Industry bodies respond to Nine and Fairfax merger
Today it was announced two of Australia’s most significant media players will become one – with Nine Entertainment intending to purchase Fairfax Media. The deal, should it proceed, would make the combined company worth around $4bn. Here, Mumbrella’s Abigail Dawson looks at how the various industry bodies involved in the sector have reacted. Is it good news, or bad news for the news?
Fairfax Media could be no more, should Nine Entertainment be successful in its bid to buy the legacy media company. This morning, the two companies announced their intentions to come together, with Nine taking a 51.1% stake in the new entity. The deal would make Nine one of Australia’s largest media operators, and it would pocket around 20% of above-the-line advertising across the country, according to the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), which it says is bad for democracy, bad for diversity, bad for competition, and bad for employees.
Nine will become one of the biggest media companies in the country under the proposed transaction
The MEAA says the merging of the two businesses wouldn’t just be bad for Australian democracy but for diversity as well with the joining of businesses contributing to an already concentrated media market.
