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Germany buys our Logie Awards

The sale of ACP Magazines will see the ownership of the TV Week Logie Awards move to German multinational, Bauer Media Group.

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TV Week Logie Awards will have new owners, Germany’s Bauer Media Group, following the sale of ACP Magazines by Nine Entertainment Co.

Nine yesterday confirmed the sale of 100% of ACP to the German media multinational to help meet company debt. The undisclosed sum is believed to be upwards of $500M.

The sale includes TV Week magazine which owns the rights to Logie Awards, presented annually since 1959.

In 2002 Seven and Nine went to court in a fight over ownership of the Logie Awards. Seven Network-controlled Pacific Publications sold its 50% ownership of TV Week to the Packer-controlled PBL but believed the sale of the masthead did not include the Logies. A court battle ensued with TV Week ruled as owner of the iconic Logies brand.

It is unknown whether Nine’s sale of ACP included any clause about future broadcasts of the Logies, but Bauer will own the industry event once the sale is approved by the Foreign Investment Board.

That could open the way for other networks such as Seven to bid for the broadcast rights.

The Logies were once rotated between commercial networks, last airing on Seven in 1995 and TEN in 1993. They have been seen on Nine for the last 16 years, 15 of them at Crown.

Despite efforts to lure them to Queensland, the Logies were secured at Crown for the next five years in a deal with the Victorian Government in April.

The Logies also cost millions to stage and it also isn’t clear if the new German owners will view the outlay and the return with quite the same affection, especially given that voting has no longer required the purchase of a TV Week magazine.

Nine declined to comment yesterday.

27 Responses

  1. @KFed..news.com.au have a current piece on this that states: “A senior executive at Nine said while no provisions had been put into its contract with Bauer, he conceded Bauer “could scrap it” once the sale has been approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

    The Nine insider said the awards could be scrapped.“You never know, but I think it’s fair to say I won’t be the only one hoping that won’t happen.”

    The Punch obviously liked my idea about Karl in Lederhosen as Ant Sharwood has an article up today about how the German Logies awards might look.

  2. @squareeyes…My take was intended to address your opening statement: “I don’t know why people criticise The Logies”. I explained one reason why. I recognise you principally talked about voting methods however.

    In terms of popularity….I don’t know that much about the voting but I would have to think that when one publication with specific network links runs key aspects of the awards, that will be a problem.

    Lack of shows with true stature also make the awards problematic in some years. And some wins (cough..Karl) felt more like a mate’s network kickback.

    As I said in another post, the awards should be independent and run by a small independent group. Let’s throw it out there…David Knox as first Chairperson. (apologies to David for giving him a fantasy position without asking first).

  5. @SusanP. I wasn’t commenting on the award ceremony itself, but the concept.
    Personally, I haven’t watched any award show in years as I find them boring and a bit of a wankfest.
    But if you are going to have them, I don’t see why a popularity award should be regarded as less legitimate than an industry voted award. Particularly when it is ratings and popularity that drive the TV industry.

  6. Sorry..I should add that I know that wasn’t at the Logies.

    @daran…I did laugh at that prospect.
    “The award for best actor in a drama goes to…… We actually have two actors on equal scores….so…to the stage for a sing-off!”

    I can sort of see Lachie Hume doing it his way.

  7. I think if the Logies go kaput because of a sale, it was never strong and independent enough to begin with.

    @squareeyes….I think the last few have been abysmal. And putting aside the actual awards themselves (which I do take certain exception to), the awards ceremony has become a bit of a laughing stock with so many TV folks acting (or being) off their skulls etc. I’m not talking about after parties, but people going to the awards smashed and acting like fools in social media during the event. When you see very well known faces laughing at the event on Twitter……

    If the industry itself doesn’t treat the awards with due respect, why should others.

    I mean, this is Australia….show your penis, get sacked and then get a long term gig on a show.

  9. I don’t know why people criticise The Logies. They are what they are, a popularity award created to sell TV Week.
    There are also several awards which are voted by a panel and are more of a recognition of talent.
    Also, over the years, there have been a lot of awards shows that have been voted for by industry peers and have failed to find an audience.
    Even now, The Arias and The AFI Awards ( whatever they’re called now ) don’t rate as highly as The Logies.

  11. The Logies were a joke anyway. I won’t be sorry to see them disappear completely. The AACTA Awards are what we should be supporting and positioning as our serious, properly accredited, international level recognition of achievement within the industry, not the easily manipulated vox pop we currently have.

    If Bauer Media Group do continue with the Logies in some form, I recommend pushing them back to late September so that they can be run in conjunction with Oktoberfest. At least then, there will be an obvious reason for some of the bizarre voting choices.

  12. @Dr_Rudi LOL yes maybe we can live in hope they will buy all the tv stations here & all shows will run to their advertised & scheduled start & finish times.

  18. Even when Seven controlled TV Week (via Pacific Magazines) the event was still hosted for years by Nine. So there’s no guarantee Seven would be interested in the Logies although it’s a different era now, Seven’s probably in a better position to host them these days.

    Ten likely wouldn’t be able to afford it but it might actually bring them some viewers

  19. I agree with @ryaneco. The awards should never have become Nine-centric. Useless in my view and if I were a power player intent purely on profit, I would axe them.
    @Jake..when Cubbie was sold off to China last week…I knew the end of Aussie was nigh. It truly saddens me when big Aussie icons go. We are swapping long term independence and security for short term gain.

  20. Time for one of the other channels to institute a better awards night, perhaps? Maybe one that celebrates actual talent and ability more than a clumsy measure of popularity?

    I know, I know. Crazy talk.

  23. I’m seeing so many parallels between this and the episode of the Simpsons when the German conglomerate buys Mr Burns’ power plant. “The following awards ceremonies are no longer required: the Logies. That is all.” Unless Bert or Carl or someone can save them with some idiotic rhyming.

  25. I’d love to see the awards be rotated between the commercial networks again. It’s an industry event so why shouldn’t all networks be able to take a turn airing it!

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