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TEN renegotiating 21st Century FOX, CBS deals.

TEN hopes to cherry-pick the US titles it wants, whilst reducing the onerous costs of US output deals.

TEN is looking to renegotiate its cumbersome output deals with 21st Century FOX and CBS, according to media reports.

The network is hoping to scale back or exit its contracts which cost $100m a year, ahead of a looming deadline for a $200 million loan with the Commonwealth Bank.

Output contracts for US shows force the networks to purchase a list of content irrespective of its performance locally, and some have been loss-making in recent times. While the cost of exiting might be high, but cheaper than the long-term contracts, it allows to networks to pick and choose which US content they want.

Seven recently concluded deals with NBC and Disney, while Nine also exited a Warner Bros deal.

But TEN is also the most-reliant of the three networks on US content, producing fewer hours of Australian output in primetime. CBS is also a joint-venture partner in ELEVEN.

Rumours are swirling about possible TEN cutbacks, including to the network’s News division.

The $200m loan in 2013 has Lachlan Murdoch, James Packer and Bruce Gordon as guarantors, but Gina Rinehart declined. TEN has engaged both McKinsey and Kordamentha to help it deal with the increasing pressures it is facing, the Australian Financial Review reports.

TEN will report its half-year results tomorrow.

8 Responses

  1. Commercial FTA TV in Australia is just a joke – wall to wall low cost reality and a peculiar campaign to drive all their viewers away by erratic scheduling, they may as well pack up their offices, put on the test pattern and hand all the decent overseas content over to online streaming now…

  2. They’ll still have the rights to all their old shows like NCIS even if these deals lapse. They haven’t really had a huge US hit in recent years.

  3. In addition to my previous comment , I hope TEN get the access to allow streaming on the Freeview App as well !! For all there. Intent and channels

  4. What is the end game here, they going to let them fold and then Fox picks it up at next to nothing?

    General comment about the FTO channels, I have had an overload of reality programs and limit my viewing of such to my old favourites Survivor and Master Chef. The rest I can freely admit I have never watched and never will. Then we have the mistreatment of US programs, being shifted all over the place, removed, put back, changed to another channel to the point where I lose interest, How to get away with murder case in point where I just gave up…as it turned out just before 7 did the same. I still follow Blindspot (barely) but have to put up with missing the last few minutes of the odd episode even though I add the additional 20 minutes on my IQ2. Which brings me to my real bugbear, the total disregard the FTO channels have to their viewers and I can see major problems for all if…

  5. Oh no, I hope this doesn’t mean they won’t be getting shows like Blue Bloods & Hawaii Fice-0 any more. Any word on when they will show the latest Elementary season? It’s already aired in the US with rumours it’s the last one. Hopefully it will replace 24 & Homeland.

  6. I hope it all works out for TEN, I still think there channels need for focus , not sure what’s one is supposed to be , and TEN has home shopping from midnight to dawn, so why watch , hey have two shopping channels , its a shame the deal with discovery did not pan out , one could have been relaunched properly, 11 a great channel, but they seem to hold back on titles ie Star , but if it save money and we get a better product , why not , and maybe a fourth entertainment channel or SKY news?? Maybe a total rebranding ?

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