TEN cautious on speculation of Foxtel deal
TEN says talks with Foxtel for a 14.9% stake may not result in a deal.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
TEN has urged for caution in dealing in its shares amid speculation that Foxtel could be close to securing 14.9% ownership of the network.
The Australian reports TEN confirms it is in talks with Foxtel but discussions might not result in a deal.
Earlier Fairfax reported Foxtel was prepared to inject about $85 million at 18¢ a share into the broadcaster, but wants other investors to inject additional cash if it takes a stake.
An agreement of 18c a share would be below the 20c a share at which TEN last traded.  A 14.9% stake is also below the 15% minimum which requires shareholder approval.
TEN has its half-yearly results to come on Thursday and says it will update the stock market when necessary with observers tipping a small rise in ratings and a better than expected revenue share.
14 Responses
Effectively what you’d see is a (currently) legal way to get around anti-siphoning restrictions.
Ten and Foxtel joint bid with big money and get all Sport rights.
Foxtel gives Ten delayed (replay) matches.
Foxtel becomes the only place to see LIVE sport, AFL, NRL, Cricket and Football.
ohhh, and then you’d have to pay….. no more LIVE and FREE.
Agree, this is quite a likely scenario. Why would Foxtel be interested in Ten anyway?
Perhaps we could see all the Grand Prix live and all the V8s.
TEN could get the AFL rights in next broadcast deal. Saturday AFL on TEN and Seven have Friday Night & Sunday. Fox Footy get the rest
If Foxtel takeover Ten is complete then we could see Ten having more major sport, more news then ever before for the network and possibly topping Seven and Nine hours of news per day.
They did urge caution…. such optimism you could attend the AGM to allay shareholder concerns.
On Molk’s podcast, they said that it will be a big story of 2015 at some point this year Foxtel will buy Ten..
@William – Ha-ha, if only the world was how you imagined it to be. Where do you get this notion that Foxtel are going to take over Ten? They *may be* going to purchase less than 15% of their share listing. I don’t think Foxtel are going to give them a whole bunch of sport when they’ve just spent a wad of cash securing deals, some of which are exclusive to Foxtel; ie not live on FTA.
The fact that Foxtel made an offer to takeover all of Ten, using Discovery to try take on much of the risk and to get around ACCC objections is a pretty good indicator that they want to buy Ten. It didn’t work though because Discovery got cold feet.
Foxtel can take a 14.9% share anytime anybody wants to sell to them. It’s not controlling and doesn’t require shareholder approval. It’s designed to stop anybody else taking over Ten. They are making a formal offer because they are trying to get the other shareholders to put more money in before they pay less then the market rate for 14.9%.
To be a fly on the wall in the TEN board room right now. Could potentially see a drama series in the making here.
It remains to be seen what the outcome of this is but it wouldn’t be right if such a manoeuvre was used to benefit pay tv at the expense of free to air especially in relation to sport and drama.
If Fox do buy 14.9% of Ten would that change any agreements currently in place (on-selling of rights to Fox, sports rights etc)?
As we’re heading into unchartered waters I could only speculate….
I think it would be interesting for Foxtel to launch a ‘taster’ channel like Sky have in the UK, perhaps a JV with TEN once primary channels go HD. It would depend a lot on rights to content for FTA of course, but surely would do better from a ratings PoV than Fox8 or Lifestyle from sheer availability to households?