Couple of things here that I thought was interesting enough to actually log in and contribute.
From industry conversations this week, don’t rule out Nine having a crack at aquiring SCA either. They are determined to get the AM metro stations off their books (which - as an aside - I suspect won’t sell as one network, but as combinations of stations) and wouldn’t have the voices rule concerns in markets like regional WA.
A fair few of us seem to forget the cross-media ownership (2/3 rule) was abolished under the Turnbull government. The contemporary example? Nine - owning TV, radio and print in Melbourne and Sydney. The merged Seven/SCA would become a beast in Perth the likes of which we haven’t seen before… or at least not since cross-media ownership laws were introduced in the first place.
Should this go ahead, the only potential breaches I can see are in markets like regional WA, where a combined Seven/SCA would almost certainly fall foul of the minimum voices rule. An insane workaround in lieu of further reform - which the networks would be banking on - would be to sell the TV licences, which undoubtedly cost the most to run and maintain, to Nine or Paramount, moving the Seven affiliation to the WDT JV. It might be the best way to make some money out of that station too with its AFL and cricket rights, especially if cross-sold with Triple M, LiSTNR and 7Plus.
Above all else, I look forward to the Cash Cow hosting 2DayFM Breakfast in 2026.
I’ve heard mixed messages here. I believe they want to have a go but at the right price and conditions. Having the NRL rights for all games on Nine, Stan and the radio rights for the MMM network would be one hell of a proposition for advertisers.
UPDATE: The Australian reports Simon Mawhinney has reached out to Heith Mackay-Cruise and his board “to issue an unreserved apology” for the comments he made earlier.
I still reckon if you’re faced with merging SCA and Nine, shift 3AW and 2GB to the Triple M frequency (or 2Day’s in Sydney) and sell the rest off. I don’t get Nine not seeing value in those strong talk stations, and using a merger as a quasi FM conversion would secure their future and help them shift a little younger. 6PR/4BC, sure, throw those overboard tomorrow, don’t wait, but I really don’t understand how little regard Nine have for those powerhouse talk stations.
The fact they aren’t an amazing fit for their other content like ex-Fairfax newspapers is a good thing, reaching the widest advertising range. Sure it’s not 18-49 friendly, but it’s still more valuable than SCA’s offerings in Sydney.
A downside for a Nine deal is probably just that they would have to be the bigger party - SCA being the lead in that merger, when Seven need leadership renewal suits both parties, while a deal between Nine and SCA would be Nine, who can’t run radio that well, coming in and taking over SCA. I can’t see them taking over but then leaving SCA to run things.
Time for Imparja to strike.
[image of the Jeb meme but imparja logo]
They’d all have to be sold for near nothing, but you’d get there on voices by getting Ten to take over WDT directly, and then sell the one of the radio stations in markets that are too low. I think Seven rates so highly in regional WA that you’d do the shuffles to keep that in house.
The Seven Network’s proposed radio merger has thrown the futures of its biggest stars into doubt, with newsroom veterans now facing contract reviews.
Among them is said to be Sunrise sports presenter Mark Beretta who has been on the books at Seven for 30 years and on a sweet deal at the breakfast show for more than two decades.
The contract of chairman Stokes’s long time favourite newsreader Ann Sanders is expected to also be under review as Stokes makes plans to step away from board responsibilities, a move that will put an end to the protection he has long extended to old friends still on the books.
The contract of Michael Usher too is said to be up for renegotiation – something which may force to a head succession plans within the Sydney newsroom where Usher has for years been viewed as the likely successor to 6pm newsreader Mark Ferguson who is still yet to win the Sydney news hour.
Others on lucrative salaries that don’t much currently reflect the ratings achieved by their programs are Morning Show hosts Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies, also Sunrise’s Edwina Bartholomew.
Once Stokes’s shareholding is reduced by the merger, his hold over media and power in his Perth hometown via the town’s only metropolitan newspaper The West Australian is expected to be diluted unless Stokes decides either to carve the business off and keep it – or alternatively to sell what in the broader scheme is a backwater operation though one of some value to local WA mining heavyweights such as Gina Rinehart.
Winning but in a market with declining overall ratings, particularly in advertiser friendly demos. Can’t imagine more than a few thousand people under 40 watch The Morning Show with any regularity.
Networks have built up contracts over the years that would keep creeping up, particularly when it’s on someone who initially had to be wooed over to the network - staking on decades of modest yearly revisions, and you have people way over valued in a declining media market.
Until October 29 the ACCC is inviting interested parties to have their say on the proposed acquisition by Southern Cross Media Group Limited (SCA) of all the issued shares in Seven West Media Limited (Seven).
The ACCC have gotten involved due to the acquisition potentially having the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market.
This is considered a public matter.
Updates regarding the ACCC’s investigation will be available on December 18, after the SCA (Monday November 24) and SWM AGMs (Thursday November 6), and on the ACCC’s Public Mergers Register.
SCA and Seven West Media have successfully negotiated one potential hurdle in their deal to combine their businesses.
SCA has been given a waiver by the ASX over its acquisition of shares held by fund manager Spheria Asset Management, which has 9.84% of Seven West Media. It also has about 13.14% of SCA.
SCA would have needed to obtain shareholder approval for Spheria to participate in the transaction.