The actions of Bruce Gordon - Mr Murdoch’s fellow shareholder and partner in an earlier bid to take control of Ten - are not known but it is understood no notice of any action had been received by Ten’s administrators late on Friday.
Media tycoons Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon appeared to pass on the opportunity to challenge the sale of the Ten Network to US free-to-air network CBS.
A 4pm court-sanctioned deadline for any challenge to the transfer to CBS came and went on Friday, with no appearance by Mr Murdoch or Mr Gordon to oppose the transfer of Ten to CBS.
By declining to file an appearance in court, it is believed that Mr Murdoch has decided to effectively walk away from any prospective challenge to the CBS deal, subject to its final clearance by the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Ten’s takeover by US broadcaster CBS looks certain after Lachlan Murdoch passed up the chance to challenge.
A directions hearing in the Supreme Court will this morning confirm Mr Murdoch has abandoned any effort to block the transfer of Ten’s shares to CBS, after a deadline for any challengers to file appearances passed on Friday afternoon.
It is understood Bruce Gordon has also bowed out, putting to rest speculation the pair could mount a last-minute challenge to the deal and put on their own expert evidence giving Ten a positive valuation.
News Corporation Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller said the CBS takeover was now “inevitable”. “CBS hasn’t got Ten yet, (but) I don’t think it is in doubt. I think it is inevitable,” Mr Miller said. “We don’t really have any insight yet as an industry what CBS’s plans are.”
He said the efforts of CBS sister company Viacom after it acquired Britain’s Channel 5 could be indicative of Ten’s future. Last week, Media reported that when Viacom bought Britain’s Channel 5 for £450m three years ago it increased local content at the expense of US shows, dumping all but five programs from the schedule in the process.
The CBS shares transfer is listed for a three-day hearing from October 31.
A transfer of Ten’s shares to CBS must also be approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board, which is expected to make a decision by the end of this month.
Is it fair to think of Viacom’s UK actions as indicative of CBS’s Aussie plans?
The split of Viacom and CBS did seem pretty half-hearted and arbitrary, and the major shareholding overlaps significantly - but calls to Re-Merge late last year weren’t followed up.
They’re about to lose an awful lot more though if it reaches the High Court and they lose and have to pay costs. If they had experience or lawyers they might have a chance but if the one in particular has no lawyer, no court room experience or respect for the court of law then things aren’t going to turn out favourably for them.
The acticle says they only spent $30,000 on shares (probably not the day before Ten went into administration, so they’d have probably been worth less than that now anyway), Court and legal fees would eclipse that fairly quickly.
