Packer keeps them guessing
What does James Packer have in store for TEN? Everybody has a theory...
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
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
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- Tagged with Lateline, Masterchef, NRL, TEN News
54 Responses
Even though this is all speculation, if he did buy into Ten to shut down OneHD so that people have to pay him to watch sports on Fox Sports then I have to say that the Government has to re-evaluate the Media ownership laws in this country. The spectrum that Free to Air runs on is government run and they shouldnt let them shut down One as Australians should be entilted to a Free Sports Channel. Wasnt that the purpose of Freeview? Hopefully he does what no one is expecting and give Ten a bit of $$$ and help them secure the AFL and NRL exclusivley with Foxtel and help them impliment the well thought out strategy they have developed. If he wants to retore Ten to its glory days, do it with 11
“Speculation”. Something “journalists” add when they write a story that has no facts but is based on watercooler/washroom chit-chat and fanciful concoctions while waiting at the traffic lights.
It’s really hard to know what to know what Packer is going to. This morning on radio here they said that Packer may axe the “underperforming ONEHD”. I’m not a major sports fan, but it is nice to watch a sport you like on a dedicated channel. I don’t follow NRL .. but with GEM surely they could show it live on that so everyone who wants to see it can.
I was never a big fan of the 2.5 hours of news on TEN it’s still too much.
I wonder what this meas for eleven.
I am looking forward to Eleven I hope that it will happen now in 2011.
Not to mention he could also have the Super 15 rugby.
He will be keeping One, i think that is almost a given. Give him increased buying power as he already owns the Fox Sports channels. Do remember the analogue signal is soon to be switched off.
Time will tell but i think James is pretty savvy, just hope he doesn’t want to abandon a slightly younger demographic as i’d rather pull my nails out with pliers than watch Channel 7 on any given night. The +50’s can have em.
There surely isn’t much doubt that this all about protecting Fox. The NRL and AFL rights are up soon. Getting One either out of the picture or taking very few games could drive down the rice and increase the content available to Fox. Having people on the inside of Ten (and One) gives Fox both the market intelligence and the possibility of persuasion to get Fox a far better deal than would otherwise be the case. AFL fans in NSW, ACT and Qld will lose big time. NRL fans in Vic, SA and WA are already screwed over, and will probably lose what little they do have. There are no NRL fans in Tas.
If packer Gets rid of one.
I’ll buy shares in Channel 10, and give him a right royal F*&^%$ roasting at the next AGM. I’ll make him answer questions, and if he doesn’t i’ll use the full force of Corporations Act to throw at him
“2.5 hours of news in 2011”
That’s not much …sorry, I couldn’t resist.
God No!
Wow you’re all jumping the shark about One aren’t you? I doubt it will be shut down any time soon. Packer would need to fight like heck on the board of directors to try and see them to make sense.
I’m taking these stories with a grain of salt, Not anything official unless the big man confirms it himself.
JP and his mates better keep the new 2.5 news block. I for one plan to watch the new bulletins between 6pm and 7pm, as I think it will offer a better national and regional perspective than Seven and Nine do.
Can’t see any logic in dumping One either, especially if they are trying to go for the NRL and/or AFL rights next year.
End of the day though, it’s all speculation at the moment, and it doesn’t seemed to be based on any facts.
My bet is to try and eliminate Seven from the AFL rights
@Terry – Sky News Australia is a joint venture between Seven, Nine and Fox. It would be really weird for Ten to be broadcasting its competitions service… Also not sure what implications this has on ownership laws…
Goodbye One, new News programmes and Ten as we know it.
Aren’t these the same people that ruined Nine?
Yeah…. what will be the appeal of Ten now?
As a person with Foxtel how is this going to benefit me if he is going to add Sky News and take down ONEHD as I already have Sky News.
Who wants to listen to a mogul who doesn’t have a media empire to rattle his opinions with?
Surely his take-over cannot be worse than the infamous 1989 take-over of Ten under the management of Bob Shanks – I don’t want to see another version of Family Double Dare thanks!
I hope he doesn’t get rid of ONE HD, Australia needs a FTA sports channel!
This could really screw up TENs plans for 2011, and when they talk about the 3rd channel do they mean ch11 with the extra content missing from TEN?
I’m just wondering with 20% would he really have the power to do the changes, wouldn’t he need 50.1%?
JP will just ruin Ten like he’s ruined Nine, he’s a numbers man and as correctly stated in the article “is not considered to share the same emotion for television as that of his father”.
I just think that it was really inconsiderate that he decided to do all of this in the week you were moving house!
Exactly.
If Ten were to bid for international cricket and rugby league then it needs a dedicated channel (not necessarily One). If One is replaced by Sky News, as reported in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald today, then Ten will have to broadcast sports on its main channel (as was the case before One began in March 2009) or forced to give up some rights Ten now owns, such as NBL, netball or even Formula One. Then Fox Sports may choose to pick up some sports, leaving less popular sports to find a new home. I don’t want Ten to return to the dark days of early 1990s when it went bankrupt and had only rights to NBL, rugby union and ironman/ironwoman.
I just hope they don’t chop the news expansion or worse: the 5pm news. If that were to happen, I’d say potentially, there could be major job losses, if Ten were to become Go-lite.
The future for ONE may loom brighter, but speculation in today’s Age suggests
Packer wants to protect Fox Sports by closing ONE down and instead simulcasting Sky News on the channel. The Masterchef suggestion makes no sense at all.
Great Ten was the only alternative network between the 3 big guys now we’re just going to have a mini clone of 9.
The news expansion is rumoured to be costing Ten $20 million a year.
That is (at about 6 hours of new programming a week) only $65,000 per hour of television.
That is still dirt cheap television – and way under what drama and even reality costs these days. And if that new news hour from 6-7 can boost Ten’s audience in the advertiser friendly demo of 25-54 by just 10%, then revenues will be up massively. It will also have a flow on effect for Ten’s primetime and will make the network much more competitive and able to win nights often in 25-54.
All that for $20million a year. It’s a bargin!
The Simpsons repeat rights cost $7m a year – Ten has stated that!