No news corp paper in Tamworth
True, especially given Nine Entertainment chairman is former Federal Treasurer Peter Costello who still has links with the Liberal Party. Journalists at the Fairfax papers should be worried that they will be forced to change their tone in their reports concerning federal politics and reduce criticism of the Federal Government.
I despair at what this means for all the small country newspapers. I hope it’s a vote of confidence in them and the start of a turnaround where instead of walking towards a slow and painful death, they can come back to life. Attract and retain the best staff. And more effectively be a voice for their communities.
Apologies - counted the Northern Daily Leader as a News Corp publication for some reason
Be interesting to see whether Nine can leverage Fairfax’s excellent Federal and State reporters into their news content.
So maybe Peter Hartcher can replace Miranda Devine on Today Show’s “What’s Making News?” etc. Would Kate McClymont work as a 60 Minutes reporter utilising her amazing contacts?
I still think Nine could be considering a News/Talk channel to replace 9Gem. This now could work.
What does this mean for the Australian News Channel (wholly owned by rival News Corp) and Nine’s new Your Money channel?
And while we’re on it, off topic but I’m hearing rumours Ten is rebranding ONE soon too.
So, Peter Costello is in Karl Stefanovic’s earpiece feeding him the questions when he interviews Turnbull? Yeah, right!
Probably nothing, I think. Fairfax has long been rumoured to be shutting down the print versions of their newspapers anyway.
Wow! Massive news!
If I was News Corp I wouldn’t want Fairfax (through Nine) knowing what my business is doing etc…
They may have to cancel the new channel. It can’t serve two masters.
I’m hoping that through this merger that Nine and Fairfax will be able to boost their news departments by using each other’s resources. Here’s hoping for a better commercial news production standards.
Kochie’s face sums it all up. He’s probably thinking 'Uh oh, Seven (and us) are f**ked
Throwing shit against a wall here in my head - but imagine a news channel, replacing 9Gem, that would be able to cherry pick Fairfax radio interviews etc from around the country interspersed with news (similar to ABC News Breakfast) and then unleash Hadley and Mitchell at night etc with their own one hour shows… Sky would shit themselves.
Upper Hunter is fucked.
Fairfax owns all the weeklies.
Nine owns the only proper TV news in the area.
2NM takes a fair whack of Macquarie radio content.
Prime and WIN does sweet FA. Only independent media covers just Scone and Upper Hunter Shire, and even then people aren’t entirely enamored with the people behind the site.
I’m sure this isn’t the lone case but will ACMA and ACCC do anything. I have a better chance of a hot date with a supermodel than those two doing anything. 
Hadley had a show on Sky News, iirc. The bits I saw were atrocious.
Oh I wouldn’t doubt it and I certainly wouldn’t watch it, but the power of their radio base should give them enough exposure to be successful. Sprouting the 9News Channel ™ 
through 2GB, 3AW and all of their network relay stations…
And for a laugh, the signoffs on Nine News will be: “Sue Ridgepipe, National Nine Macquarie Network News”
In all seriousness – this has the makings of a really interesting period in radio as well as print and TV.
Will they wipe Macquarie Sports and insert a low-cost news/traffic/9Honey based female friendly station or would they try and have another go at sports with WWOS backing?
Talking Lifestyle Mark II?
Fairfax is trending at No.9 worldwide on Twitter. Goes to show the proposed merger is getting a lot of attention.
News Corp will be a bit worried because not only its JV with Nine on the new business channel is at risk, but also Nine may no longer put up full page ads on its Sunday papers promoting new programs and special events.
Courtesy of Mediaweek, this is Hugh Marks email to Nine staff this morning:
Dear Colleagues,
Today marks a truly momentous development for Nine’s future.
This morning we announced to the stock market the news that Nine and Fairfax have agreed terms to merge our businesses into one corporate entity, NEC.
The ground-breaking merger – harnessing the strength, assets, quality and reach of two of the country’s most famous industry brands – is another highly significant step in the evolution of Nine’s business into one of the most powerful media organisations in the country.
The scope of this deal is genuinely quite breathtaking.
In addition to our existing television and digital businesses, the new NEC will also become the proprietor of the iconic Fairfax mastheads as well as the new majority owner of Domain (60%) and the Macquarie Radio Network (54.5%). And through the transaction Nine will also move to 100% ownership of Stan.
This deal is all about our strategy for the future. A strategy that on completion of the merger enables the new Nine to:
• Significantly extend the scale of our offering to advertisers
• Substantially increase Nine’s exposure to high growth digital revenues through 9Now, the combined digital publishing businesses of Nine and Fairfax, and of course ownership of a majority position in Domain.
• Invest further in our core news and current affairs DNA, enhancing even further our ability to provide quality, independent, reliable and accurate News and Current Affairs content across all available platforms; and
• Really focus on the next steps that will be available to us for the future growth of STAN;
All as part of a company with a balance sheet that enables us to continue to prudently invest in our content creation and distribution for the future of media and entertainment.
In the new combined business NEC’s existing shareholders will have a 51% shareholding and Fairfax’s existing shareholders will receive new shares that will equate to 49% of the shares in NEC.
Peter Costello will remain Chairman of NEC – the new business – and I will remain CEO.
The new NEC Board will be comprised of members of both the existing NEC and Fairfax Boards.
Such a merger of two major media groups will of course result in some duplication of functions and you will read about synergies that will be pursued by the business as part of this transaction. But let me stress this merger is not about cost reductions. This merger is all about creating a business with the diversity and scale of revenues and earnings to be able to continue to do what we are all about. Create great content. Distribute it broadly. And engage our audiences and advertisers. Ultimately our people will all have new opportunities across more platforms, brands and identity to connect with audiences.
We will of course be outlining more details of the merged business over the ensuing months, but for now we embark on this new expanded phase of our company’s journey, with a scale of resources and platforms to continue to build on our shared heritage and iconic brands.
Make no mistake, these are exciting times for Nine. I look forward to joining with you all in making this merger an outstanding success. It’s a big deal. And it promises to substantially strengthen and reinforce what’s so great about our business into the future.
Cheers,
Hugh