★★★★★ 0/5

Nine Darwin denies Imparja takeover offer

Alice Springs broadcaster Imparja Television is rumoured to be eyeing Nine's Darwin affiliate.

5
Leave a comment

Oh we love a good “no comment….” In this industry it’s usually followed by the phrase, “where there’s smoke there’s fire.”

The manager of corporate and regulatory affairs at Channel Nine has denied reports that Imparja Television, in Alice Springs, is going to buy out or sub-lease Channel Nine’s Darwin operations, NTD. NTD is owned by PBL Media, and is an owned-and-operated station of the Nine Network, under the company name Territory Television Pty. Ltd.

Imparja Television is a commercial station owned by Aboriginal shareholders which broadcasts from Alice Springs to regional areas, but not to Darwin.

Scott Briggs declined to say whether an offer had been made by Imparja to Channel Nine.

“I can only confirm that Territory television continues to be owned by the Nine Network. I’ve got no further comment,” he said.

This is where we remember Nine is currently facing huge debts, and the Darwin market does not contribute to nightly ratings figures.

Source: ABC

5 Responses

  1. In 1987 when Imparja was applying for its licence, NTD was also applying for that licence. The licence was given to Imparja through political means with the bicentenary fast approaching. Imparja was set up and heavily funded to purchase its infrastructure through ATSIC as was CAAMA productions. So where will the money come from now? Your guess is as good as mine. I might add that Darwin residence have been robbed for many years of the TEN signal which is kinda sad as 10’s major audience in southern states is 18-35 which is also the majority of Drawin and Palmerstons residents.

  2. You can’t compare the regional operators of 20 years ago to today. Back then, regional operators were monopolies with loyal viewers and no competition, and programming was cheaper because they could pick and choose what programs they bought. Also at the time, for instance, TVQ0 Brisbane was valued at less than the regional network NQTV up in North Queensland which would have had a fraction of the population as Brisbane had. But that was then.

    Now they are operating in competitive environments the same as capital city TV, with not the same proportion of advertising revenue to share and having to maintain massive amounts of infrastructure (eg. multiple transmitter sites, digital rollouts, etc)

    But also you can’t compare WIN Corporation with a billionaire owner (who bought Nine Adelaide/Perth only to settle a score with PBL) to Imparja Television which is a community-owned enterprise that has to have government grants to supplement its ad income. Also Imparja has a relatively small number of viewers over a huge area which is mostly remote from any major population centre, all of which isn’t the most appealing to advertisers. And they’ve not got a monopoly.

  3. TelevisionAU, It would be like asking, say, Darling Downs Television back in 1987, how they could afford to buy the Brisbane Ten network affilliate off Qintex. Simple, regional television, especially the remote area operators, like Imparja, is still a profitable business. How do you think, WIN bought Nine Adelaide and Perth?

Leave a Reply