I doubt it is just that though - transmission sites are significant items of infrastructure that require ongoing work to remain operational and will have licencing and safety requirements to maintain.
While SCA may have the ability in house to get a signal to the site, thats only part of the work required (and may not actually be part of any maintenance contract)
This kind of outsourcing of infrastructure maintenance is far from rare
Think you’ll find BA own the Metro transmitters now as well…
Discussing at work yesterday, yes we think so too now, TXA know nothing about this, other than what’s reported in the news, so don’t know what’s going to happen with the maintenance contract now?
I haven’t seen it anywhere here, but not to say it hasn’t been mentioned?
Further to SCA getting rid of all it’s transmission facilities to BA, all SCA TV play-out is being transferred to NPC Media (along with Nine & Seven Networks).
This means technically SCA are no longer a broadcaster, they are only content providers, everything past the end of the studio is performed by others, they no longer do program distribution (now Telstra’s DVN), TV play-out (by 2020 NPC Media) & no longer transmission TV or Radio (now Broadcast Australia).
It wouldn’t surprise me if BA get all the licences also (SCA will fight but probably lose), with BA being the owners & operators of all the transmission facilities, they technically should own the licences not SCA who have nothing to do with transmissions now.
I believe the remaining TX assets not previously purchased by Axicom were old & decrepid & in bad need of replacement (now BA’s problem) so to cut costs it’s easier for SCA to offload to someone else, but they’ve just ripped the guts out of the company, & pretty much killed local regional radio, this along with letting Kyle & Jackie O go to ARN (SCA’s still paying for that), I think is the stupidest thing SCA has done, & in a few years it might backfire & bite them hard.
I can see the day in the not too distant future, where it won’t just be Engineering staff being cut, but with the use of Zetta, they can shut up shop at all regional radio stations, & network the entire country out of 2 or 3 metro stations (after all they’re all Hit & Triple M now), & make it sound local (breakfast show for localism rules), similar to what Smooth FM does now outside of breakfast.
If SCA’s content tanks at any time, they have nothing left & the company will be worthless. Most or all of SCA’s new recently built studio complexes are leased also not owned, so gradually SCA as a company has less & less assets, they’re banking on their future with their content being the major (probably eventually only) assets.
If the content tanks, who’s going to buy parts or all of the company, no one will invest in the content that’s tanked, they’ll create their own new stuff, there won’t be any transmission facilities, & possibly no transmission licences & no studios to own. Other’s might pickup talent, but I doubt they’d be paying SCA for the staff, they’d do a deal direct with the talent & their management (if they have any).
It was announced in September last year that the playout of SCA’s television services would be moving to NPC by mid-next year.
Though Nine and Seven have effectively outsourced transmission and playout to their joint venture companies, and the ABC and SBS have also outsourced transmission to BA effectively via long standing government policy that started with the sell off of what was the PMG/Telecom broadcasting arm, ABC has outsourced playout to their ABC-WIN joint venture Mediahub, and SBS has outsourced playout to Deluxe.
Though, 7 & 9 still own the transmission companies both NPC Media & TXA.
TX Australia also own the licences at a number of the translator sites, & through ownership of TXA, 7 & 9 still “own” all the transmission facilities, & tell TXA & NPC how to operate, through directors on the board.
It’s also quite likely at some point over the next few years, NPC Media & TXA will be rolled into one company for transmission, but 7 & 9 will still own & control the company, no different to the networks owning different companies at each site e.g. Nine Entertainment owning TCN Channel Nine Pty. Ltd., GTV General Television Corporation Pty. Ltd., NBN Pty. Ltd.,etc.
ABC & SBS operate totally different to all other TV & Radio (commercial or otherwise), they have a seperate special charter & BA can actually tell AMCA what’s going to happen with what, will transmit from where, & all specifications associated, not the other way around, they don’t operate under the Broadcast Services Act. that the commercial stations do.
Radio Today understands that among other changes expressed in a memo to staff today, Mat Eggleston’s role of Hit national ops manager has been expanded to become a duo role including NSW head of Hit content (including 2Day).
In a key change to the SCA content team structure, the role of Newcastle content director will be combined with that of NSW group regional content director.
That change will see current 2DayFM CD Jase Allen take up this new position, leading the Hit and Triple M NSW regional team, as well as overseeing SCA’s Newcastle stations.
The structural changes also mean that Mike Byrne will no longer look after Hit and Triple M Newcastle. He is set to remain at SCA in a yet-to-be-disclosed role.
The changes will also allow Sea FM and 2GO boss Peter Yiamarelos to focus on his Gosford-based stations, which SCA called a “critical market”.
Now this will be one to watch
SCA, Shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.
It won’t happen, but here’s an opportunity for Super Network Newcastle to “hit” SCA where it hurts & beat them in the ratings.
An outsider telling Newcastle what they want to listen to won’t work for long.
The Sydney SCA stations don’t rate, & not sure the change of 2DAY breakfast will help, but they’re all out of ideas, Smooth rates well & is mostly music with no shit chatter, so hey what the hell?
Most other regional NSW markets don’t have any competition, so no surprise SCA stations are most listened to.
Laugh of the decade, SCA says Gosford is a “critical market”, that’s why they got rid of everyone, ripped the heart out of the place, & watched the ratings tumble. 
Perhaps critical in that their stations are in critical condition?
The following story has already been mentioned on the “Random Radio” thread, but Radioinfo has picked it up.
SCA warns shareholders of a revenue drop and share price falls 22%
Southern Cross Austereo has provided shareholders with a trading update warning of a downturn in revenue following an 8.5% decrease in the September quarter figures when compared to the prior year.
All commercial radio dropped by 10.2% in the same period and SCA, the owner of the Triple M and Hit Networks, says EBITDA for the first half of this financial year is now expected to be in the range of $60M to $68M.
Read more at: https://www.radioinfo.com.au/news/sca-warns-shareholders-revenue-drop-and-share-price-falls-22
Very good @TV-Expert, here’s a reminder if any readers have missed the other thread:
Continuing the discussion from Random Radio:
Here’s the post that started it all.
Why has radio revenue dropped (over 10%) all of a sudden? What has caused this big drop? SCA very much dependant on radio revenues which they consider the core of their business.
There’s been a huge correction in the advertising market this year.
Spend via agencies have declined over 10% since this time last year.
This year has been a major ad recession due to the inflated booking over the last couple of years (same sex marriage, elections, Olympics etc…) - The only thing this year was a federal election.
Isn’t it also a flow on from the general slowdown in the economy and retail spending generally?
Saw a mention of the Australian Traffic Network in one of the industry spaces. I wonder whether much of that $200m cash injection won’t eventuate
Yes.
There are far too many peddling hope when times are tough for many.