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Seven talks down rumours of media merger

"There is absolutely nothing that we are looking at at this point in time," says Seven CEO.

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Seven has denied press speculation about a future merger and acquisition with HT&E the parent company behind KIIS Network, Gold, ARN and iHeartRadio.

Tbe Australian Financial Review reported Seven has listed one of its strategic priorities as “explore (Merger & Acquisition) opportunities” in its most recent annual report, released late last year.

This week James Warburton denied the chatter.

“There’s always speculation around us. I can unequivocally say there is nothing on the table, nothing we’ve put in front of the Board and nothing we’re considering. We told the journalist that on Sunday, but they choose to write it,” he said.

“There is absolutely nothing that we are looking at at this point in time.

“Our focus is continuing digital growth. We just had a huge 6 months obviously in terms of sports rights … our focus is on making sure we are well-placed and growing our share into the recovery, (which) we feel will come.”

HT&E Chairman is Hamish McLennan, who coincidentally replaced Warburton as CEO of 10 in 2013.

17 Responses

  1. There are problems with viewing numbers on FTA, but the network’s are allowing the issues to get worse. They don’t want to spend the money to improve local programming.

  3. As I recall, a couple of years ago, Nine and the old Fairfax denied talk of a merger, and then they merged (well Nine took over Fairfax). And Seven denied a takeover of Prime Media Group, but it happened. So those who know history will be watching this space, and agree with this article or not, this is well worth a follow up because who knows what will happen with this era of media takeovers.

  5. They really need to diversify the business. They still have no paid streamer, no real audio/podcast arm, and the 7News website is becoming more like the Daily Mail.

    1. Agreed. Seven grabbing Prime appears a prudent move. But as you say, no paywall and no radio; print is all but dead. I really thought seven would connect with Peacock – from the outside, such a connection provided Comcast with an immediate credible local platform for them to expand and for seven which has a decent local library, access to what I would guess is a more than decent US library of content. Nine entertainment reportedly securing the Olympics for $300m is something SWM simply can’t compete with in their current form.

    1. Foxtel will never be allowed to merge with a major FTA network. The damage they could do controlling the AFL, NRL, Cricket and Australian Open across Pay and FTA would be too much. Who excactly is Seven going to merge with or take over? A lot of the debt comes from their newpaper and magazine division and they are in decline nation wide. There are no TV assets the could or would allowed to merge or takeout. And it seems they don’t want radio. An over the top service is about the only thing that would be beneficial.

      1. Nine controls FTA and Subscription Olympics moving forward. Why couldn’t Foxtel do the same? The govt would have to approve the merger and would ensure that they don’t force everything into subscription. There already is laws for this.

        It’s not 2010 anymore – their future viability is not as certain and having stronger (albeit less) Australian media companies to effectively compete with Netflix/Amazon/Paramount(10)/Disney is important.

        It’s worth resetting past opinions/stances when it comes to these kinds of mergers. The next 10 years will be nothing like the last 60.

      2. Not forgetting Kerry Packer owned channel 9 and 25% of Foxtel and 50% of Fox Sports via PBL, until James Packer sold it in 2012 when he wanted to exit the media business.

    2. Channel 10 is most likely the future model of Australian commercial TV – a subsidiary of a US studio, which airs much of their content.

      Foxtel is dying a death by a thousand cuts, as it loses valued content to other streamers, and jettisons more channels than it adds.

      2. “Total Foxtel Group subscribers increased to 4.529 million (4.413 million paid), a record high, up 13% on the prior year. Total streaming subscribers, including Kayo Sports, BINGE, Foxtel Now and Flash reached 2.806 million (2.690 million paid), up 31%.”
        (Foxtel Group Q4 and Full Year Fiscal 2022 Results)
        “Channel 10 is most likely the future model of Australian commercial TV” with endless repeats of encores of repeats and American programs that no body watches (how many have been moved to Bold and Peach etc?) often watched by fewer than watch SBS.

      3. Given the greatly decreased interest in channels by the public, any loss of them is not necessarily a bad thing. But yes, Foxtel has the problem of now only being corporately connected to a minor US production company. Stan is even worse off in that regard of course.

        The Australian FTAs long relied heavily on US and UK production company outlet deals. However, now those companies can distribute their content directly to Australian consumers, and have largely chosen to do so. Nine and Seven, despite never broadcasting more imported content in total, have possibly never relied on their own created-and-commissioned content more for their viewers.

        While a major overseas company might eventually buy Nine or Seven, they would probably need to be quite cheap for it to be worthwhile to them.

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