Results season bloodbath, and the Qantas loyalty remake

It’s results season, and this week Nine, SCA, and ARN all reported the various fortunes of their companies.

The night before they announced their financial results -- and the very next business day after the retirement of chair Kerry Stokes -- SCA's board decided to dump boss Jeff Howard, who used to run Seven, and was very briefly CEO and managing director of the newly merged Seven/SCA. The timing of this decision sent quite a message to the market.

Former SCA boss John Kelly (back when they were "all about audio") is now interim CEO of the company's TV and audio divisions, and decided to use the SCA investor call as a gentle audition to shareholders for the top role.

He looks in with a good shot. After all, it was very clear which of the two companies involved in the Seven/SCA merger is doing the heavy lifting in financial terms, and it's not the one that screens three hours of Home and Away each week ...