Network Ten has signed an agreement for the purchase of its Northern NSW affiliate licence, currently owned and operated by WIN Corporation. The sale, which includes the television licence as well as equipment and associated contracts, is subject to regulatory approval and due diligence, and will take effect once these have been completed.
The deal comes after a recent plan for Ten to acquire its affiliates in regional Queensland and Victoria and Southern NSW/ACT from Southern Cross Austereo.
The Northern NSW market includes Newcastle, Tamworth, Taree, the Northern Rivers and the Gold Coast — a population of an estimated 2.35 million viewers.
Ten says that the production and broadcast of local news updates in the regions that make up the Northern NSW market will remain
WIN bought the Northern NSW licence from Southern Cross Austereo in 2017 for $55 million. Ten has not disclosed how much it is paying for the Northern NSW licence which currently rebroadcasts Ten and its secondary channels 10 Bold Drama and 10 Peach Comedy.
Beverley McGarvey, President Network 10, Head of Streaming and Regional Lead Paramount Australia, said: “The acquisition of WIN’s Northern New South Wales television licence ensures that our premium line up of entertainment, news and sport content continues to be available to all Australians, while also offering our commercial and advertising partners a national footprint. This further reinforces Paramount Global’s commitment to the Australian market and in particular Network Ten.”
WIN currently owns Nine Network affiliate outlets in regional Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria, Southern NSW/ACT and Tasmania and carries relays of all three commercial networks in the Mount Gambier and Riverland regions of South Australia and the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area in New South Wales. It also owns half shares of the Ten affiliate outlets in Tasmania and Western Australia. Last year, WIN and its joint venture partner Seven shutdown its Ten network signal in Mildura.
It is suggested that the sale of the Northern NSW licence will remove any regulatory blocks preventing WIN owner, 96-year-old billionaire Bruce Gordon from increasing his shareholding in the Nine Network.
Andrew Lancaster, CEO of WIN Corporation said: “WIN’s strategic focus is on Nine and it no longer makes sense for us to own the Ten Northern NSW business. As an industry we should be looking to make the buying of advertising easier for our clients and this transaction should help do that.”
The Northern NSW licence dates back to 1965, as NRN10 (later NRN11) in the Northern Rivers. It later completed a merger with RTN8, Lismore, which broadcast as far north as the Gold Coast. The stations later became known as NRTV and expanded their reach to include the Upper Namoi (Tamworth), Manning River (Taree) and Newcastle regions with aggregation in 1991.
In 1994 NRTV was taken over by Telecasters Australia which also owned the Ten affiliate in regional Queensland. NRTV was rebranded as Ten Northern NSW, and Telecasters’ later merger with Southern Cross Broadcasting saw the on-air brand changed to Southern Cross Ten ahead of WIN’s purchase in 2017.
Source: Paramount Australia and New Zealand, Mumbrella.
