Mumbrella reports that SWM shareholders will vote on the proposed merger on December 22. If it all goes to plan, the deal will close on January 7 next year.
https://mumbrella.com.au/sca-and-seven-merger-to-close-within-weeks-910261
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Second court hearing scheduled for proposed SCA & SWM merger
A second court hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday December 23, in the Supreme Court of NSW for the proposed acquisition of Seven West Media (SWM) by Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (SCA), subject to the required majorities of SWM shareholders approving the scheme in a meeting to be held the day before, Monday December 22.
Somehow I could see them selling off their joint ventures they have been operating at a loss & the joint venture In WA needed a government bail out If they did sell these then they would only have to sell either HIT or Triple M In Mildura.
Just found this & released under 1 hour ago 7 West Media shareholders have approved the merger with SCA:
https://mumbrella.com.au/seven-shareholders-approve-sca-merger-910741
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So what are they calling their new entity?
Southern Cross Media Group?
Seven Media Group?
Southern Cross Seven Austereo?
Seven Southern Cross Austereo?
Austereo Seven?
Austereo Media Group?
Seven Listenr?
Listenr Plus?
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At the very least the new company will keep SCA’s ASX code:
Seven shareholders will hold 49.9% of the resultant company, with SCA shareholders to hold 50.1% and remain on the ASX, with the ticket SXL. Seven (SWM) will be delisted from the ASX on Wednesday, December 24.
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This merger won’t save either company, both are sinking fast.
The company will remain the same so it will be:
Southern Cross Media Group
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My money is on a rebrand once the dust settles
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I’d wager Seven will be the prominent part of the name, seeing as neither Southern Cross or Austereo are on air branding.
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I can’t see anything happening on air. Channel 7 is Channel 7 whether its owned by Seven West Media or Southern Cross Media. The parent company does not really matter. 10 is still 10 on air - not really any change there. Nine is Nine - not Nine Entertainment Company.
For now the parent company will be the Southern Cross name because a change of name will require shareholder vote.
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It really is amazing how quickly this all moved. Still think this is a big mistake for SCA, Seven offers them so little and detracts from what was a really smart direction change to be a pure audio company.
In the medium term, lots of pain for employees, as the only chance they have is massive “efficiency” changes. In the short term, I think this will be a distraction from the work SCA need to do to fix their big problems in radio - can’t just rely on ARN shooting themselves in the foot as a strategy.
I’d start with a really important question - what matters more to the merged SCA, the ratings share of 7 Sydney at 6pm, or the ratings share of 2Day? Sure, there will be radio and TV specific executives, and they might run pretty independently - but at some point you have to pick the more important side of the business for investing in, and it’s a distraction they didn’t need.
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That’s Boxing Day test, so any day before Dec. 30.
They’re not going to start randomly sharing content on December 28th if they’re not doing it on the 26th.
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They have to decide which radio & TV stations they want to divest to abide by the media ownership rulrs, If I were them I sell the joint ventures that would mean only having to sell eithet Hit or Triple M Mildura.
At some point you’d think SCA will use any spare TV bandwidth to broadcast the metro Triple M and Hit stations on Freeview. This could include the local Triple M and Hit station in each TV market they operate, as well as the extensions in all TV markets, similar to what the ABC does.
SCA openly stated to multiple outlets that they were looking to sell to Nine. Kerry Stokes knew his once-mighty Seven brand was damaged and wanted a fast, quiet exit. He achieved this by selling the illusion that Seven West’s assets could somehow “transform” SCA into a Nine Entertainment–style powerhouse.
The SCA board took the bait and is now saddled with the task of making Stokes’ fantasy a reality.
Stokes didn’t do this deal to strengthen SCA — he did it to stop Nine from becoming even more powerful. And the SCA board didn’t accept it for shareholders — they accepted it out of spite toward them. Nothing more, nothing less.
SCA won’t “rescue” Seven. At best, it will let the business drift along until another buyer — perhaps Comcast — eventually falls for the same tactics.
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I think the broadcasting laws prevent commercial operators doing that. I.e. broadcasting radio/audio channels on TV spectrum.
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