's talk about Hollywood, shall we, because it is an
absolute state of flux at the moment, in particular because
of the uncertain future of Warner Brothers. Hollywood's problems do
they feel kind of structural, structural I suppose, rather than cyclic,
or because it feels like this is not so much
(03:09):
just a bad period. It is the end of the
old business model of the big studios and the theatrical releases.
That it is all about the streamers and the growing
weight of Amazon, Apple and in particular Netflix.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, we have seen so much change, particularly over the
five years obviously with COVID that just broke so many
habits of going to the cinema, and even when it reopened,
it never came back in quite the same way. And
we have a number of players now who are just
not as excited about releasing things at the movies. You know,
(03:45):
I guess the one which will be most prominently there
would be Netflix, who, yes, they've changed their model a
few times. They started off actually, as most people would know,
I'm sure, as a kind of a male rental DVD service,
but then became that first kind of streaming service. So
(04:08):
thus far a lot less you know, a lot less
committed to theatrical releases, although you know sometimes their stuff
gets a very brief release. But we we we saw
Netflix emerging as a bidder for Warner Brothers Discovery, which
has got such kind of heritage, not just with the
(04:28):
Warner Studios TV side, you know, the people who bring
us you know, things like Friends or Big Bang Theory,
but also kind of that sort of high end television,
whether it's you know, things like The Sopranos or Game
of Thrones, things like that, and obviously a big film
division as well. So so that you know, we went
into the end of the year with that one, that
(04:49):
one in flux, with the Warner Brothers Discovery board choosing Netflix,
but Paramount choosing to not accept the rejection and carrying
on fighting for it. So you know, we we'll see
that reverberate way into twenty twenty six, and then creating
you know, another kind of giant kind of streaming center
(05:11):
will inevitably create more kind of of the kind of
medium sized companies to come together. In twenty twenty six,
I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yeah. And we did see bringing this Australia into the
global kind of picture here. We did see some steps
taken in twenty twenty five by the federal government to
really help Australian content and Australian creators by forcing the
big streamers like Netflix and others to pay or to
(05:40):
commit a significant sum to Australian content. That has to help, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Effectively it created a new streaming quota, so all of
the streaming players will have to spend a proportion of
their revenue on local content. So that will be good
for that production sector. For the traditional TV companies in Australia,
it may not be so good actually, because suddenly, when
(06:05):
they're competing for the services of all of those people
in that sector, they're now competing with the streaming players.
So it wasn't actually a policy that our existing players
particularly wanted, certainly not as it was enacted.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
No, okay, thirty seconds left. What's the story to watch
in twenty twenty six? Is it? About consolidation. Is it
just about the constant state of change that we're living
in now?
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Do you know what? I think? It's this race towards
everything old being new again, which is a form of consolidation. So,
you know, we're seeing those people who felt like the
new players, like Netflix being the most of example, getting
closer and close to that old models, you know, launching
advertising tiers where they didn't have advertising before, buying up
(06:55):
old media assets, all of those things. So I think
probably the next theme will be the people that we
thought of as new media becoming old media and then
having to fight AI for attention instead.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
All right, Tim, thank you for talking to Fear and
Great summer series.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Always a pleasure and never mature.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
That was Tim Burrows, founder and publisher of Umbrella and
the News that Are Unmade. Don't forget it. Follow on
the podcast, new episodes every day during our summer series.
Regular shows back from January twelve. I'm Michael Thompson and
this is Fear and Great
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