The long awaited Ten-Foxtel deal means a third 800 pound gorilla has entered the jungle
Ten has finally reached a refinancing deal, which will see Foxtel take a stake if it passes regulatory hurdles over the coming months. The convoluted process has been good for the network’s fortunes, argues Mumbrella’s Tim Burrowes.
Back before Christmas, somebody well informed shared an unlikely view on Ten with me.
I voiced the obvious view that the process looked likely to be a destabilising distraction for the management.
We certainly need to 10 to keep the other two on their toes!
Let’s hope the ownership laws don’t change. The last thing we need is more exposer to the Murdoch voice in our news sources.
@Ownership you are going to get a hell of a lot more “exposure to the Murdoch voice” as another commented here and they’re right, news on right will eventually be run out of NewsCorp or will come from Sky News – Foxtel IS Murdoch let’s not pretend it’s not.
I’m not sure what your point is Lucky Phil. At the end of the day the laws are there for a good reason. 10 came third but always made a profit 5 years ago. Its not a reason to change the laws.
What a great deal for all those shareholders who had Ten shares at north of $1.
Oh, wait …
My point Ownership is that Murdoch as just walked around the law… he hasn’t had to worry about making a full takeover offer, so company law and media regulations won’t matter. Murdoch will end up with complete control of TEN and from a minority position. The revenue generation is being outsourced to a Murdoch division, and Ten news will be eventually too just like what has happened with Meet The Press, you can bet on it Channel 5 in the UK outsource their news to ITV, it used to be Sky but Desmond and Murdoch had a huge falling out.
The law doesn’t matter to Murdoch, he’s found a way around it – that is my point. Ten news will become another Murdoch stream, unless this is stopped,but no one would dare do that.
Big Bash lost money every second it was on ; neither did it generate a “halo” of ratings – other program ratings _fell_ in the period.
Family Feud doesn’t win any ratings and MasterChef is getting lower figures than in the “bad” old days before McLennan.
do I push my free offering or my subscriber offering
where is my focus ? what is my plan for profitability
lots of Free Foxtel promotion and a plethora of regurgitated content for TEN ?
although they sell a a fair bit to 7mate already, so TEN becomes 7mate 2 ?
Lets watch the News Limited train now cover up past mistakes and rewrite history.
It is well known that getting rid of Falloon, Blackley & Mott was a mistake. Those guys were delivering big profits, had strong ratings and great shares of revenue.
Lachlan then landed a “home run” and lost 80% of the value of the company in a short 18 months. He bought into Ten at $1.50 a share when it was valued at $1.6b and now we talk about it be safe to buy at 20 cents !!!
Ten will now retrench a few hundred(s) people – move those workers left to Foxtel – and shareholders will sit wondering what is going on.
Lot of time and energy to spend on a redundant platform.
At least Murdoch can corner the blue hair rinse and life insurance markets.