In this edition of On Background, Hugh Marks’ honeymoon is over at the ABC, familiar faces meet in Riyadh, another rights deal in the works for the NRL, and Lachlan Murdoch’s favourite media asset to stay put.

Reality hit home for Hugh Marks this week, seven months into his not-so-new gig running the ABC.

It was anything but the high-flying life the former commercial media man nicknamed “Hollywood Hugh” became accustomed to in his time running Nine. On Wednesday, he checked into a virtual staff meeting to present the ABC’s meagre 3 per cent pay offer from his hotel room in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, where he was speaking on a panel at this year’s Public Broadcasters International conference.

In the good old days, Marks would travel to his namesake city in the eternally balmy state of California to buy and sell the hottest shows on TV. This year, he was sharing the stage with executives from Slovenia and Bulgaria’s public broadcasters to discuss the health of state-funded media, in an event hosted by Bulgarian National Radio. The BBC’s director general Tim Davie was the heavy hitter on this year’s lineup.

Let’s be clear, this is no slight on Marks. He has the top job in Australian media. The post-conference drinks crew are probably a more digestible crowd than those attending Hollywood parties each year, plus the conference includes a free guided tour of the city. How good’s that?

Hugh Marks has already noted the 30 per cent greater efficiency of commercial broadcaster Nine.Credit: Nathan Perri

But at 6am (Sofia time), having already been on stage the day before, Marks and Deena Amorelli, the ABC’s HR chief, presented the ABC’s official pay offer to staff. Nine per cent across three years, split evenly, fell well short of union-repped staff expectations to catch up on pay progression and better job security for those on........

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