From the investor presentation
Geelong Broadcasters Pty Limited (Geelong) and certain joint ventures are excluded from the transaction perimeter
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Massive news, a coup for ARN.
You would think 4KQ would want to be bought by ACE radio to give them a 2 station presence in the Brisbane market alongside 4BH.
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So effectively that means ARN now have a stake in 3 stations in the Perth market.
By selling 4KQ, ARN can keep 97.3, River and Hot for a total of 3 stations. But if they kept 4KQ (and 97.3), they would have to sell River and Hot.
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Although I think the big downside of this whole thing is the sale of 4KQ, I do hope that at least ARN can fix River and bring it back to a more metro focus. Let’s hope they align it with Pure Gold and not Edge, that would be a disaster. Grant has really let River run down from what was such an awesome station a while back.
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If ACE brought 4KQ, i don’t think that would be a bad thing either. They could network the 4KQ music format to Sydney, Melbourne and the regional ACE Classic Hits stations and give 4BH a easy listening format.
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although river needs fixing, lets keep in mind it is an Ipswich licensed station and thats where its focus should be, instead of trying to be a Brisbane wide station by proxy
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WOW.
Saw the sudden massive explosion of posts and didn’t see this coming at all, but seeing the success of SCA with using a regional network to create national brands probably has given HT&E the desire to try and make regional work.
One thing they do have going for them is that at the very least HT&E don’t just slam the same format into all markets - the use of the “KIIS” network with 96fm is the best example here, they’ve used the branding to tie the common sales pitch, but kept legacy brands and a competitive format.
Effectively selecting the best of the formats that they have you could do well in many markets, say Wollongong for example, you could take a Gold 104 format on Wave, and Sydney’s KIIS format on Power, and a Cruise format on 2ST.
Other markets you’d hope for bespoke approaches. There’s a big opportunity with Hot Tomato or HOFM - finding the best way of being between Sea/Hit and Triple M in those 3 station markets.
All very exciting stuff, and honestly I think given how Grant have gone from quite good local stations, to fairly networked stuff in recent years - I think listeners will be better off.
The remnants will be interesting, especially what happens in markets where they are forced to sell - I wonder if they will just sell out entirely to Capital in cases like 6IX, or just be content with having a handful of stations in the markets they are keeping, maybe they will and those will get desperately needed attention.
I don’t understand selling 4KQ though? If that’s just the Nambour overlap, surely you’d just sell those stations, or keep them in the Grant rump with Geelong.
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so I wonder what that means with the likes of 3BA and Power FM Ballarat. will they revert back to their old logs so to speak???
They will stay the same I would suggest. Fitzy and Wippa would be replaced with Jase & Lauren I would say and the breakfast will stay. ARN said the stations will retain their names & breakfast.
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- Will Grant Broadcasters retain its name?
The acquisition means that the network is called ARN. All of Grant Broadcasters’ stations will retain their local names.
- Will HT&E be rebranding the regional stations?
No. Amid the demise of local newspapers and the availability of global, borderless content, regional radio stations have become the cornerstone of their towns. ARN will group the stations into the KIIS or Pure Gold networks for ease of sales and discovery but there is no intent to rebrand stations at a local level.
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I wonder where this will place Wave 96.5 Illawarra?
Power FM will join the KIIS Network, 2ST will join Pure Gold (logically, but who knows), which way will WAVE go?
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The Coles $6000 Question would be: who would buy K Rock and Bay FM? Won’t be SCA, Nova Entertainment or ACE Radio because of the overlap with Melbourne and Colac. Maybe Capital Radio Networks on its own. I can imagine Bay FM becoming “Forever Classic” and K Rock aligning with Eagle FM Goulburn and Snow FM. Or even a Geelong-based consortium.
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No one will be buying K Rock & Bay FM, they are excluded from the deal, Grant’s hold on to them exclusively, as per the post a few up by @charlie
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So basically Grant keeps K Rock and Bay FM, and sells the rest of its radio network to ARN (which then has to divest 4KQ to a third party). Is that correct?
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Maybe The Edge 96.5
Let’s hope there is a rethink. Sell any overlap stations to Capital Network.