0/5

Packer keeps them guessing

What does James Packer have in store for TEN? Everybody has a theory...

Speculation on what James Packer plans for TEN has media in a spin.

It ranges from possible plans for NRL and international cricket, to buying cheap and selling later at a profit, to getting ready to swing the axe…and there is even comment on how the deal suprised his friend David Gyngell and throws down the gauntlet to Kerry Stokes.

Packer is now close to becoming TEN’s majority stakeholder.

Media buyer Harold Mitchell told Lateline, “If Packer’s going to have an interest as big as that approaching that takeover limit, I suspect he wants some seats on the board for he and some of his people. They know what they’re doing. They’ve had a history of running all media companies and very, very strong in television, so I would think that they would be wanting to focus on what is the job that they’re very good at. The advertising market is doing so well, but they want more than their share.”

Considered most at risk are the ambitions for 2.5 hours of news in 2011. TEN is hiring 100 new employees for the shift. It’s a huge gamble in ratings and investment.

“We are well progressed in pursuing the strategy we announced in August,” a TEN spokesperson said.

Packer is also said to have concerns that the network’s success with MasterChef has not been applied across the network.

Today most media reports are linking Packer’s interest in TEN to the future of sport and broadcasting in Australia.

With the anti-siphoning list about to be redrafted the future for ONE looks brighter.

With Packer on board, TEN could bid to secure the rights to rugby league and international cricket when the deals with Channel Nine expire.

Updated: But there is also speculation Packer may be looking to axe ONE and air SKY News on a third channel.

James Packer, who has held Pay TV interests since selling out of PBL / Nine, is not considered to share the same emotion for television as that of his father. With previous interests in casinos and telcos, he could well be taking opportunity to move on a network while the price is good. His father showed him how to sell the network at a premium rate only to buy it back at a steal later. Profit, not progamming, is the main game.

The good news for television is that it is an endorsement of an industry many view as being beseiged by alternatives.

Source: news.com.au, theage.com.au, smh, ABC

54 Responses

  1. If ONE is shut down in favour of CNN International or SKY News, AFL can be delivered to GEM, 7mate, or even 11 allowing the main SD channels to broadcast their regular programming.

  2. How will Foxtel let Sky News be carried by TEN? Also, when much of its content comes from Seven & Nine through their part-ownership?

    That’s too weird to even get my head around!

  3. For the idea of Sky News Australia on a Ten digital channel – doesn’t Ten and its news service have an agreement with Fairfax Sky’s owner News Limited rival? Never gonna happen … and Sky is a third owned by Nine and third owned by Seven and features mostly their news service’s reports.

Leave a Reply