Don’t make me tap the sign…
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Given the proposed orders that were given - that they can’t buy back the offending 6% except on-market (and of course, subject to the creep rules) but they would not get the 6-month block from acquiring “any” shares - it makes the deal harder but not impossible.
They were already planning to doing this via scheme of arrangement (ie. a merger-type deal) that only requires 75% approval, rather than a hostile bid that requires 90% - but this blip would mean they have to get SXL a bit more onside than they might have expected for it to happen.
It certainly does most likely rule out the latter in the medium term, should SXL say a flat no to the former, especially if other entities (such as ACM’s broker) may use that divested portion to form a blocking stake.
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Do any of you think that ARN or any of the owners in Oz will ever reach an FCC to RKO General “divest all your stations so we don’t have to impose the indignity of stripping you of them” situation with the ACMA (or its future incarnations)?
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If you’re talking about a “fit and proper person” perspective generally? I’m almost tempted to say a flat “no”, as I sincerely doubt the ACMA has any desire to do that. The requirement to renew by default (post Broadcasting Tribunal) also means it would likely take a lot to get to that threshold. (The provisions of who is “suitable” under Australian law is in BSA section 41 if you’re wondering.)
None of the few operators left are going to get into the level of misconduct of RKO/General Tire, and certainly not in the same way as much of that initially was based around things around reciprocal trade practices (you became General Tire’s supplier, you were asked to buy ad time on RKO stations). Of course it ended up a LOT more than that…
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If ARN are successful In taking over Southern Cross then I can imagine that they will have to sell some stations as they are not allowed to own 3 stations In the one market, This would affect not only capital city markets but also regional markets like Bendigo, Mildura & Orange just to name a few.
ARN own a lot of regional stations like Bendigo & Mildura I think they would sell off their AM stations & hang onto the FM ones.
Hobart…will be interesting…
TV with SCA7, and half of TDT10,
FM with Hit 100.9 and Triple M 107.3 Plus ARN’s current 7HO FM…
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Isn’t the idea that ARN keep Triple M and KIIS and ACP get Hit? So I’d say ARN keep 101.7 and it becomes KIIS. ACP get Hit, in name at least. Isn’t the takeover panel’s concern that really ARN still control the lot? By the way I personally don’t mind if that’s the case as this would generally lead to less duplication of formats if they do still control 3 or 4 stations in a market.
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I would think that they will structure the deal so that there is a joint venture holding company, from which ARN proper only purchases individual stations, while the main SCA company keeps a hold of the remnants to be taken over by Anchorage at the end of that process.
So you don’t merge the companies and have a whole bunch of breaches, you transfer the valuable portions and leave the rest.
So in Hobart that’s probably taking Triple M and leaving Hit, so that ARN only ever reaches two stations owned, leaving only intentional breaches in the cases where they have two stations already, but want to buy the Triple M, like in Adelaide where they’d stay in breach until they close the sale of Cruise (I don’t know if they’ve clarified if ACP get those or they would go to market?)
I still think in Melbourne and Sydney they will just keep Gold/WSFM but own the Triple M brand so that an Anchorage owned 104.9/105.1 would need to rebrand, so it would only be a handful of cases of FM stations in markets with ARN owned AMs where there’s a need for divestment, and whatever happens in Brisbane.
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ACP end up with 8 metro station in addition to the surplus regional assets - so assuming the split is on Triple M/KIIS lines that leaves ACP with
- 2Day & WSFM Sydney
- Fox & Gold Melbourne
- B105 Brisbane
- SAFM & Cruise Adelaide
- Mix Perth
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Something I hadn’t thought about, but does ARN try and do a swap with Nova on their Brisbane and Perth stations to dissolve the JVs? (Retention based on current Operations, so Brisbane to ARN and Perth to Nova)
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Yeah, that Melbourne line just makes you think there’s no way that’s how it would unfold - Fox + Gold would be an absolute massive position for them in the market.
I dunno if maybe that’s just how they can get ACP to bring a lot of cash to the table - but given the idea in regional areas seems to be that ARN get their first pick across all markets, it’d be odd to not take the best rating stations in each market. I think “buying Triple M” means that literally, in that they will own that brand, but I don’t think that will dictate the licenses they end up with.
I think that would make sense - though I wonder what restrictions there are on ARN onselling their half - so they could sell it to ACP as another means to ensure they have two full licenses in both markets.
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Yeah, I am not so sure about it being that simple in Hobart.
Why, infrastructure.
So currently SCA7, Hit and MMM are all co-located in a reasonably new centre providing TV News updates for many interstate markets along with Tasmania.
7HO is in an older yet functional Hobart city based studio’s which provide extensive news services and program for other stations across the state.
I wonder if we could actually see all stations co-located at the current SCA site.
Then there’s the transmission and linking assets, ARN currently own and maintain the 7HO TX where BAI own the SCA TV and FM TX’s. Would you sell the last internally owned TX?
Interesting times if it all rolls ahead…
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ARN currently owns GOLD (3EL) in Bendigo, which broadcasts an AM signal (1071) and an FM ‘repeater’ (98.3). Are you expecting/suggesting that they will sell the 1071AM that GOLD currently holds to ACP while keeping 98.3 for Triple M/KIIS or even CADA?
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What will SCA do with the TV assets if the ARN offer fails? Will it keep or sell the TV assets and should it sell the TV assets how will SCA do so?
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I don’t think they can do that as 98.3 is licenced as a translator to 1071? AFAIK I don’t think they can just carve that up into 2 separate stations.
They’ll need to find a buyer. So far, nobody is keen. The TV side is worth little.
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And unfortunately nationally on at least weekends during the LCLC holiday. Awful.
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If they send the program to 98.3 from the parent location, they can get around it, that’s how Nine divvied up the QTQ signal for GC News, advertising and other program.
It’s also how 5CS/5AU keep going despite long being amalgamated.
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I know. I was just raising the hypothetical in response to @Casper’s question regarding ARN retaining FM stations and divesting AM stations in some markets.
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Why Awful??
And what’s the LCLC Holiday??
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